App-Based Mindfulness Meditation and Sleep: A Randomized Controlled Trial Testing If Headspace Improves Subjective and Objective Sleep Outcomes (Preprint)

Improving sleep is critical to short-term and long-term health. Although in-person meditation training has been shown to improve sleep, there is a gap in our understanding of whether apps that teach self-guided meditation are also effective. We tested whether Headspace improves sleep quality, tiredness, sleep duration, and efficiency. Staff employees (n = 132; aged M = 38.5, SD = 11.1; 76.5% female; 54.5% non-Hispanic White or 22.0% Hispanic) from a university in California’s San Joaquin Valley participated in the study. Participants were randomized to complete 10 minutes of daily meditation via the Headspace app for eight weeks or waitlist control. Sleep was assessed using ecological momentary assessment (a morning diary for sleep quality and fatigue) and objective sleep duration and efficiency assessment using a Fitbit Charge 2. Participants completed an initial four-day burst as part of the baseline session and then four-day bursts two, five, and eight weeks after the first day of data at baseline. Multilevel modeling revealed that those in the Headspace condition, compared to the baseline session, reported better sleep quality at sessions 2 (p = .033), 5 (p < .001), and 8 (p = .037), a decrease in tiredness at session 5 (p = .001) but not at sessions 2 or 8 (ps > .96), and improved sleep efficiency at session 2 (p = .027) but not at sessions 5 or 8 (ps > .32). The current study continues adding to the ever-developing field of mHealth apps by demonstrating that Headspace improved sleep quality, tiredness, and efficiency. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03652168