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Meditation App vs. Journaling

by Cerebrum DAO

CATEGORY

FOCUS

TYPE

INTERVENTIONAL

DURATION

8 WEEKS

STATUS

COMPLETED

REWARD

$45

per participant

POOL

$9,000

ENROLLED

200/200

COMPLIANCE

80%

min. threshold

// DESCRIPTION

For 8 weeks, half of participants used the Waking Up meditation app for 10 minutes each morning; the other half kept a free-form written journal. We measured self-reported stress (PSS-4 scale), focus, and sleep quality at weeks 0, 4, and 8. Cerebrum DAO partnered with licensed psychologists to design the protocol. This study is now closed and results are published at cerebrumdao.xyz/studies/mind-001. All participants received their $45 reward within 72 hours of completion.

What you'll need to do

Weekly PSS-4 stress survey (4 questions, ~2 min). Weekly focus + sleep log. Compliance log: did you complete your 10-min session today (yes/no).

// ELIGIBILITY

WHO IS ELIGIBLE

Aged 18 or over
Self-reports moderate or high daily stress
Does NOT currently have a regular meditation practice (less than 1x/week)
Willing to commit 10 minutes per day for 8 weeks

WHO IS NOT ELIGIBLE

Active therapy or treatment for anxiety or depression (to avoid interference)
Current regular meditators (10+ min/day)
Severe mental health conditions requiring clinical supervision

// WHAT IS COLLECTED

FORMAT

Remote

DURATION

~8 weeks

COMPLIANCE MINIMUM

80%

INPUTS

Survey responses · self-report logs

DEVICES / TOOLS

mobile app

SAMPLE TYPE

none

VISITS

Remote only

// QUESTIONS

// QUESTIONS

[5]
BioNomad_88· 1mo ago

Was in the journaling group. Honestly life-changing. I'm still doing it 3 months after the study ended. Didn't expect a 10-minute habit to have that much impact.

kelp.forest· 1mo ago

Meditation group here. Stress down, sleep up, anxiety noticeably better. Waking Up is a great app — still have the subscription. Would join another Cerebrum DAO study.

Hiroshi_M· 1mo ago

Really hoping the published results show a breakdown by group. Curious whether meditation or journaling came out ahead, or if they were equivalent.

SaraVHL· 1mo ago

Got my $45 payout within 72 hours of submitting the final survey. Smoothest payout process I've had on any research platform.

txnull· 1mo ago

The PSS-4 questionnaire at week 8 was eye-opening — I hadn't realised how much my stress had come down since week 0. The numbers were quite different.

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