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…
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 study followed 1,356 apparently healthy, employed adults over about 18 months to see how burnout and insomnia change together. Using standard questionnaires, the researchers found that higher burnout predicted new cases of insomnia and higher insomnia predicted new cases of burnout, even after adjusting for depression and other factors.…
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 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 is the Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement for The Scott Trust, Guardian Media Group (GMG) and The Scott Trust Endowment Limited (STEL) for the year ended 31 March 2025. It sets out policies, checks, and actions the organisations use to try to prevent modern slavery in their operations,…
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,…
In this randomized study of 206 Swedish adolescent athletes (mean age 17), researchers tested short body-scan exercises against relaxation exercises, given for either 4 or 8 weeks, and measured sleep problems and anxiety at 0, 4, 8, and 16 weeks. All four groups showed some improvement over time, but only…
This cross-sectional survey (data collected 1 July–15 December 2022) asked people about brain fog, diet, sleep, mood, and gut symptoms. The study found that people who had COVID-19 — especially those with reinfection — and women reported higher brain fog scores. Gastrointestinal symptoms and mood scores were linked to worse…
The authors reviewed 57 studies of medicinal cannabis for adults with anxiety disorders. Many studies—including over 90% that looked at CBD or THC—reported reduced anxiety symptoms, but the overall study quality was low (mean bias score 62.9/100) and long-term benefits and effects on quality of life are unclear. The review…
