Both mindfulness and sham groups reported emotional improvements in a student trial
College students receiving mindfulness training or a sham intervention both improved on emotional and mindfulness questionnaires. Immediate meditation changed some physiological measurements, but a lasting advantage over sham remained unclear.
Based on the published abstract. The full paper may contain additional methods, results and limitations.
The 30-second takeaway
College students in both the mindfulness and sham groups reported improved emotional states and mindfulness after training, with improvements persisting at follow-up. Immediate meditation also changed blood pressure and some heartbeat-variation measurements compared with initial stress. The abstract does not establish that standardized mindfulness produced greater lasting emotional improvement than the sham intervention.
The abstract reports changes within groups without a clear numerical between-group estimate for emotional outcomes. It also provides no effect sizes for physiological changes, limiting assessment of their magnitude and whether they demonstrate improved resilience.
Immediate changes did not settle resilience
Heart rate variability describes variation in the intervals between heartbeats. Some measures changed during immediate meditation, alongside lower blood pressure. Yet the abstract reports no notable physiological differences across stress conditions, leaving the response to repeated stress unresolved.
Shared improvement complicates attribution
Both training groups improved on questionnaires assessing depression, anxiety, stress and mindfulness. Stress-related blood pressure decreased within the meditation group, but a significant change in that group alone does not establish a larger effect than in the sham group.
The original publication
Exploring the Impact of Different Mindfulness Meditation Interventions on College Students' Resilience: A Randomized Controlled Trial.
Zhou J, Zhao X, Fan C et al.
Stress Health · 2025
- PubMed ID
- 40631857
- Record checked
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