The Relationship between Mindfulness and Sleep Quality is Mediated by Emotion Regulation

Garrett Talley,John Shelley-Tremblay

doi:10.3390/psychiatryint1020007

Abstract

Background: Sleep is critical to a person’s overall physical and mental health. The current study investigated the relationship between mindfulness and sleep quality, to determine if this relationship is influenced by emotion regulation and perceived stress. Method: Three hundred sixty-seven undergraduate students responded to five self-report measures, (1) The Cognitive and Affective Mindfulness Scale (CAMS-R), (2) The Impact of Event Scale (IES-R), (3) The Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ), (4) The Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ), and (5) The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Results: Results revealed (1) sleep quality was predicted by the presence of hyperarousal, acting with awareness, and the CAMS-R, (2) the Impact of Event Scale was moderately positively correlated with a person’s global score on the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, and (3) the relationship between mindfulness and sleep quality was mediated by hyperarousal. Conclusions: Together, our findings suggest that higher levels of intrusive thoughts, avoidance, and hyperarousal are correlated with lower overall sleep quality, and the use of mindfulness techniques such as acting with awareness and being non-reacting to negative thoughts or hyperarousal may help predict an individual’s sleep quality.

Highlights

Sleep is one of the most critical determinants of a person’s physical and mental health
Interested readers are referred to Appendix A for the descriptive results by item for the Impact of Events Scale, Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire, and the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, respectively
The results of the current study suggest intrusion, avoidance, and hyperarousal correlate with a person’s overall sleep quality [24]; our results suggest mindfulness is correlated with decreases in sleep disturbances and improvements in a person’s sleep quality through acting with awareness and being non-judgmental towards oneself following the experience of an event [28,29,30]

Summary

Introduction

Sleep is one of the most critical determinants of a person’s physical and mental health. The current study examines candidate emotional and cognitive factors from the research literature that may help us to explain the variability in individuals’ sleep quality. Sleep is critical to a person’s overall physical and mental health. The current study investigated the relationship between mindfulness and sleep quality, to determine if this relationship is influenced by emotion regulation and perceived stress. Method: Three hundred sixty-seven undergraduate students responded to five self-report measures, (1) The Cognitive and Affective Mindfulness Scale (CAMS-R), (2) The Impact of Event Scale (IES-R), (3) The Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ), (4) The Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ), and (5) The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Conclusions: Together, our findings suggest that higher levels of intrusive thoughts, avoidance, and hyperarousal are correlated with lower overall sleep quality, and the use of mindfulness techniques such as acting with awareness and being non-reacting to negative thoughts or hyperarousal may help predict an individual’s sleep quality.

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion