The science

The Library

The practices at Halcyon are old. The research on them is newer, and growing. These are the studies we read and return to, each with a short note in plain language and a link to the original paper. We share them to inform, not to promise, and none of it is medical advice.

2 studies

Sleep · Meditation

The effect of mindfulness meditation on sleep quality: a systematic review and meta‐analysis of randomized controlled trials

Rusch HL, Rosario M, Levison LM, et al.

Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · 2019

This meta-analysis gathered randomized controlled trials of mindfulness meditation for people with sleep problems. It included 18 trials with 1,654 participants and analysed two kinds of comparison separately. Against established sleep treatments, mindfulness showed no difference in sleep quality, with low strength of evidence, meaning it performed about the same rather than better. Against control activities that matched time and attention, mindfulness significantly improved sleep quality, with moderate strength of evidence, both straight after the program and at follow-up. The authors suggest mindfulness meditation may help with some aspects of sleep disturbance and call for more research. A limitation is that the evidence that mindfulness is as good as established sleep treatments was rated low, so it should not be seen as a substitute for them.

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Sleep · Meditation

Mindfulness Meditation and Improvement in Sleep Quality and Daytime Impairment Among Older Adults With Sleep Disturbances

Black DS, O’Reilly GA, Olmstead R, et al.

JAMA Internal Medicine · 2015

Sleep problems are common in older adults and often go untreated. In this randomized clinical trial, 49 adults with an average age of 66 and moderate sleep disturbance were assigned to six weeks of a mindful awareness practices program (two hours a week plus homework) or to a structured sleep hygiene education course of the same length. Sleep quality was measured with the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. The mindfulness group improved more than the sleep hygiene group, with a large effect size, and also showed greater improvements in insomnia symptoms, depression symptoms and fatigue. There were no differences between groups for anxiety, stress or an inflammation marker. The main limitation is that the trial was small and measured outcomes immediately after the program, so it cannot say how long the improvement lasts.

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