The STRENGTHEN Study

NCT ID: NCT06267521

Last Updated: 2026-02-04

Study Results

Results pending

The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.

Basic Information

Get a concise snapshot of the trial, including recruitment status, study phase, enrollment targets, and key timeline milestones.

Recruitment Status

RECRUITING

Clinical Phase

NA

Total Enrollment

96 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2024-03-06

Study Completion Date

2026-04-30

Brief Summary

Review the sponsor-provided synopsis that highlights what the study is about and why it is being conducted.

This study uses two different types of interventions including electrical brain stimulation delivered during sleep, and brief, daily meditation training. The investigators are trying to figure out whether these techniques, either alone or in combination with each other, can positively impact the brain networks that support our ability to think flexibly and to regulate our emotions. 48 participants will be enrolled into each of 2 phases and can expect to be on study for up to 9 months.

Detailed Description

Dive into the extended narrative that explains the scientific background, objectives, and procedures in greater depth.

The investigators will evaluate the independent and synergistic effect of Cognitive Flexibility (CF)/Emotional Regulation (ER) - targeted meditation and CF/ER-targeted Transcranial Electrical Stimulation with Temporal Interference (TES-TI) during sleep in low-risk participants (n = 48).

After informed consent, all participants will undergo a set of baseline assessments, including self-report measures, behavioral tasks, functional and structural MRI, and a baseline in-laboratory sleep study.

Following these assessments, participants undergo four weeks of the study intervention. The participants will be assigned into one of four groups. Each group consists of 12 participants.

After completing the 4-week intervention, participants will repeat the behavioral, self-report, and imaging assessments given at baseline. Participants will also complete a 7-day ecological momentary assessment (EMA) at baseline, the week after intervention, and at 4-months following intervention. At the 4-month follow-up, participants may complete another round of self-report and behavioral measures.

The Primary Objectives are to:

* Evaluate the effects of the following on CF and ER networks:

1. meditation practice alone
2. meditation practice and high-dose TES-TI
3. meditation practice and low-dose TES-TI
4. TES-TI alone

The Secondary Objectives are to:

* Evaluate the differential synergies between Non-Rapid Eye Movement (NREM) and Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep TES-TI intervention and the restoration of CF verses ER circuits

For Phase 2, an additional 48 participants will be recruited and will eliminate TES-TI once per week. All participants will come to the sleep laboratory for 2 nights over the 4 week intervention period.

Planned interim analysis of slow wave activity data from N=20 participants is adequately powered to evaluate whether TES-TI produces the anticipated modulation of deep sleep.

Conditions

See the medical conditions and disease areas that this research is targeting or investigating.

Cognitive Flexibility Emotional Regulation

Study Design

Understand how the trial is structured, including allocation methods, masking strategies, primary purpose, and other design elements.

Allocation Method

NON_RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

PARALLEL

N= 48 into Phase 1, N=48 into Phase 2
Primary Study Purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Blinding Strategy

SINGLE

Participants
Participants will not know whether they are in a group receiving active stimulation (groups 2, 3, and 4) or sham stimulation (group 1). However, participants will know whether they are performing meditation (groups 1, 3, and 4) or listening to only the didactic meditation material (group 2), and participants will be aware of how many nights they are undergoing stimulation (1 night per week for group 3, 2 nights per week for groups 1, 2, and 4). Thus, participants will be only partially blind to condition. Investigators will not be blind to condition.

Study Groups

Review each arm or cohort in the study, along with the interventions and objectives associated with them.

Group 1: Mediation Only (Phase 1 and Phase 2)

* Baseline measures including imaging
* Meditation plus Sham Stimulation 2 nights per week for 4 weeks
* Post Intervention (week 5) measures including imaging
* Follow up measures (week 20)

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Healthy Minds Program

Intervention Type OTHER

Participants will follow daily instructions from the Healthy Minds Program at home for four weeks, including guided meditation exercises.

Sham Stimulation in Lab

Intervention Type DEVICE

On two nights each week during the four weeks of the intervention, participants will sleep in the lab and undergo sham TES-TI stimulation for approximately 10 hours per night

MRI Scanner

Intervention Type DEVICE

Imaging protocol will include: structural T1-weighted and T2-weighted images, resting-state functional MRI, task-based functional MRI, and multi-shell diffusion weighted MRI, total scan time will be approximately 2 hours

Group 2: Stimulation Only (Phase 1 and Phase 2)

* Baseline measures including imaging
* Sham Meditation plus Stimulation in Lab 2 nights per week for 4 weeks
* Post Intervention (week 5) measures including imaging
* Follow up measures (week 20)

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Sham Meditation Didactic Material

Intervention Type OTHER

Participants will listen to lessons from the Healthy Minds Program at home for four weeks, which will not include any actual meditation exercises.

