A systematic review and meta-analysis of music interventions to improve sleep in adults with mental health problems

Music listening has been used as a sleep intervention among different populations. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to explore whether music is an effective sleep aid in adults with mental health problems. We searched for studies investigating music interventions for sleep in adults with mental health problems. The primary outcome was subjective sleep quality; secondary outcomes were objective sleep outcomes, quality of life, and other mental health symptoms. Risk of bias assessment (RoB1) and random-effect model were used for the systematic review and meta-analyses. The initial screening ( = 1492) resulted in 15 studies in the systematic review. Further qualified studies led to the meta-analysis of sleep quality ( = 7), depression ( = 5), and anxiety ( = 5). We found that the music listening intervention showed a potential effect on subjective sleep quality improvement compared to treatment-as-usual or no-intervention groups. When excluding an outlier study with an extreme effect, the meta-analysis showed a moderate effect on sleep quality (Hedges' = -0.66, 95% CI [-1.19, -0.13], = -3.21, = 0.0236). The highest risk of bias was the blinding of participants and researchers due to the nature of the music intervention. Our results suggest that music interventions could have the potential to improve sleep quality among individuals with mental health problems, even though more high-quality studies are needed to establish the effect fully.