Journal of Psychiatry

Cross-cultural study on the Effects of an Online-Administered Chanting-Based Meditation Technique (MSRT) on Anxiety, Stress, Sleep, and Mindfulness

7^th Annual Congress on Mental Health

September 08, 2021 | Webinar

Chinmay Surpur

University of California, USA

Scientific Tracks Abstracts: J Psychiatry

Abstract:

Objective: The purpose of this randomized pilot study was to understand the effects of a 10-day online intervention of a chanting-based relaxation technique called Mind Sound Resonance Technique (MSRT) on measures of anxiety, stress, sleep, and mindfulness. Methods: Two-hundred and ten participants were recruited for this pilot study: fifty participants from India and one-hundred and sixty participants from the United States. Participants were initially administered a series of questionnaires to assess measures of state anxiety, stress, quality of sleep, and mindfulness. Each day, participants received a video of MSRT at 9 AM local time. Upon completion of the 10-day intervention, participants were administered the same series of questionnaires. Results: Sixty-five participants completed all portions of the study and were compensated. Within the Karolinska Sleep Questionnaire, four specific questions showed statistically significant improvements: Difficulties falling asleep (M = 2.089, SD = 1.42; t(44) = 3.0, p = 0.004); Insufficient amount of sleep (M = 2.178, SD = 0.1.29; t(44) = 2.0, p = 0.05); Feeling exhausted when waking up (M = 1.689, SD = 1.39; t(44) = 2.8, p = 0.008) ; Sleepiness during work (M = 1.33, SD = 1.10; t(44) = 2.8, p = 0.008). Although the results did not show statistical significance, 75% of the testimonials written by the participants indicated that MSRT is a relaxing experience. Conclusion: While none of the results showed statistically significant improvements in mindfulness, anxiety, and stress, there was a statistically significant improvement in some Sleep-related questions. In addition, the testimonials were emphatically positive, showing that this study needs to be revised and revisited. Conducting online research in the field of yoga is a new area of study, and the effort of this experiment was to design a robust pilot study to construct concrete future research. There is promise in potential future online research to study the effects of MSRT on various aspects of sleep alone, rather than including anxiety, stress, and mindfulness, to create a more pointed study on the effects of Mind Sound Resonance Technique on various aspects of sleep.