To assess the effect of progressive relaxation training on insomnia in institutionalised chronic alcoholic men, 22 subjects between the ages of 20 and 60 years, were randomly allocated to treatment and control groups. The treatment group received 10 sessions of progressive relaxation training over a 2-wk. period after which both groups completed a postexperimental questionnaire. Analysis showed a significant improvement in the sleeping patterns of the treated group, but no changes in the sleeping patterns of the control group. In addition, a distribution-free two-sample permutation test to compare mean differences of the groups confirmed that a significantly greater change occurred in the quality of the sleeping patterns of the treated group.