Stimulation in Lab

Intervention Type DEVICE

Participants will sleep in the lab and undergo active TES-TI stimulation for approximately 10 hours per night.

MRI Scanner

Intervention Type DEVICE

Imaging protocol will include: structural T1-weighted and T2-weighted images, resting-state functional MRI, task-based functional MRI, and multi-shell diffusion weighted MRI, total scan time will be approximately 2 hours

Group 3: Combined, Low Frequency (Phase 1)

* Baseline measures including imaging
* Meditation plus Stimulation in Lab 1 night per week for 4 weeks
* Post Intervention (week 5) measures including imaging
* Follow up measures (week 20)

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Healthy Minds Program

Intervention Type OTHER

Participants will follow daily instructions from the Healthy Minds Program at home for four weeks, including guided meditation exercises.

Stimulation in Lab

Intervention Type DEVICE

Participants will sleep in the lab and undergo active TES-TI stimulation for approximately 10 hours per night.

MRI Scanner

Intervention Type DEVICE

Imaging protocol will include: structural T1-weighted and T2-weighted images, resting-state functional MRI, task-based functional MRI, and multi-shell diffusion weighted MRI, total scan time will be approximately 2 hours

Group 4: Combined, High Frequency (Phase 1 and Phase 2)

* Baseline measures including imaging
* Meditation plus Stimulation in Lab 2 nights per week for 4 weeks
* Post Intervention (week 5) measures including imaging
* Follow up measures (week 20)

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Healthy Minds Program

Intervention Type OTHER

Participants will follow daily instructions from the Healthy Minds Program at home for four weeks, including guided meditation exercises.

Stimulation in Lab

Intervention Type DEVICE

Participants will sleep in the lab and undergo active TES-TI stimulation for approximately 10 hours per night.

MRI Scanner

Intervention Type DEVICE

Imaging protocol will include: structural T1-weighted and T2-weighted images, resting-state functional MRI, task-based functional MRI, and multi-shell diffusion weighted MRI, total scan time will be approximately 2 hours

Interventions

Learn about the drugs, procedures, or behavioral strategies being tested and how they are applied within this trial.

Healthy Minds Program

Participants will follow daily instructions from the Healthy Minds Program at home for four weeks, including guided meditation exercises.

Intervention Type OTHER

Sham Meditation Didactic Material

Participants will listen to lessons from the Healthy Minds Program at home for four weeks, which will not include any actual meditation exercises.

Intervention Type OTHER

Sham Stimulation in Lab

On two nights each week during the four weeks of the intervention, participants will sleep in the lab and undergo sham TES-TI stimulation for approximately 10 hours per night

Intervention Type DEVICE

Stimulation in Lab

Participants will sleep in the lab and undergo active TES-TI stimulation for approximately 10 hours per night.

Intervention Type DEVICE

MRI Scanner

Imaging protocol will include: structural T1-weighted and T2-weighted images, resting-state functional MRI, task-based functional MRI, and multi-shell diffusion weighted MRI, total scan time will be approximately 2 hours

Intervention Type DEVICE

Other Intervention Names

Discover alternative or legacy names that may be used to describe the listed interventions across different sources.

Health Minds App TES-TI Transcranial Electrical Stimulation with Temporal Interference 3 Tesla MAGNUS Microstructure Anatomy Gradient for Neuroimaging with Ultrafast Scanning

Eligibility Criteria

Check the participation requirements, including inclusion and exclusion rules, age limits, and whether healthy volunteers are accepted.

