Studies // Cited work

Improving sleep quality leads to better mental health: A meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials

Scott, A. J., Webb, T. L., Martyn-St James, M., Rowse, G., & Weich, S. (2021). Improving sleep quality leads to better mental health: A meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials.

Level A Meta-analysis doi:10.1016/j.smrv.2021.101556

What this study supports

Supports the claims that improving sleep led to medium effects on composite mental health (g+ = -0.53), depression, anxiety and rumination, with a dose-response relation. Selects trials in which sleep improved; the abstract does not break down intervention types, so it is evidence for improved sleep, not for particular everyday habits.

Who was studied: 65 randomised controlled trials (72 interventions, 8,608 participants) of interventions that improved sleep.
Design: Meta-analysis
Level of evidence: Syntheses of controlled studies: meta-analyses and systematic reviews of experiments and trials.

Claims that rest on it

Each claim states what the site asserts, at what strength, and with what caveat.

EmpiricalLevel AConfidence MODERATE

Across randomised trials of interventions that improved sleep, better sleep led to medium improvements in composite mental health, depression, anxiety and rumination, with a dose-response relationship.

Scope: 65 trials with 8,608 participants in which the intervention improved sleep.
Caveat: Trials were selected for having improved sleep, and the result does not identify which interventions or everyday habits produce the benefit.

Last reviewed 2026-09-14 · Review due 2027-09-14 · improving-sleep-improves-mental-health