An 18-month structured meditation intervention in 120 cognitively unimpaired adults aged 65 or older produced only one statistically significant sleep improvement compared to passive controls: greater ease of morning awakening (p=0.04). No effects were detected on polysomnography measures of sleep architecture — including slow waves, sleep spindles, and spectral power — nor on actigraphy-derived rest-activity rhythms or any other subjective sleep quality metrics. Results held after adjusting for depressive symptoms and trait anxiety.
This is a notably rigorous null finding. Many earlier, smaller studies suggesting meditation improves sleep relied on subjective self-report alone, lacked active control groups, or ran for just weeks. The Age-Well trial addresses those gaps with polysomnography, actigraphy, an active comparator (language learning), and an 18-month follow-up — making the near-absence of benefit meaningful rather than merely inconclusive. The finding aligns with a growing recognition that meditation's sleep benefits may be concentrated in populations with clinical insomnia or significant anxiety, not healthy older adults with minimal baseline complaints. The one positive signal — easier morning awakening — is plausible given meditation's circadian and arousal-regulation effects, but a single marginal p-value warrants caution. Importantly, this is a preprint not yet peer-reviewed, and secondary-analysis status means it was not the trial's primary endpoint. Adults with serious sleep disturbances should not dismiss meditation, but healthy older adults seeking objective sleep gains may need to look elsewhere.