Mindfulness meditation reduces chronic insomnia symptoms. In a three-arm trial, 54 adults with chronic insomnia were randomly assigned to mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), mindfulness-based therapy for insomnia (MBTI), or self-monitoring (SM). Those receiving either meditation intervention showed significantly greater reductions in total wake time (43.75 vs 1.09 minutes), pre-sleep arousal (7.13 vs 0.16 points), and insomnia severity (4.56 vs 0.06 points) from baseline to post-treatment compared to SM. At 6-month follow-up, MBTI produced greater insomnia severity reductions than MBSR, with 50% remission and 78.6% response rates. Mindfulness meditation offers a viable treatment alternative for chronic insomnia.
A review of recent research on mindfulness meditation for insomnia finds that it is a viable treatment option. A metacognitive model has been proposed to explain how mindfulness reduces insomnia-related arousal. Several recent randomized controlled trials show that treatment effects are strongest on self-report measures of sleep compared to objective measures. Further research is needed to identify who benefits most and how these interventions work, as well as to resolve delivery and implementation issues.