Impact of App-Delivered Mindfulness Meditation on Functional Connectivity, Mental Health, and Sleep Disturbances Among Physician Assistant Students: Randomized, Wait-list Controlled Pilot Study.
JMIR Formative Research October 19, 2021 Jeremy L Smith, Jason W Allen, Carla I Haack et al.
App-delivered mindfulness meditation improved sleep impairment in physician assistant (PA) students but did not significantly affect burnout, depression, or anxiety. In a randomized wait-list-controlled trial, PA students who used the 10% Happier meditation app daily for 8 weeks reported a 19% reduction in sleep impairment, compared with a 1% reduction in the control group. Changes in sleep were linked to increased resting-state functional connectivity between the medial prefrontal cortex and the superior temporal gyrus, as well as areas important for working memory. Connectivity changes predicted conversion from impaired to nonimpaired sleep in the mindfulness group.