Study will test whether a circadian-aligned planning app developed in San Diego can improve well-being, focus, and energy among undergraduates

LA JOLLA, California, January 13, 2026 – UC San Diego researchers are launching a randomized controlled trial to test whether helping college students align their daily schedules with their natural circadian rhythms can improve mental health outcomes. The study, beginning this winter quarter, will use a smartphone application called Owaves: My BodyClock™ to guide students in planning sleep, study, exercise and social activities in sync with their “body clocks.” Researchers will then track effects on participants’ happiness, energy and focus as indicators of mental well-being.

The interdisciplinary trial is a collaboration between UC San Diego’s Department of Psychology, Halıcıoğlu Data Science Institute, Center for Circadian Biology, and Owaves, a San Diego-based digital health startup. It is led by psychology professor Karen Dobkins – who teaches the university’s Learning Sustainable Well-Being course – and bioengineering professor Benjamin Smarr, an expert on circadian and sleep science, with UCSD doctoral student Sophia North as a co-investigator. Over seven weeks, undergraduate volunteers will be randomly assigned either to use the Owaves: My BodyClock app for daily routine planning or to a control group without the intervention. By comparing pre- and post-trial assessments, the researchers aim to determine if circadian-aligned scheduling produces measurable gains in student well-being.

“Previous research finds that aligning daily activities with one’s natural chronotype is linked to enhanced well-being and productivity. However, there is still a need for more randomized, intervention-based studies that test behavioral alignment tools, such as Owaves, and how they impact various aspects of well-being.”

— Sophia North, UCSD Doctoral Student and study co-investigator

This research comes at a time of heightened concern about college student mental health and growing interest in preventive, non-pharmacological interventions. Roughly one in four undergraduate students today screens positive for a common mental disorder such as anxiety or depression. University health experts have called for evidence-based wellness programs that reach students before issues escalate.

“People reach out for help at the point that they’re in pretty bad shape. A lot of people don’t even take the steps to get the help they need because they’re embarrassed or they feel alone in their experiences.”

— Karen Dobkins, Professor of Psychology, UC San Diego

The new UC San Diego study will explore an innovative, science-driven approach to wellness: leveraging chronobiology – the science of biological clocks – to improve mood and performance. Studies have linked strong circadian alignment to better sleep quality and psychological well-being, while circadian disruption can worsen symptoms of mood disorders. The idea is that by scheduling activities at optimal times of day for each individual’s body, students may experience gains in energy, focus and overall happiness.

“Now there’s a growing body of evidence that even small chronic circadian disruption over time could be causing a lot of the chronic disease that we see, especially metabolic and mood conditions. If we’re not paying attention to our circadian rhythms, we’re not taking care of ourselves.”

— Dr. Royan Kamyar, Founder and CEO, Owaves

Kamyar, a UC San Diego School of Medicine alumnus and Rady School MBA graduate, developed the Owaves app to help young people apply circadian wellness principles in daily life.

The Owaves: My BodyClock app presents a visual 24-hour wheel that helps users align daily activities with the body’s natural cycle. Developed by Owaves, Inc. in San Diego, the platform is described as the first wellness planner based on circadian biology – the same “internal clock” science honored with the 2017 Nobel Prize. Owaves’ program is especially tailored for young adults and college students, aiming to optimize routines to improve mood, energy and overall health. The app’s chronobiology-based approach was recently showcased in a UC San Diego news magazine profile of Kamyar’s mission to “pioneer the perfect day” through circadian-aligned living.

Professor Dobkins notes that the trial builds on her Learning Sustainable Well-Being curriculum at UCSD, part of a broader movement to teach practical life skills for mental health. Her efforts are similar in spirit to Yale University’s popular Science of Well-Being course, which brings positive psychology research to students at scale. By teaming up with Smarr and the Owaves team, Dobkins is integrating insights from psychology, chronobiology and digital health technology in pursuit of new wellness strategies for students.

Student enrollment for the trial began in early January, and the researchers anticipate preliminary results by spring 2026. If aligning schedules to biological rhythms proves beneficial, the findings could inform new campus well-being initiatives that emphasize lifestyle alignment over medication.

Smarr’s previous research underscores how much timing might matter. In 2018, he co-led a study of nearly 15,000 college students that found mismatches between students’ class schedules and their personal “chronotypes” (biological clock preferences) correlated with lower academic performance. Students whose circadian rhythms were most out of sync with their assigned class times saw average grade point averages drop by as much as about 0.4 points – roughly half a letter grade – compared to their more synchronized peers.

Those findings, published in Scientific Reports, have fueled calls for “chronocounseling” – a term Smarr and colleagues use to describe advising students on course schedules and habits based on their individual body clocks. In essence, universities might improve outcomes by helping students structure classes in accord with their biological timing, thereby reducing the “social jet lag” many experience when forced into incompatible schedules. The new UCSD-Owaves trial is a direct extension of that work, moving from identifying the problem to testing a potential solution.

“Rather than admonish late students to go to bed earlier, in conflict with their biological rhythms, we should work to individualize education so that learning and classes are structured to take advantage of knowing what time of day a given student will be most capable.”

— Dr. Ben Smarr, Bioengineering Professor, UCSD