Inclusion Criteria

* Medically healthy
* English-speaking (able to provide consent and complete questionnaires)
* Citizen or legal resident

Exclusion Criteria

* Any current or recent history (6 months) of any mental health diagnosis (Examples include major depression, hypomania, psychosis, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder)
* Any current or recent (past 6 months) history of treatment for mental illness (including anti-depressant/anti anxiety medications, therapy)
* Scoring above Moderate range for Anxiety or Depression - Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) greater than or equal to 15 or General Anxiety Disorder (GAD7) greater than or equal to 15
* At risk for suicide (PHQ item 9 greater than 0)
* Any current or past history of neurological disorders or acquired neurological disease (e.g. stroke, traumatic brain injury), including intracranial lesions and obstructive sleep apnea
* History of head trauma resulting in prolonged loss of consciousness; or a history of greater than 3 grade I concussions
* Current history of poorly controlled headaches including intractable or poorly controlled migraines
* Any systemic illness or unstable medical condition that may cause a medical emergency in case of a provoked seizure (cardiac malformation, cardiac dysrhythmia, asthma, etc.)
* History of fainting spells of unknown or undetermined etiology that might constitute seizures
* History of seizures, diagnosis of epilepsy, history of abnormal (epileptiform) electroencephalogram, or family history of treatment resistant epilepsy with the exception of a single seizure of benign etiology (e.g. febrile seizures) in the judgment of a board-certified neurologist
* Possible pregnancy or plan to become pregnant in the next 6 months.
* Any metal in the brain, skull or elsewhere
* Any hair braid, dreadlocks, hair pieces, or extensions which cannot be taken out before the MRI scans and/or sleep stimulation sessions
* Any head coverings or headdress that participant feels uncomfortable removing for the purposes of the MRI scans and/or sleep stimulation sessions
* Any medical devices or implants (i.e. cardiac pacemaker, medication infusion pump, cochlear implant, vagal nerve stimulator) unless otherwise approved by the responsible physician
* Dental implants containing metal (titanium or titanium alloys) surgically implanted post and core
* Substance use disorder within the past six months
* Any medication that may alter seizure threshold i.e., Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) stimulants (Adderall, amphetamine); Tricyclic/atypical antidepressants (amitriptyline, doxepine, imipramine, maprotiline, nortriptyline, bupropion); Antipsychotics (chlorpromazine, clozapine), Bronchodilators (theophylline, aminophylline); Antibiotics (fluoroquinolones, imipenem, penicillin, cephalosporins, metronidazole, isoniazid); Antivirals (valacyclovir, ritonavir); Over the Counter (OTC) (diphenhydramine, Benadryl)
* Claustrophobia (a fear of small or closed places)
* Back problems that would prevent lying flat for up to two hours
* Regular night-shift work (second or third shift)
* Do not have access to a smartphone or the internet
* Regular meditation practice and/or prior use of the Healthy Minds Program app
* Cannot visit the lab in-person for 7 consecutive weeks in the next year
* Permanent retainers


* Any current or recent history (6 months) of bipolar disorder, psychosis, schizophrenia. A history of stable depression or anxiety is not exclusionary.
* Mental health treatment (e.g, psychotherapy) is no longer exclusionary, although all the medication exclusions outlined above still apply
Minimum Eligible Age

18 Years

Maximum Eligible Age

50 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Sponsors

Meet the organizations funding or collaborating on the study and learn about their roles.

United States Department of Defense

FED

Sponsor Role collaborator

University of Wisconsin, Madison

OTHER

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

Identify the individual or organization who holds primary responsibility for the study information submitted to regulators.

Responsibility Role SPONSOR

Principal Investigators

Learn about the lead researchers overseeing the trial and their institutional affiliations.

Richard Davidson, PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

University of Wisconsin, Madison

Giulio Tononi, MD, PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

University of Wisconsin, Madison

Locations

Explore where the study is taking place and check the recruitment status at each participating site.

Center for Healthy Minds

Madison, Wisconsin, United States

Site Status RECRUITING

Countries

Review the countries where the study has at least one active or historical site.

United States

Central Contacts

Reach out to these primary contacts for questions about participation or study logistics.

Tricia Denman

Role: CONTACT

608-890-2960

Isa Dolski

Role: CONTACT

608-265-8107

Related Links

Access external resources that provide additional context or updates about the study.

https://centerhealthyminds.org/

Center for Healthy Minds

Other Identifiers

Review additional registry numbers or institutional identifiers associated with this trial.

Protocol Version 2/28/2025

Identifier Type: OTHER

Identifier Source: secondary_id

L&S/PSYCHOLOGY/PSYCHOLOGY

Identifier Type: OTHER

Identifier Source: secondary_id

A487400

Identifier Type: OTHER

Identifier Source: secondary_id

AWD00000302

Identifier Type: OTHER_GRANT

Identifier Source: secondary_id

2023-1473

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id

More Related Trials

Additional clinical trials that may be relevant based on similarity analysis.

TMS With Real-time E-field and EEG Source Imaging
NCT06645613 NOT_YET_RECRUITING NA