CClinicalTrials.gg
CompletedNCT03459690IKEEGUpdated Mar 28, 2024Results posted

EEG Changes With Guided Online Meditation

An interventional study of Meditation and Enobio 32- EEG machine in Meditation, sponsored by Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Completed at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2024-03-28.

Sponsored by Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center · Not applicable, Interventional, and Other

Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
13
Allocation
Non-randomized
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

Simple meditation and EEG changes

Read the detailed description

This is a prospective trial enrolling healthy volunteers, including novice meditators and experienced meditators. Subjects will undergo an EEG at baseline and again after 6 weeks. During the 6 weeks, subjects will be asked to meditate twice a day, at least 12 minutes each time.

02

Conditions studied

  • Meditation

Keywords

  • Meditation, EEG
03

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years and older
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
Yes

Inclusion criteria

  1. 18 years or older
  2. Novice or expert meditator

Novice meditator: No meditation practice in the previous year and \< 20 entire lifetime hours

Expert meditator: Meditation ≥ 30 min per day for at least 5 days per week over the past 1 year

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. History of any neurological condition (i.e. Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, Huntington's disease, brain tumors, brain surgery, or multiple sclerosis)
  2. History of depression, currently being treated with antidepressants
  3. History of any psychiatric disorder, within last 5 years (i.e. anxiety, psychosis, posttraumatic stress disorder, attention deficit hyperactive disorder)
  4. Current use of cognition-enhancing medications
  5. Active history (within the last 5 years) of alcohol or drug abuse (> 10 drinks per week)
  6. History (within the last 5 years) of stroke/aneurysm
  7. Recent history (\< 3 months) of seizures
  8. Non-English speaking
04

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Other
Allocation
Non-randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
13 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Experienced meditators

    Meditation ≥ 30 min per day for at least 5 days per week over the past 1 year

    Behavioral: Meditation · Device: Enobio 32- EEG machine

  • Experimental
    Novice meditators

    No meditation practice in the previous year and \< 20 entire lifetime hours

    Behavioral: Meditation · Device: Enobio 32- EEG machine

Interventions

  • BehavioralMeditation

    Isha Kriya meditation is simple meditation practice which can be easily learned by employing online guided tools. Isha Kriya meditation requires approximately 12 minutes, twice a day of practice. This regimen was chosen because of its simplicity making it an excellent way to introduce meditation to beginners. Isha Kriya does not incorporate a spiritual or religious focus.

  • DeviceEnobio 32- EEG machine

    This study utilizes the Enobio 32 EEG device made by Neuroelectrics (an FDA-cleared 24-bit EEG data reader which is a wearable wireless device) to analyze EEG changes after subjects have undergone meditation. This study does not evaluate the Enobio device, and the IRB of record approved an Investigational Device Exemption for this study.

05

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Number of Participants With EEGs to Measure Changes in Wave Oscillations

    Number of participants who had EEGs to measure qualitative changes in wave oscillations

    Time frame: 6 weeks

Secondary outcomes

  1. Number of Participants With Evaluable EEGs to Measure Changes in Wave Amplitude

    Number of participants who had evaluable EEGs to measure qualitative changes in wave amplitude

    Time frame: 6 weeks

  2. Number of Participants With Evaluable EEGs to Measure Changes in Wave Latency

    Number of participants who had evaluable EEGs to measure qualitative changes in wave latency

    Time frame: 6 weeks

06

Results

Posted Mar 28, 2024
Limitations and caveats
1. The total number of participants enrolled in the study (n=13) was small, which means that the strength of the statistical test will be low. 2. Participant numbers with evaluable EEG was even smaller. Hence, group level analysis could not be performed in the study and the effects were assessed at an individual level. 3. Technical issues such as bad channels, corrupt data files and missing files marred the collected data.

Participant flow

Participant flow — Overall Study
MilestoneExperienced MeditatorsNovice Meditators
Started49
Completed37
Not completed12
Withdrew: Lost to follow-up01
Withdrew: Withdrawal by subject11

Outcome measures

PrimaryNumber of Participants With EEGs to Measure Changes in Wave Oscillations

Number of participants who had EEGs to measure qualitative changes in wave oscillations

Time frame:
6 weeks
Reported as:
Number · Participants with Evaluable EEGs
Number of Participants With EEGs to Measure Changes in Wave Oscillations
Participants with Evaluable EEGsExperienced MeditatorsNovice Meditators
Number of Participants With EEGs to Measure Changes in Wave Oscillations34
SecondaryNumber of Participants With Evaluable EEGs to Measure Changes in Wave Amplitude

Number of participants who had evaluable EEGs to measure qualitative changes in wave amplitude

Time frame:
6 weeks
Reported as:
Count of participants · Participants
Number of Participants With Evaluable EEGs to Measure Changes in Wave Amplitude
ParticipantsExperienced MeditatorsNovice Meditators
Number of Participants With Evaluable EEGs to Measure Changes in Wave Amplitude34
SecondaryNumber of Participants With Evaluable EEGs to Measure Changes in Wave Latency

Number of participants who had evaluable EEGs to measure qualitative changes in wave latency

Time frame:
6 weeks
Reported as:
Count of participants · Participants
Number of Participants With Evaluable EEGs to Measure Changes in Wave Latency
ParticipantsExperienced MeditatorsNovice Meditators
Number of Participants With Evaluable EEGs to Measure Changes in Wave Latency34

Adverse events

Collected over 6 weeks. Non-serious events are listed at a 0% frequency threshold.

Adverse event summary by group
GroupDeathsSeriousOther
Experienced Meditators0/4 (0%)0/4 (0%)0/4 (0%)
Novice Meditators0/9 (0%)0/9 (0%)0/9 (0%)

Baseline characteristics

Of the 13 participants enrolled in the study 2 participants requested withdrawal and 1 was lost to follow up, resulting in 7 novice meditators and 3 experienced meditators who completed the study.

Age, Categorical
Age, Categorical(Participants)Experienced MeditatorsNovice MeditatorsTotal
<=18 years000
Between 18 and 65 years369
>=65 years011
Age, Continuous
Age, Continuous(years)Experienced MeditatorsNovice MeditatorsTotal
Mean54 ± 9.0434.75 ± 18.8447.58 ± 15.45
Sex: Female, Male
Sex: Female, Male(Participants)Experienced MeditatorsNovice MeditatorsTotal
Female044
Male336
Ethnicity (NIH/OMB)
Ethnicity (NIH/OMB)(Participants)Experienced MeditatorsNovice MeditatorsTotal
Hispanic or Latino000
Not Hispanic or Latino279
Unknown or Not Reported101
Race (NIH/OMB)
Race (NIH/OMB)(Participants)Experienced MeditatorsNovice MeditatorsTotal
American Indian or Alaska Native000
Asian336
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander000
Black or African American000
White044
More than one race000
Unknown or Not Reported000
07

Study locations

1 site
  • Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
    Boston, Massachusetts 02215, United States
08

References and documents

Study documents

  • Protocol and statistical analysis plan · Mar 3, 2020
  • Informed consent form · Apr 23, 2019

Documents are hosted by the registry — open the source record to download them.

Individual participant data

Plan to share: Undecided

09

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT03459690
Lead sponsor
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Responsible party
Balachundhar Subramaniam (Director, Center for Anesthesia Research Excellence, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center) — Principal investigator
First posted
Mar 9, 2018
Start date
May 29, 2018
Primary completion
Apr 30, 2019
Completion
Apr 30, 2019
Results posted
Mar 28, 2024
Last update
Mar 28, 2024

Study contacts

Balachundhar Subramaniam
principal investigator · Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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