Research for mindfulness and sleep

Exciting research results for A Mindful Way.

We are excited to announce the results of a small study conducted at Monash University by Lucinda Kennett, Dr Bei Bei, and Dr Melinda Jackson.

An interim report written by the authors, described some exciting results!

Research for mindfulness and sleep

In summary, there were 13 people in the pilot study, all with chronic insomnia. Participants were randomised to a waitlist control (completing sleep diaries) or the A Mindful Way online course as the treatment for insomnia.

Insomnia was measured by a questionnaire called the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) where higher scores mean greater severity of insomnia.

People who completed the online course A Mindful Way were found to have significantly better sleep than the control group, and their insomnia scores on the ISI dropped significantly (by 10 points on the ISI). On average people who completed the online insomnia course went from moderate insomnia (16.86 points on the ISI) at the start of the study, to normal sleep (7 points on the ISI) after the treatment. There were no changes in sleep for the control group.

Great news was that 5 out of 7 people (71.4%) who completed the A Mindful Way program no longer met the criteria for insomnia, reaching remission by scoring under 10 on the ISI.

The completion rate for the course was excellent at 81%, which shows that people were motivated and stayed engaged with the program.

This is early research and we are planning a much larger study to see if these results are consistent in a larger group of people. For a small pilot study, these early findings are very promising.

Once the results are published, we’ll post a link to the research, so watch this space for more information!

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Looking for more information?

You can find more information about insomnia here. And you can learn more about the influence of thinking on sleep in the related articles When the mind won’t stop thinking, just sit back and watch and Are you stuck with insomnia, chronic fatigue or anxiety?