ArticlePloS one2021
Can a meditation app help my sleep? A cross-sectional survey of Calm users.
Article in PloS one, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Musicotherapy mobile applications: what level of evidence and potential role in psychiatric care? A systematic review.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2024Pooled it
- Effects of Non-Pharmacological Sleep Interventions in Older Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Pooled it
- Trial
- The Effectiveness of the Headspace App for Improving Sleep: Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Trial
- The Indirect Effects of a Mindfulness Mobile App on Productivity Through Changes in Sleep Among Retail Employees: Secondary Analysis.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2022Trial
- User-Reported Issues With Mental Health Apps: Machine-Assisted Topic Analysis of Social Media Posts.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2026Article
- Article
- Identifying Common Patterns in the Time of Day of Mindfulness Meditation Associated with Long-Term Maintenance.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- A shot in the dark: the impact of online visibility on the search for an effective sleep app.Journal of clinical sleep medicine : JCSM : official publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine · 2024Review
- Combining Behavioral Economics-Based Incentives With the Anchoring Strategy: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR research protocols · 2023Article
- Feasibility, appropriateness, and acceptability of a mobile mindfulness meditation intervention to improve sleep quality among a racially/ethnically diverse population.Sleep health · 2023Article
- Comparing Professional and Consumer Ratings of Mental Health Apps: Mixed Methods Study.JMIR formative research · 2022Article
- The Importance of Sleep for People With Chronic Pain: Current Insights and Evidence.JBMR plus · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Use of mindfulness mobile apps has become popular, however, there is little information about subscribers' perceptions of app content and its impact on sleep and mental health. The purpose of this study was to survey subscribers to Calm, a popular mindfulness meditation app, to explore perceived improvements in sleep and mental health, evaluate what components of the app were associated with improvements in sleep and mental health, and determine whether improvements differed based on sleep quality. Calm subscribers who had used a sleep-related component in the last 90 days completed a Web-based investigator-developed survey and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. The survey included questions about using Calm for sleep, sleep disturbances, mental health diagnoses (i.e., anxiety, depression, PTSD) and perceived impacts of the app. Participants reported on the extent to which they felt that using Calm had improved their sleep and mental health. Most participants reported sleep disturbance, and almost half reported a mental health diagnosis. The majority of participants reported that using Calm helped them fall asleep, stay asleep, and get restful sleep. All sleep components were associated with perceived improvements in sleep disturbance. Severity of sleep disturbance moderated relationships between using Calm components and reporting improved sleep. Among subscribers with mental health diagnoses, most reported that Calm helped improve symptoms. Perceived improvement in anxiety and depression was associated with using Calm's meditation components but not Sleep Stories or music/soundscapes. Severity of sleep disturbance did not moderate relationships between using Calm components and reporting mental health improvements. Given the accessibility of app-based meditation, research is needed to evaluate the efficacy of meditation apps to improve sleep disturbance. While some sleep content may be helpful for sleep, more research is needed to test what specific content affects mental health.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.