Online mindfulness lowered reported anxiety, while physiological changes remained uncertain
Healthy university students assigned to online mindfulness reported lower current anxiety than waitlisted students after the program. Evidence for changes in nervous-system activity and perceived stress was less clear.
Based on the published abstract. The full paper may contain additional methods, results and limitations.
The 30-second takeaway
The mindfulness group reported lower anxiety at the end of the program compared with the waitlist group. A single session also improved reported relaxation and emotional fluctuations, without statistically significant physiological differences. Longer-term nervous-system and stress results were less certain, so the abstract does not establish the proposed cumulative physiological effect.
The trial was not preregistered. The abstract gives statistical significance but no anxiety effect size, leaving the amount of improvement unclear; a waitlist comparison also cannot isolate effects specific to mindfulness.
What researchers found
State anxiety, meaning anxiety at the time of assessment
After 12 weeks versus waitlist control, the abstract reported a statistically significant decrease (p = 0.05), without giving its magnitude.
How physiology was assessed
Researchers measured the pupil's response to light as an indicator of autonomic nervous-system function. This was a physiological measurement alongside psychological questionnaires, rather than a direct test of disease prevention or a clinical health outcome.
Why the outcomes differ
Reported anxiety and relaxation can improve without a clearly demonstrated change in the physiological measures used here. The longer program's nervous-system and perceived-stress findings were described as marginal, making the authors' cumulative-effect interpretation tentative.
The original publication
The Cumulative Effect of a 12-Week Online Mindfulness-Based Meditation Intervention Programme on Autonomic Nerve Functions by Pupillary Light Reflex: A Pilot Randomised Controlled Trial.
Adachi K, Takizawa R
Stress Health · 2025
- PubMed ID
- 40728207
- Record checked
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