Sleep hygiene measures combined with mindfulness meditation in the management of sleep bruxism in children: A randomized controlled clinical trial.

Background: Sleep hygiene measures and meditation may reduce stress and improve sleep quality, but their effect on the occurrence of sleep bruxism in children has not yet been investigated.

Aim: To explore the effects of sleep hygiene measures combined with mindfulness meditation (relaxation audio) in the management of probable sleep bruxism (SB) in children.

Design: This clinical trial (no. NCT04501237) randomized 36 children with 3-8 years of age. Probable SB detection was performed according to the criteria established by the International Consensus on The Assessment of Bruxism-2018. Intervention group was instructed to practice sleep hygiene measures and mindfulness meditation (i.e., the use of a digital app to broadcast audio relaxation) each night before bedtime for 5 weeks; control group did not receive guidance for therapies. Parents completed a bruxism diary for 5 weeks, and the outcome was the number of SB episodes-day reported in the week (ranging from 0 to 7) in each period. A multilevel mixed-effects Poisson regression model was performed.

Results: A total of 32 children (mean age: 6.1 years) completed the study. The children who received the therapies related to sleep hygiene measures and mindfulness meditation had a reduction in the SB incidence rate ratio (IRR) of 46% (IRR = 0.54 [Confidence Interval 95%, 0.45-0.65]) during a 5-week observation period. The sensitivity analyses did not show relevant changes in the measure of the effect.

Conclusion: Sleep hygiene measures combined with mindfulness meditation reduced the SB in children.