Yu Gao

2 papers in the library · 11 citations · publishing 2024-2026

Papers

Mobile-Delivered Mindfulness Intervention on Anxiety Level Among College Athletes: Randomized Controlled Trial.

Journal of Medical Internet Research March 8, 2024 Yu Gao, Lu Shi, Ning Fu et al. 11 citations

A mobile-delivered mindfulness program for college athletes in Shanghai showed no significant reduction in anxiety. Of 288 athletes, 150 received a therapist-guided smartphone mindfulness intervention while 138 received mental health messages. The intervention group showed no notable improvement in dispositional anxiety, precompetition anxiety, or competition anxiety compared to controls. Only the mindfulness facet of observation showed a small, statistically non-significant gain. Athletes in group sports reported higher anxiety and lower nonjudgmental and nonreactive mindfulness than individual-sport athletes. Participant feedback suggested that time constraints, such as exam periods, may have limited the program's effectiveness.

DOI: 10.2196/40406 Full text Anxiety Meditation Mindfulness Athletes +14

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.

DOI: 10.1007/s44192-026-00444-1 Full text Meditation Heart rate variability Parasympathetic Stress