Calm pilot reports better stress and sleep scores in university students
Students assigned to the mindfulness app reported improvements in anxiety, stress and sleep quality. The abstract leaves the size of these differences unclear.
Based on the published abstract. The full paper may contain additional methods, results and limitations.
The 30-second takeaway
Students assigned to Calm reported improved anxiety, stress and sleep quality compared with controls after 30 days. Stress scores were also lower between groups at follow-up. These findings describe questionnaire outcomes in a university sample. The pilot offers preliminary evidence, but the abstract's ambiguous labeling of averages limits interpretation of the differences.
This abstract-based account cannot clarify what the reported averages compare. Depression was assessed but its result is absent, and participants varied in meeting the intended app-use schedule.
What researchers found
Self-reported stress
At the 30-day follow-up, students assigned to Calm scored lower than controls on both stress questionnaires.
What was measured
Students completed questionnaires at the start and end of the study. The results concern reported emotional states and sleep quality; the abstract does not report objective sleep measurements or outcomes for diagnosed conditions.
Assignment and engagement
The app instructions emphasized its sleep section and included other sections. Some participants did not meet the planned engagement schedule, so being assigned to Calm did not mean everyone used it as intended.
The original publication
Impacts of the Mindfulness Meditation Mobile App Calm on Undergraduate Students' Sleep and Emotional State: Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial.
Lew T, Dubale NM, Doose E et al.
JMIR Form Res · 2025
- PubMed ID
- 40498669
- Record checked
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