A Web-Based Photo-Alteration Intervention to Promote Sleep: Randomized Controlled Trial

BackgroundReceiving insufficient sleep has wide-ranging consequences for health and well-being. Although educational programs have been developed to promote sleep, these have had limited success in extending sleep duration. To address this gap, we developed a Web-based program emphasizing how physical appearances change with varying amounts of sleep.ObjectiveThe aims of this study were to evaluate (1) whether participants can detect changes in appearances as a function of sleep and (2) whether this intervention can alter habitual sleep patterns.MethodsWe conducted a 5-week, parallel-group, randomized controlled trial among 70 habitual short sleepers (healthy adults who reported having ResultsIn total, 35 participants were assigned to each group. Validating the intervention, participants in the appearance group (1) were able to identify what they looked like at baseline and (2) judged that they would look more attractive with a longer sleep duration (t26=10.35, PConclusionsOur findings suggest that an appearance-based intervention, while not sufficient as a stand-alone, could have an adjunctive role in sleep promotion.Trial RegistrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT02491138; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/study/NCT02491138.