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CALM Study: Mindfulness for Age-Related Cognitive Decline and Alzheimer's Disease

This study, called CALM (Cardiac-Control Affecting Learning Through Mindfulness), is looking at how daily mindfulness practice can affect memory, attention, and blood markers related to Alzheimer's disease. You would practice mindfulness while trying to either increase or decrease your heart rate oscillation (how much your heart rate changes). Researchers will measure changes in your blood amyloid-beta 42 levels, a marker linked to Alzheimer's, at the beginning and after 10 weeks. This study is for people aged 50-70 who are fluent in English, Black/African-American or White/European-American, and meet other health and technical requirements. The study is currently recruiting 240 participants.

Study design
This is an interventional study planning to enroll 240 participants. It is designed to investigate the effects of daily mindfulness practice with heart rate biofeedback.
What's involved
Participants will undergo daily mindfulness practice and agree to provide blood samples. Blood samples will be taken at Week 1 and Week 10.
Compensation
Not stated in the trial record.
Follow-up
Participants will be followed for at least 10 weeks, based on the primary endpoint timeframe.

AI-generated from the public study record. Only the study team can confirm whether you're eligible — confirm details with them before making decisions.

NCT06410157

Cardiac-Control Affecting Learning Through Mindfulness (CALM)

Recruiting
NAAges 50–70InterventionalBasic science
University of Southern California
~240 participants
Updated 2026-05-13 on ClinicalTrials.gov
What's tested:Daily practice

At a glance

Recruiting sites
1 of 1 listed site is recruiting right now
RecruitingSuspended, closed, or not yet open
What they're measuring
Change in plasma amyloid-beta 42 levels
Measured over Week 1 and Week 10

Conditions

Age-related Cognitive Decline
Alzheimer Disease

Explore related trials

Age-related cognitive declineAlzheimer's Disease

Where it's being run

1 sites across 1 states
California1

Who to contact

Emotion & Cognition Lab Coordinator
[email protected]
213-740-9543
Email the study team

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Do you actually qualify for this trial?

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Eligibility criteria

Inclusion

Fluent in English
Black/African-American or White/European-American
Aged between 50-70 years old
Non-pregnant and non-menstruating (for at least the past year)
Have normal or corrected-to-normal vision and hearing
Have reliable access to wifi
Have an email account that you check regularly
Have a phone that receives text messages
Agree to provide blood and urine samples at two campus visits
Agree to devote up to 50 minutes daily to this study for 10 weeks as well as attend two campus visits

Exclusion

Have a disorder that would impede performing the breathing intervention (e.g., abnormal cardiac rhythm, arrhythmia, dyspnea)
Have cognitive impairment
Have regularly played Lumosity games in the past 6 months
Have any conditions listed below that are not safe for MRI
\*Metal in any parts of your body
Claustrophobia
Have worked as a machinist, metal worker, or in any profession or hobby grinding metal?
Have had an injury to the eye involving a metallic object (e.g., metallic slivers, shavings, or foreign body)
Cardiac pacemaker
Implanted cardiac defibrillator
Aneurysm clip or brain clip
Carotid artery vascular clamp
Neurostimulator
Insulin or infusion pump
Spinal fusion stimulator
Cochlear, otologic, ear tubes or ear implant
Prosthesis (eye/orbital, penile, etc.)
Implant held in place by a magnet
Heart valve prosthesis
Artificial limb or joint
Other implants in body or head
Electrodes (on body, head or brain)
Intravascular stents, filters
Shunt (spinal or intraventricular)
Vascular access port or catheters
IUD
Transdermal delivery system or other types of foil patches (e.g., Nitro, Nicotine, Birth control, etc.) that cannot be removed for MRI
Shrapnel, buckshot, or bullets
Tattooed eyeliner or eyebrows
Body piercing(s) that cannot be removed for MRI
Metal fragments (eye, head, ear, skin)
Internal pacing wires
Aortic clips
Metal or wire mesh implants
Wire sutures or surgical staples
Harrington rods (spine)
Bone/joint pin, screw, nail, wire, plate
Wig or toupee that cannot be removed for MRI
Hair implants that involve staples or metal
Hearing aid(s) that cannot be removed for MRI
Dentures or retainers that cannot be removed for MRI

What this trial measures

  • Change in plasma amyloid-beta 42 levelsWeek 1 and Week 10

    Plasma Ab42 levels will be compared for Week 1 (pre-intervention) and Week 10 (post-intervention). Investigators will test for a time X condition interaction in plasma Ab 42 levels (to assess group differences in change).