Daily Stress and Heart Rate Variability Among Mindfulness Meditation Practitioners: mHealth Observational Study.
Journal of Medical Internet Research May 29, 2026 Jo Takezawa, Shixian Geng, Masahiro Fujino et al.
Meditation practice is associated with lower subjective stress, though its effects on heart rate variability (HRV), a physiological marker of stress, are more nuanced. In a 3-week observational study of 90 participants—19 meditation practitioners, 32 recreational runners, and 39 controls—stress levels were significantly lower in both the meditation and running groups compared with controls. However, only the running group showed elevated HRV in daily life. During meditation sessions, HRV acutely increased by 4.68 milliseconds, with effects lasting at least 30 minutes post-practice. Higher subjective stress was linked to a concurrent reduction in HRV across all groups. The findings suggest meditation may increase HRV at specific times, potentially contributing to stress reduction, but this requires further study.