The Effectiveness of the Headspace App for Improving Sleep: Randomized Controlled Trial

Improving sleep is critical for optimizing short-term and long-term health. Although in-person meditation training has been shown to impact sleep positively, there is a gap in our understanding of whether apps that teach self-guided meditation are also effective.

This study aims to test whether Headspace (Headspace, Inc) improves sleep quality, tiredness, sleep duration, and sleep efficiency.

Staff employees (N=135; mean age 38.1, SD 10.9; 75.0% female; 59.3% non-Hispanic White; 27.1% 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 8 weeks or waitlist control. Sleep assessments were taken for 4 consecutive days at baseline, and then for 4-day bursts at 2, 5, and 8 weeks after randomization. Sleep quality and subjective sleep duration were assessed each morning with a sleep diary, tiredness was assessed throughout the day using ecological momentary assessment, and objective sleep duration and efficiency were measured using a Fitbit Charge 2.

Both subjective and objective sleep outcomes improved. For subjective sleep outcomes, multilevel modeling revealed that those in the Headspace condition, compared to the control group, reported better sleep quality at sessions 2 (β=0.48, SE=0.12; P<.001), 5 (β=0.91, SE=0.13; P<.001), and 8 (β=0.69, SE=0.15; P<.001) compared to baseline, and a decrease in tiredness at session 5 (β=-0.58, SE=0.19; P=.001) compared to baseline, but not at sessions 2 or 8. For objective sleep outcomes, those in the Headspace condition compared to the control group had longer sleep durations at session 5 (β=23.96, SE=12.19; P=.04) compared to baseline, but not at sessions 2 or 8. There were no significant effects for sleep efficiency.

This study continues adding to the ever-developing field of mobile health apps by demonstrating that Headspace can positively impact sleep quality, tiredness, and duration.