Stress and health : journal of the International Society for the Investigation of Stress
February 2026
Franziska Maier, Ina Luttenberger, Aljoscha Dreisoerner et al.
Chronic stress has well-documented adverse effects on physical and psychological health. Beyond contributing to the development of fatigue, its impact is intensified by social stressors such as loneliness, making the development of effective interventions crucial. Our randomised controlled trial therefore investigated whether a 14-day self-soothing touch (SST) intervention reduces stress,...
Stress and health : journal of the International Society for the Investigation of Stress
December 1, 2025
Maris Vainre, Tim Dalgleish, Tia Bendriss-Otiko et al.
2 citations
Employers and universities globally subsidise access to mindfulness-based programmes (MBPs) for their employees and students to improve work performance, despite unclear evidence. This paper offers the highest quality synthesis of MBPs' impact on work performance in academic and occupational settings to date (PROSPERO #191756). On 2nd August 2024, we searched eight databases. The primary...
Stress and health : journal of the International Society for the Investigation of Stress
August 1, 2025
Jianhao Zhou, Xin Zhao, Cheng Fan et al.
2 citations
Resilience helps mitigate the negative impacts of stress and promotes effective adaptation in adverse situations. This study investigated the impact of immediate and standardized mindfulness meditation (MM) on the resilience of college students, aiming to offer adaptable MM practices for different stress scenarios. The blood pressure (BP) and heart rate variability (HRV) of 48 participants were...
Stress and health : journal of the International Society for the Investigation of Stress
August 1, 2025
Koichiro Adachi, Ryu Takizawa
This study aimed to determine whether online-guided mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) in daily life improve autonomic nervous system function as measured by the pupillary light reflex (PLR) in healthy subjects. A total of 94 university students were randomly allocated to either an intervention group or a waitlist control group. Participants practiced single-session meditation in a...
Stress and health : journal of the International Society for the Investigation of Stress
June 1, 2025
Esther N. Moszeik, Nicolas Rohleder, Karl-Heinz Renner
10 citations
Yoga Nidra meditation has been increasingly examined in recent years for its potential to enhance psychological well-being. However, few studies have examined its biological effects-such as diurnal cortisol patterns particularly in larger samples using pre-post designs. The primary objective of this randomised controlled trial was to examine both the psychological (stress, anxiety, depression,...
Stress and health : journal of the International Society for the Investigation of Stress
April 1, 2025
Mansee Thakur, Sanjana T Philip, Kunal R Desai et al.
4 citations
The rise in mental health conditions and stress has attracted global attention. Non-pharmacological and traditional approaches like meditative practices are showing promising results. Therefore, the aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of Heartfulness meditation on stress biomarkers, burnout, and well-being. A double-arm prospective randomized controlled study was carried out on 100...
Stress and health : journal of the International Society for the Investigation of Stress
February 1, 2025
Carole Daniel, Clémence Leyrat, Elodie Gentina et al.
Quality sleep is among the most important determinants of psychological and physical well-being. Insufficient sleep quality and quantity directly affect individuals; in turn, they indirectly affect the productivity, viability and safety of workplaces. Sleep issues also represent a global health concern for people and workplaces around the world. In addition to pharmaceutical aids, effective and...
Stress and health : journal of the International Society for the Investigation of Stress
October 1, 2024
Bárbara Monteiro, Ana Galhardo, Hugo Senra et al.
1 citation
The COVID-19 pandemic generated distinct mental health challenges, characterised by stress and anxiety due to its unpredictable duration and continuous threat. This study examined the role of meditation practice on anxiety symptoms and perceived stress, considering co-variables such as self-compassion, acceptance, awareness, brooding, lockdown duration, and sociodemographic characteristics. The...
Stress and health : journal of the International Society for the Investigation of Stress
June 1, 2024
Gandhar V Mandlik, George Siopis, Binh Nguyen et al.
18 citations
This systematic review synthesises the evidence for the effectiveness of a single session of yoga or its components including meditation and breathing techniques in reducing acute stress reactivity in healthy adults. Following the PRISMA guidelines, we searched Medline, EMBASE, Cochrane, CINAHL, and PsycINFO on 30th July 2023 for randomised controlled or crossover trials of yoga components and...
Stress and health : journal of the International Society for the Investigation of Stress
February 1, 2024
Rong Wang, Xiaodan Gu, Yang Zhang et al.
Loving-kindness and compassion meditation (LKCM) have been well applied among employees to improve their health and well-being. Existing studies on LKCM have also provided supportive evidence of its benefits and effectiveness under organizational contexts. The current meta-analytical study aimed to systematically summarise the effects of LKCM in the workplace and to outline directions for...
Stress and health : journal of the International Society for the Investigation of Stress
October 1, 2023
Yun‐Yue Zhuang, Lei-Lei Wang, Tian‐He Song et al.
The Nightmare Disorder Index Questionnaire (NDI) was developed to measure the impact of nightmares. The purpose of this study was to investigate the psychometric properties of NDI among Chinese adolescents. This study investigated the validity and internal consistency of the Nightmare Disorder Index Chinese (NDI-CV) among 6014 Chinese adolescents who completed the NDI-CV, Nightmare Distress...
Stress and health : journal of the International Society for the Investigation of Stress
October 1, 2020
Miguel Bellosta-Batalla, María Del Carmen Blanco-Gandía, Marta Rodríguez‐arias et al.
Mindfulness-based interventions (MBI) have been shown to be effective in increasing empathy in health professionals. Yet, more research is needed to analyse the specific influence of mindfulness exercises on biological variables involved in empathy, such as the biological system of oxytocin activity. In this study, we analyse the effects of a brief mindfulness session on positive and negative...
Stress and health : journal of the International Society for the Investigation of Stress
December 1, 2015
Roberta A Szekeres, Eleanor H Wertheim
Residential Vipassana meditation courses, which teach mindfulness skills, are widely available globally but under-evaluated. This study examined effects of a standardized, community-based Vipassana course, on subjective stress, well-being, self-kindness and trait mindfulness in a community sample. Participants completed self-report measures of these variables at pre-course and post-course (n =...