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.
Subject
Meditation
Mobile apps
Sleep-wake cycle