Mindfulness Meditation Improves Sleep Quality in College Students with Subclinical Insomnia: The Synergistic Effect of Monitoring and Acceptance in Short-Term Intervention

The present study aims to investigate the mechanisms through which the two core components of mindfulness meditation—monitoring and acceptance—contribute to improvements in subclinical insomnia symptoms. Mindfulness meditation has been widely applied as a psychological intervention in recent years and is believed to improve various mental health outcomes by enhancing individuals’ awareness of present-moment experiences and cultivating a nonjudgmental attitude toward internal experiences. However, most previous studies have treated mindfulness meditation as a holistic intervention, with limited systematic examination of the independent roles of its key components and their potential synergistic effects. Guided by the Monitoring and Acceptance Theory (MAT), the present study decomposes mindfulness meditation into two core dimensions—monitoring and acceptance—and examines their independent and synergistic effects within a short-term mindfulness training program. To achieve these objectives, the present study adopts a randomized controlled experimental design involving college students with subclinical insomnia symptoms. Specifically, a 2 (Time: pre-intervention vs. post-intervention) × 3 (Group: monitoring-plus-acceptance training, monitoring-only training, health-management control) factorial design is employed. A total of 69 college students with subclinical insomnia symptoms and no prior experience with mindfulness meditation are randomly assigned to one of the three experimental conditions. The intervention consists of 20 training sessions, each lasting approximately 20 minutes. Participants in the monitoring-plus-acceptance group receive mindfulness meditation training integrating both monitoring and acceptance components. Participants in the monitoring-only group receive mindfulness training focusing exclusively on monitoring. The control group receives training related to health management. The primary outcome measures include sleep quality and the two key dimensions of mindfulness ability. Sleep quality is assessed using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Monitoring ability is assessed using the Observing subscale of the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ), whereas acceptance ability is assessed using the Non-reactivity subscale of the same questionnaire. All measures are administered both before and after the intervention to examine changes in sleep quality and mindfulness abilities across the different training conditions. The central objective of this study is to examine whether the monitoring and acceptance components of mindfulness meditation play distinct roles in improving sleep quality and whether a synergistic effect exists between these two components. It is expected that mindfulness training incorporating both monitoring and acceptance will significantly improve participants’ sleep quality while simultaneously enhancing both monitoring and acceptance abilities. In contrast, monitoring-only training is expected to improve monitoring ability but may have limited effects on sleep quality. No significant changes are expected in the health-management control group. The anticipated contributions of this study are threefold. First, at the theoretical level, the study provides empirical evidence for the applicability of Monitoring and Acceptance Theory (MAT) in the context of sleep interventions, thereby advancing the understanding of the mechanisms underlying mindfulness meditation. Second, by distinguishing between different core components of mindfulness meditation, the findings may inform the optimization of mindfulness-based intervention programs. Third, the study offers a structured and practical short-term psychological intervention model for individuals with subclinical insomnia, providing new insights and empirical support for the prevention and intervention of sleep problems among college students.