The Contribution of a Body Scan Mindfulness Meditation to Effectiveness of Internet-Delivered CBT for Insomnia in Adolescents

Insomnia is common in adolescents and harms their mental health. Internet-delivered cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBTI) works, but it was unclear whether adding a mindfulness body scan improves outcomes. Adolescents who completed six weeks of internet CBTI were split into those who practiced a body scan meditation (26 participants, average age 15.3, 77% girls) and those who did not (28 participants, average age 15.6, 82% girls). Both groups showed moderate to large improvements in sleep quality, insomnia symptoms, and chronic sleep reduction from baseline to post-treatment, maintained at two-month follow-up.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Abstract Objectives Insomnia is highly prevalent among adolescents, with severe consequences for daily life, including mental disorders. Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBTI) can be effective in internet-delivered and face-to-face modalities. However, it is yet unclear what the contribution is of mindfulness-based techniques to the effectiveness of traditional CBTI. The present study investigated whether use of a body scan mindfulness meditation influenced the effectiveness of CBTI for adolescents. Methods Adolescents who had received 6 weeks of internet CBTI were divided into a group who had practiced a body scan meditation (N = 26, age M = 15.33 years, SD = 1.42, 77% girls) and a group who had not (N = 28, age M = 15.64 years, SD = 1.80, 82% girls). Differences between the groups were analyzed for subjective and objective sleep outcomes from baseline to post-treatment and to 2-month follow-up. Results Moderate to large effect size improvements appeared for sleep parameters from 7-day actigraphy and sleep logs, and large effect size decreases of self-reported symptoms of insomnia and chronic sleep reduction, at post-treatment for both groups. Improvements were maintained at follow-up. However, where the non-body scan group showed no significant change of wake after sleep onset from actigraphy, and self-reported shortness of sleep and irritation, there were medium effect size improvements of these outcomes in the body scan group. Conclusions These results indicate that the use of a body scan mindfulness meditation in CBTI may have an additional positive effect on sleep, above and beyond traditional CBTI techniques.