Each month our editorial team sifts through hundreds of papers and curates notable findings—for practitioners and informed readers who want to stay current with the evidence. Subscribe to the monthly Research Digest for expert analysis and concise summaries of key papers.
This review looked at 41 studies with 92,340 adults to see how sleep timing and day-to-day regularity relate to health. It found that going to bed or waking up later, and having more variable sleep patterns, were generally linked to worse health. Social jetlag was linked to worse health, while…
Many children and teens do not get enough sleep. Studies link use of screens, especially in the bedroom or in the hour before bed, to later bedtimes and less total sleep. Experts have set sleep-hour ranges for each age. Research also links short or disrupted sleep to emotional, behavioral, and…
This review combined results from 10 intervention studies to see if physical activity programs change cortisol (a stress hormone) and sleep in adults. The pooled results found lower cortisol after activity programs and some improvement in sleep quality. The authors say the evidence is moderate for cortisol and low for…
This observational study tested Tibetan singing bowl sound meditation with 62 adults (mean age 49.7). After the session, people reported less tension, anger, fatigue, and depressed mood, and higher spiritual well-being. People who had never tried this meditation before showed a larger drop in tension than people who had experience.…
This review of research up to October 2023 explains many ways exercise may help people with depression. The authors describe biological changes (for example, more endorphins, less inflammation, and higher levels of brain-supporting molecules like BDNF), plus psychological and behavioral benefits (better sleep, less rumination, more self‑esteem and social contact).…
This study looked at 152 moderate cannabis users (21–70 years old) to see what they expect cannabis will do for sleep and what their reported sleep was like. Users were more likely to expect cannabis to help sleep, but the study found few clear links between cannabis use and better…
This systematic review of research up to 2024 found that meditation and mindfulness are linked to measurable brain changes and to better emotional regulation, cognition, and stress resilience. Many studies report thicker cortex in certain areas, lower amygdala reactivity, changes in brain connectivity and neurotransmitters, and improvements in anxiety, depression,…
This review explains that sleep problems are common in bipolar disorder and are tied to worse mood, more relapse, and more daily problems. The authors describe non-drug treatments for sleep, especially adapted cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I), and note some evidence and limits for these approaches.
This randomized trial tested whether a single short bout of walking, meditation, or a combination changed short-term anxiety in young adults. One hundred ten university students (mean age 21.4 years) were randomly assigned to 10 minutes of walking, 10 minutes of meditation, walking then meditation, meditation then walking, or sitting.…
This study used data from 24,250 U.S. users of the WHOOP wearable (74.5% male, mean age 37.6 years) collected from May 1, 2020 to May 1, 2021. Compared to typical days, most U.S. public holidays, holiday eves, and Daylight Saving Time transitions showed clear changes: people tended to sleep longer,…
This small, retrospective chart review looked at patients who used medical cannabis for insomnia at a community pharmacy in Ottawa. Of 38 patients with enough follow-up, 27 (71%) said their sleep or related symptoms were better, and 15 (39%) reduced or stopped a prescription sleep medicine. Eight patients (21%) reported…
This small observational study checked mood and heart-rate measures before and after one 40-minute seated Himalayan singing bowl (HSB) sound-bath. After the session, 77 people reported higher positive affect and lower negative affect on the PANAS mood survey. A smaller group (17) filling the POMS survey reported less tension, anger,…
