Three days of brief mindfulness meditation training (one hour total) reduced negative mood, depression, fatigue, confusion, and heart rate in 82 undergraduates with no prior meditation experience, compared to both a sham meditation group and a control group. The improvements exceeded those attributable to demand characteristics, indicating genuine beneficial effects of brief meditation on mood and cardiovascular variables.
Online mindfulness training for people with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) shows that the level of support affects how many people finish the program, but not the benefits they receive. Participants who received support completed the protocol at a rate of 44.1%, compared to 11.7% for those who were self-guided. Both groups experienced similar benefits. Common challenges to meditation did not predict adherence and did not change over time. The findings suggest that offering supported online mindfulness interventions can improve completion rates among IBD patients, who often face barriers to in-person programs due to symptoms like pain, fatigue, and incontinence.