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

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

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.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Healthy Young Adults
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Quartz Crystal Singing Bowl music; Behavioral: Progressive Muscle Relaxation

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 108
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• New Zealand
  • Waikato Region
    • Hamilton, Waikato Region, New Zealand, 3204
      • School of Psychological and Social Sciences

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child; Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• age 16-25 years

Exclusion Criteria:

• undergoing psychiatric/psychological treatment
• participation in guided relaxation more than once a month
• listened to singing bowls more than once a month

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Progressive Muscle Relaxation	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
Experimental: Quartz Crystal Singing Bowls music	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

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in total mood disturbance (TMD) score between baseline, 4 weeks and 8 weeks	The TMD is derived from the profile of mood states questionnaire (abbreviated version). Participants are presented with a list of 40 words that describe feelings people have. They are asked to circle the number that best describes how they feel right now from 0 (not at all), 1 (a little), 2 (moderately), 3 (quite a lot) to 4 (extremely). Seven subscales are calculated by summing the relevant items (Tension, Anger, Fatigue, Depression, Esteem related affect, Vigour and Confusion). A Total Mood Disturbance score (TMD) is also calculated by summing the totals for the negative subscales (Tension, Depression, Anger, Fatigue, Confusion), and subtracting the totals for the positive scales (Vigour, Esteem-related Affect [Note that 2 items are reverse scored for the ERA subscale]. A higher score reflects a more negative mood state	Baseline, 4 weeks and 8 weeks
Change in total mood disturbance (TMD) score between baseline, 4 weeks and 8 weeks	The TMD is derived from the profile of mood states questionnaire (abbreviated version). Participants are presented with a list of 40 words that describe feelings people have. They are asked to circle the number that best describes how they feel right now from 0 (not at all), 1 (a little), 2 (moderately), 3 (quite a lot) to 4 (extremely). Seven subscales are calculated by summing the relevant items (Tension, Anger, ERA-score range 0-24; Fatigue, Vigour, Confusion- score range 0-20; Depression - score range 0-28 ). A Total Mood Disturbance score (TMD) is also calculated by summing the totals for the negative subscales (Tension, Depression, Anger, Fatigue, Confusion), and subtracting the totals for the positive scales (Vigour, Esteem-related Affect). A constant (100) can be added to eliminate negative values. Scores (including the constant) range from 52-216. A higher score reflects a more negative mood state	Baseline, 4 weeks and 8 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in POMS subscale scores at 4 and 8 weeks	The POMS has seven subscales: Tension, Anger, Fatigue, Depression, Esteem related affect, Vigour and Confusion. For the negative subscales (Tension, fatigue, confusion, depression and anger), a higher score indicates poorer mood. For the positive subscales (vigour and esteem related affect), a high score indicates a more positive mood.	Baseline, 4 weeks and 8 weeks
Overall sleep quality	Rating of overall sleep quality from the Auckland Sleep questionnaire. Higher ratings (on a 1-4 scale) indicate poorer sleep quality	Baseline, 4 weeks, 8 weeks
Visual analogues scales - immediately before and after a session	To assess the acute effects of the intervention, participants will be asked to complete ratings of overall mood, relaxation, and stress before and after one session one session each week. Participants are asked to rate how they are feeling right now using a visual analogue scale (VAS) from 0 (worst I've ever felt not relaxed, not stressed,) to 100 (very stressed, very relaxed, best I've ever felt)	Once a week for 8 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: The University of Waikato
• Collaborators: University of Auckland, New Zealand
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Nicola J Starkey, Starkey, University of Waikato; Principal Investigator: Michael Jameson, University of Auckland, New Zealand

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Goldsby TL, Goldsby ME, McWalters M, Mills PJ. Effects of Singing Bowl Sound Meditation on Mood, Tension, and Well-being: An Observational Study. J Evid Based Complementary Altern Med. 2017 Jul;22(3):401-406. doi: 10.1177/2156587216668109. Epub 2016 Sep 30.
• Matthews A, Phillips MC, Matthews LR, Kumar S, Pillai A, Jameson MB. A Pilot Study Evaluating the Effects of Relaxation Music Played on Quartz Crystal Singing Bowls on Mood in Teenage Males. J Psychiatry Behav Sci. 2023;6(2):1085

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): March 22, 2024
• Primary Completion (Actual): October 11, 2024
• Study Completion (Actual): December 31, 2024

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: November 24, 2025
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 24, 2025
• First Posted (Estimated): December 5, 2025

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): December 15, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: December 7, 2025
• Last Verified: December 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Mood; online intervention; Progressive muscle relaxation; Crystal singing bowls
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Therapeutics; Mind-Body Therapies; Complementary Therapies; Psychotherapy; Behavioral Disciplines and Activities; Hypnosis; Autogenic Training
• Other Study ID Numbers: HREC(Health)2024#3

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: YES
• IPD Plan Description: All data are available from the PI upon reasonable request
• IPD Sharing Time Frame: Beginning 3 months after publication with no end date
• IPD Sharing Access Criteria: Data can be obtained by emailing the PI with a proposal for planned analyses. The request will be reviewed by the co-PIs.
• IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type: STUDY_PROTOCOL; ICF

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No