Single session of mindfulness meditation improves cardiovascular recovery after anger

While mindfulness meditation (MM) interventions have immediate benefits for cardiovascular health, they lack sufficient sustainability. Brief forms of MM may be equally as effective for cardiovascular health under certain conditions. In particular, MM may be especially effective for those who ruminate (i.e., continually reflect on negative events) less often. Therefore, we evaluated the direct cardiovascular health benefits of a single-session of MM, and if trait rumination moderated cardiovascular and affective recovery. College students aged 18 to 30 (n=72) participated in the following lab stress reactivity tasks: a five-minute resting baseline, a five-minute anger recall task with thinking and verbal recall, and then during subsequent recovery random assignment to one of two conditions [either sit quietly (control) or complete MM for ten minutes]. Persons assigned to MM received a five-minute MM training session before the resting baseline period. Mean systolic and diastolic BP, heart rate, total peripheral resistance, and positive and negative affect were computed for each task. Repeated measures ANOVA tests found a significant period by condition effect for systolic BP [p(F) .014]; the MM (vs. control) condition showed lower systolic BP levels during thinking, verbal recall, and the second five minutes of recovery. Also, there were significant period by condition effects for negative and positive affect scores [p(F\u27s) .026]; with lower negative affect scores for the MM (vs. control) condition after anger recall and higher positive affect scores for the MM (vs. control) condition after recovery. However, there were no significant differences for any CV measure by level of rumination [p(t\u27s) .102]. Thus, a brief MM training session predicts greater cardiovascular recovery (perhaps by way of more positive mood) for those who practice MM after anger recall. Future studies will measure brief MM in field settings and compare practicing and non-practicing meditators systematically