Improve Sleep in Patients with Mental Disorders with Mindfulness
By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.
“Not getting enough sleep skews our ability to regulate our emotions. In the long run, this can increase our risk of developing a mental health condition. In turn, conditions such as anxiety and depression may cause further sleep disruption.” – James Kingsland
Over the last several decades, research and anecdotal experiences have accumulated an impressive evidential case that meditation has positive benefits for the individual’s mental, physical, and spiritual life. Meditation appears to be beneficial both for healthy people and for people suffering from a myriad of mental and physical illnesses. One of these benefits appears to be improving sleep and relieving insomnia.
It has been shown that mental disorders such as anxiety and depression are associated with sleep problems and insomnia. The research on mindfulness training for sleep problems with patients with mental disorders has been accumulating. So, it makes sense to step back and summarize what has been learned.
In today’s Research News article “Effects of mindfulness-based intervention programs on sleep among people with common mental disorders: A systematic review and meta-analysis.” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9048455/ ) Chan and colleagues review, summarize, and perform a meta-analysis of the published randomized controlled trials examining the effectiveness of mindfulness training for the treatment of sleep problems in patients with mental disorders. They found 10 published randomized controlled trials containing a total of 541 participants.
They report that the published studies found that mindfulness training significantly reduced sleep problems in patients with chronic anxiety or depression. It has been well established that mindfulness training reduces anxiety and depression. Although not addressed in the present study, it is possible that these improvements may at least in part result from improved sleep.
“mindfulness helps patients manage anger, worry, anxiety, and depression. These researchers theorized that mindfulness may improve sleep quality by supplying patients with the mental resources to calm down the nervous system in preparation for sleep.” – Danielle Pacheco
CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies
This and other Contemplative Studies posts are also available on Twitter @MindfulResearch
Study Summary
Chan, S. H., Lui, D., Chan, H., Sum, K., Cheung, A., Yip, H., & Yu, C. H. (2022). Effects of mindfulness-based intervention programs on sleep among people with common mental disorders: A systematic review and meta-analysis. World journal of psychiatry, 12(4), 636–650. https://doi.org/10.5498/wjp.v12.i4.636
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Sleep problems are particularly prevalent in people with depression or anxiety disorder. Although mindfulness has been suggested as an important component in alleviating insomnia, no comprehensive review and meta-analysis has been conducted to evaluate the effects of different mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) programs on sleep among people with depression or anxiety disorder.
AIM
To compare the effects of different MBI programs on sleep among people with depression or anxiety disorder.
METHODS
Related publications in Embase, Medline, PubMed and PsycINFO databases were systematically searched from January 2010 to June 2020 for randomised controlled trials. Data were synthesized using a random-effects or a fixed-effects model to analyse the effects of various MBI programs on sleep problems among people with depression or anxiety disorder. The fixed-effects model was used when heterogeneity was negligible, and the random-effects model was used when heterogeneity was significant to calculate the standardised mean differences (SMDs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs).
RESULTS
We identified 397 articles, of which 10 randomised controlled trials, involving a total of 541 participants, were included in the meta-analysis. Studies of internet mindfulness meditation intervention (IMMI), mindfulness meditation (MM), mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT), mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) and mindfulness-based touch therapy (MBTT) met the inclusion criteria. The greatest effect sizes are reported in favour of MBTT, with SMDs of -1.138 (95%CI: -1.937 to -0.340; P = 0.005), followed by -1.003 (95%CI: -1.645 to -0.360; P = 0.002) for MBCT. SMDs of -0.618 (95%CI: -0.980 to -0.257; P = 0.001) and -0.551 (95%CI: -0.842 to -0.260; P < 0.0001) were reported for IMMI and MBSR in the pooling trials, respectively. Significant effects on sleep problem improvement are shown in all reviewed MBI programs, except MM, for which the effect size was shown to be non-significant.
CONCLUSION
All MBI programs (MBTT, MBCT, IMMI and MBSR), except MM, are effective options to improve sleep problems among people with depression or anxiety disorder.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9048455/