Cardiovascular and affective responses to speech and anger: Proactive benefits of a single brief session of mindfulness meditation

Abstract

Purpose This pilot study evaluated whether a brief, 5‐min single‐session of mindfulness meditation (MM) training could lessen cardiovascular and affective reactivity to speech and anger recall. Moreover, we tested if trait levels of perseverative cognitions (PCs) moderated these relationships. Methods Participants completed online survey measures including PCs; thereafter, they completed a 5‐min resting baseline, 2‐min speech task, and 5‐min anger recall task while measures of BP were collected. The experimental group received a 5‐min MM training session before the resting baseline period. Results Repeated measures ANOVA were conducted for condition (MM vs. control) and period (repeated: baseline, speech, anger recall) on blood pressure (BP). The MM group showed less systolic and diastolic BP reactivity during speech and anger recall than the control group. There were no effects observed for negative affect nor did PCs moderate the BP findings. Conclusion Thus, even 5 min of MM training can have momentary cardiovascular benefits, having important implications for the training and implementation of MM programs.

Cognitive Resilience Under Stress: A Tradeoff Between Mental Well-being and Mobilization

“…Existing research highlights the relationship between mental well-being-promoting activities and higher cognitive resilience. Brief mindfulness exercises are effective in reducing stress levels (Johnson et al, 2019), and app-based mindfulness can affect attention and non-reactivity (Gavrilova & Zawadzki, under review). Mindfulness increases attention, dis-1 Literatures on anxiety, depression/sadness, fear, and threat are often discussed in tandem but are conceptually distinct.…”