Mindfulness-based intervention alters nonlinear heart rate variability in a pilot study.
Discover Mental Health April 11, 2026 Yu Gao, Liat Zitron, Serena Guo
A six-week mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) for first-year college students led to lower DFA α1 values—a nonlinear measure of heart rate variability—during acute stress compared to an active control group, suggesting mindfulness may alter the dynamic organization of autonomic stress responses. Both groups reported reduced stress and anxiety after the intervention. No differences were found in heart rate or the linear RMSSD index. These preliminary results indicate that nonlinear HRV metrics may be especially sensitive to mindfulness-related changes in cardiovascular regulation under acute challenge.