The Effects of Quartz Crystal Singing Bowl Music and Guided Relaxation on Mood and Sleep in Rangatahi (Young Adults)

Summary

The number of people reporting poor mental wellbeing is increasing, with rates exceeding 25% of the population. Rates of psychological distress in young people (aged 15-24 years) are rapidly increasing but many cannot access professional help. Self-help options such as meditation and mindfulness are effective in decreasing stress and enhancing mood, but time, practice, self-motivation and patience are required to fully realise the benefits. Thus, there is a need to explore alternate treatment options.

This study seeks to determine if the effects of listening to quartz crystal singing bowl music (CSBs) are equivalent to that of progressive guided muscle relaxation on self-report measures of mood, stress and sleep in young adults at 4- and 8- weeks post intervention. The intervention will be delivered online.

The main question it aims to answer is:

Are the effects of listening to singing bowl music equivalent to that of progressive guided muscle relaxation (PMR) on self-report measures of mood in young adults (Total Mood Disturbance of the POMS) at 4- and 8- weeks post intervention.

Does listening to singing bowls result in improved sleep and stress, similar to the effects of PMR.

Participants will be allocated to either the singing bowls or progressive muscle relaxation group. They will be sent a link to listen to the intervention 3 times a week for the first 4 weeks, and then weekly for the next 4 weeks. They will be asked to compete an online questionnaire at baseline, 4 weeks and 8 weeks.

At the end of the trial (8 weeks), participants will be given access to both singing bowls and progressive muscle relaxation interventions to use as often as they like.

Conditions

• Healthy Young Adults

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Quartz Crystal Singing Bowl music

The quartz crystal singing bowls audio track used in the current study was "Tranquility" by Annie Jameson. The audio track was 570 seconds (9.5 minutes) for all sessions. Annie Jameson composed the track herself and gave permission for its use. The full Tranquility track can be found on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mX3Vqvo5k4) or Spotify. The audio was accessed online via the Qualtrics platform

BEHAVIORAL

Progressive Muscle Relaxation

A guided progressive muscle relaxation audio (recorded by the NZ Cancer Society https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zydrp3rfJdY) and similar to the PMR script from the Anxiety and Phobia Workbook by Edmund Bourne was used. The session took approximately 12 minutes. Participants were instructed to start by sitting or lying comfortably, taking some deep breaths and then tense and relax muscles in a sequential manner from the head to the feet. The audio was presented online via Qualtrics software

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Auckland, New Zealand

  collaborator OTHER

• The University of Waikato

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Nicola J Starkey, Starkey · University of Waikato

• Michael Jameson · University of Auckland, New Zealand

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

16 Years

Max Age

25 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2024-03-22

Primary Completion

2024-10-11

Completion

2024-12-31

Countries

• New Zealand

Study Locations