Heartfulness meditation improves sleep in chronic insomnia

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ABSTRACT

Background: Chronic insomnia is characterized by disturbed sleep that occurs despite adequate opportunity and circumstances to sleep. Many patients with chronic insomnia have comorbid mental illnesses or medical illnesses that contribute and precipitate insomnia. Hallmark of chronic insomnia treatment includes non-pharmacological measures such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I). Pharmacologic treatment (sedative or hypnotic agents) has been disappointing because of poor efficacy and numerous undesirable side effects. Other new therapies including meditation have been proven to be effective.

Objective: This study investigates the effectiveness of Heartfulness meditation coupled with sleep hygiene to treat chronic insomnia. Methods: In this prospective pre-post design cohort study, 32 adult patients with chronic primary insomnia engaged in Heartfulness meditation along with appropriate sleep hygiene for eight weeks. Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) scores, usage of sedative or hypnotic agents were measured at baseline and at the end of the eight-week period.

Results: There was a significant decrease in the mean ISI scores from 20.9 to 10.4 (p < 0.001) after eight weeks of Heartfulness meditation. Twenty four of 32 patients were initially on sedative or hypnotic medications. At week eight, 21 of 24 patients (87.5%) were off these medications or the dosage was reduced (p < 0.001).

Conclusion: This study demonstrated statistical improvements in the measures of ISI in patients undergoing a Heartfulness meditation program. Heartfulness meditation may facilitate the taper and eventual cessation of sedative hypnotics in patients suffering from chronic insomnia.

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Most cited references 15

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Epidemiology of insomnia, depression, and anxiety.

Daniel Taylor, Kenneth L Lichstein, H Durrence … (2005)

This study used empirically validated insomnia diagnostic criteria to compare depression and anxiety in people with insomnia and people not having insomnia. We also explored which specific sleep variables were significantly related to depression and anxiety. Finally, we compared depression and anxiety in (1) different insomnia types, (2) Caucasians and African Americans, and (3) genders. All analyses controlled for health variables, demographics, organic sleep disorders, and symptoms of organic sleep disorders. Cross-sectional and retrospective. Community-based sample (N=772) of at least 50 men and 50 women in each 10-year age bracket from 20 to more than 89 years old. Self-report measures of health, sleep, depression, and anxiety. People with insomnia had greater depression and anxiety levels than people not having insomnia and were 9.82 and 17.35 times as likely to have clinically significant depression and anxiety, respectively. Increased insomnia frequency was related to increased depression and anxiety, and increased number of awakenings was also related to increased depression. These were the only 2 sleep variables significantly related to depression and anxiety. People with combined insomnia (ie, both onset and maintenance insomnia) had greater depression than did people with onset, maintenance, or mixed insomnia. There were no differences between other insomnia types. African Americans were 3.43 and 4.8 times more likely to have clinically significant depression and anxiety than Caucasians, respectively. Women had higher levels of depression than men. These results reaffirm the close relationship of insomnia, depression, and anxiety, after rigorously controlling for other potential explanations for the relationship.

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Mindfulness meditation and improvement in sleep quality and daytime impairment among older adults with sleep disturbances: a randomized clinical trial.

David S. Black, Gillian A O'Reilly, Richard E Olmstead … (2015)

Sleep disturbances are most prevalent among older adults and often go untreated. Treatment options for sleep disturbances remain limited, and there is a need for community-accessible programs that can improve sleep.

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Cognitive behavioral therapy vs zopiclone for treatment of chronic primary insomnia in older adults: a randomized controlled trial.

Børge Sivertsen, Fiona G. G. Nielsen, Gerd Kvale … (2006)

Insomnia is a common condition in older adults and is associated with a number of adverse medical, social, and psychological consequences. Previous research has suggested beneficial outcomes of both psychological and pharmacological treatments, but blinded placebo-controlled trials comparing the effects of these treatments are lacking. To examine short- and long-term clinical efficacy of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and pharmacological treatment in older adults experiencing chronic primary insomnia. A randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial of 46 adults (mean age, 60.8 y; 22 women) with chronic primary insomnia conducted between January 2004 and December 2005 in a single Norwegian university-based outpatient clinic for adults and elderly patients. CBT (sleep hygiene, sleep restriction, stimulus control, cognitive therapy, and relaxation; n = 18), sleep medication (7.5-mg zopiclone each night; n = 16), or placebo medication (n = 12). All treatment duration was 6 weeks, and the 2 active treatments were followed up at 6 months. Ambulant clinical polysomnographic data and sleep diaries were used to determine total wake time, total sleep time, sleep efficiency, and slow-wave sleep (only assessed using polysomnography) on all 3 assessment points. CBT resulted in improved short- and long-term outcomes compared with zopiclone on 3 out of 4 outcome measures. For most outcomes, zopiclone did not differ from placebo. Participants receiving CBT improved their sleep efficiency from 81.4% at pretreatment to 90.1% at 6-month follow-up compared with a decrease from 82.3% to 81.9% in the zopiclone group. Participants in the CBT group spent much more time in slow-wave sleep (stages 3 and 4) compared with those in other groups, and spent less time awake during the night. Total sleep time was similar in all 3 groups; at 6 months, patients receiving CBT had better sleep efficiency using polysomnography than those taking zopiclone. These results suggest that interventions based on CBT are superior to zopiclone treatment both in short- and long-term management of insomnia in older adults. clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00295386.

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Author and article information

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): J Community Hosp Intern Med Perspect

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): J Community Hosp Intern Med Perspect

Journal ID (publisher-id): ZJCH

Journal ID (publisher-id): zjch20

Title: Journal of Community Hospital Internal Medicine Perspectives

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

ISSN (Electronic): 2000-9666

Publication date Collection: 2020

Publication date (Electronic): 10 February 2020

Volume: 10

Issue: 1

Pages: 10-15

Affiliations

[a ]Academic Hospitalist Internal Medicine, WellSpan York Hospital , York, PA, USA

[b ]Pulmonary and Sleep Medicine, WellSpan Health , York, PA, USA

[c ]Research Program Manager, Emig Research Center, WellSpan Health , York, PA, USA

[d ]Internal Medicine, PGY2, Internal Medicine, WellSpan Health , York, PA, USA

Author notes

CONTACT Jayaram Thimmapuram jthimmapuram@ 123456wellspan.org Academic Hospitalist Internal Medicine, WellSpan York Hospital , York, PA 17403-3676, USA

Author information

Jayaram Thimmapuram http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3189-3863

Article

Publisher ID: 1710948

DOI: 10.1080/20009666.2019.1710948

PMC ID: 7034439

PubMed ID: 32128052

SO-VID: f8be7c18-3a1a-4afe-bfa4-488161b91310

License:

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

History

Date received : 24 August 2019

Date accepted : 12 December 2019

Page count

Figures: 3, Tables: 2, References: 25, Pages: 6

Funding

Funded by: commercial, or not-for-profit sectors

This initiative received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Heartfulness meditation improves sleep in chronic insomnia

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Most cited references 15

Epidemiology of insomnia, depression, and anxiety.

Mindfulness meditation and improvement in sleep quality and daytime impairment among older adults with sleep disturbances: a randomized clinical trial.

Cognitive behavioral therapy vs zopiclone for treatment of chronic primary insomnia in older adults: a randomized controlled trial.

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