The effects of mindful meditation using the Calm app on sleep patterns

Abstract

This study was designed to look at how mindful meditation using the Calm App affected sleep patterns on apparently healthy individuals. Ten volunteers from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Clinical Exercise Physiology graduate program to serve as subjects. Each subject completed the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index Questionnaire (PSQI) before the study, after 4 weeks, and after 8 weeks to assess the quality of sleep and how fast they fell asleep. Each subject was also given a Fitbit Versa 2 to wear to bed each night during the 8 weeks of the study to track the stages of sleep along with the total time awake and asleep during each night. The study was split into two phases, a control phase and testing phase. During the control phase, subjects were instructed to wear the Fitbit to bed each night for 4 weeks to assess normal sleep patterns. The test phase was the last 4 weeks of the study and here each subject listened to the “7 days of Calm” on the Calm App. Information from the Fitbit Versa 2 and the PSQI were compared to see if the Calm App had any effect on sleep patterns. Results showed that the Calm App had no significant effect on sleep patterns in apparently healthy individual.