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Sleep, Dreaming, and Virtual Reality for Mental Health
NCT07408206 · View on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
Study Summary
People spend approximately one-third of their lives asleep, yet sleep is often underused as an opportunity to support psychological well-being. Contemplative traditions, including Tibetan Dream Yoga, have developed practices that use waking imagination and lucid dreaming to explore perception, awareness, and habitual patterns of thinking. Recent advances in sleep monitoring, dream communication, and lucid dream induction now make it possible to study these practices using scientific methods. This study is a randomized controlled trial designed to examine the feasibility and effects of a Dream-Yoga-inspired intervention compared with an active control condition. The intervention combines waking and dreaming practices that are adapted for individuals without prior experience and delivered using virtual reality-based training and home sleep technology. The program is designed to be scalable and culturally neutral, without requiring prior knowledge of contemplative or religious traditions. The primary goals of the study are to characterize sleep and waking neurophysiology associated with Dream-Yoga-inspired practices and to evaluate whether participation is associated with changes in sleep-related brain activity and cognitive processes. Outcomes include measures of lucid dreaming, sleep physiology, and waking cognitive and perceptual processes. Anxiety will be assessed as an exploratory outcome to examine whether participation may be associated with changes in emotional experience. This study is not designed to provide treatment for anxiety or other clinical conditions. Results from this study will help inform the development of scalable sleep-based mental training approaches and guide future research on the use of dreaming and sleep practices to support psychological health and well-being.
Conditions Studied
Interventions
- BEHAVIORAL Dream Yoga Inspired Intervention
- BEHAVIORAL Sleep Health Enhancement Program (SHEP)
Study Locations (2)
Illinois
- Northwestern University — Evanston
Virginia
- Contemplative Sciences Center — Charlottesville
Trial Details
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Enrollment Target | 70 participants |
| Start Date | 2026-01-15 |
| Est. Completion | 2027-12-31 |
| Phase | Early Phase 1 |
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Full Details on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗What the Registry Record Tells You About NCT07408206
The ClinicalTrials.gov registry entry for NCT07408206 describes a study currently listed as recruiting. It is categorized as Early Phase 1, which is the standard way researchers label where a study sits along the investigational pathway from early safety work through later efficacy and post-marketing evaluation. The registered enrollment target is 70 participants, a figure that helps gauge the scale of data the investigators plan to collect. The listed sponsor is Northwestern University, which has 1,033 total studies on file at ClinicalTrials.gov, and sponsors are the parties responsible for study design, oversight, and regulatory filings.
The record links to 1 condition, with Anxiety appearing as the primary indexed condition, and to 2 interventions — of which Dream Yoga Inspired Intervention is the first listed. Interventions can include drugs, devices, procedures, behavioral programs, or observational arms, and each is tracked as a separate registry field so that downstream queries can filter accurately. When a trial lists multiple interventions, it usually reflects a multi-arm design or a comparison protocol rather than a single treatment being tested in isolation. The brief summary published in the registry is the clearest source of protocol intent and should be read before drawing conclusions from any sidebar tags.
Geographic footprint matters for practical reasons: NCT07408206 reports 2 study locations spanning 2 distinct geographic areas — top geographies include Illinois, Virginia. A larger site network tends to correlate with broader recruitment capacity, but it does not imply anything about study quality, and site-level enrollment status can diverge from the overall registry status shown above. Every data point on this page comes from the public ClinicalTrials.gov dataset and is reproduced here for reference only; it is not a medical recommendation, an endorsement of the sponsor, or an invitation to enroll. Verify current status, eligibility criteria, and contact details directly at ClinicalTrials.gov, and discuss any participation decision with your own healthcare provider.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is clinical trial NCT07408206 about?
NCT07408206 is a clinical study titled "Sleep, Dreaming, and Virtual Reality for Mental Health". People spend approximately one-third of their lives asleep, yet sleep is often underused as an opportunity to support psychological well-being. Contemplative traditions, including Tibetan Dream Yoga, have developed practices that use waking imagination and lucid dreaming to explore perception, aware...
What is the current status of trial NCT07408206?
This trial is currently recruiting. It is a Early Phase 1 study. The enrollment target is 70 participants. The study started on 2026-01-15. Estimated completion is 2027-12-31.
What conditions does trial NCT07408206 study?
This clinical trial studies the following conditions: Anxiety. These conditions were identified from the trial registry and reflect the primary focus areas of the research.
What interventions are being tested in trial NCT07408206?
The interventions under investigation include: Dream Yoga Inspired Intervention (BEHAVIORAL), Sleep Health Enhancement Program (SHEP) (BEHAVIORAL). Each intervention is being evaluated for safety and efficacy as part of this clinical study.
Who is sponsoring clinical trial NCT07408206?
This trial is sponsored by Northwestern University, which has 1,033 total clinical trials registered on ClinicalTrials.gov. The sponsor is responsible for the study's design, funding, and regulatory compliance.
Where is trial NCT07408206 being conducted?
This trial has 2 study locations across Illinois, Virginia. Contact the study sites directly through ClinicalTrials.gov for enrollment availability.
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