Advanced and long-term meditation and the autonomic nervous system: A review and synthesis.
Idil Sezer, Matthew D. Sacchet
Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews June 1, 2025 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2025.106141 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Systematic review Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Meditation |
| Keywords | Advanced meditation Autonomic nervous system Brain-body interactions Cardiac resonance Long-term meditation Parasympathetic nervous system |
| Citations | 14 |
| Key findings | When accounting for meditation style, expertise level, and intra-individual variations, convergent patterns emerge that shift the concept from 'long-term' to 'advanced' meditation, revealing specific heart rate variability patterns and cardiac-respiratory coupling. |
Abstract
Meditation has become prominent in both clinical and non-clinical applications for its effects on psychological and physical well-being. Long-term meditators, who have dedicated extensive time to their practice, present a unique opportunity to explore the effects of prolonged meditation training on the autonomic nervous system. Research has reported concomitant activation of both sympathetic (aroused) and parasympathetic (relaxed) branches of the autonomic nervous system during some forms of meditation, leading to the term 'relaxed alertness.' However, findings are not consistent, with reports of both sympathetic and parasympathetic activation, sympathetic-only, parasympathetic-only, or temporally variable activations, depending on several factors. This review synthesizes these heterogeneous and seemingly inconsistent results in relation to three explanatory factors: (1) specific classification of style or type of meditation; (2) specific definition of the level of expertise of the meditators; and (3) intra-individual variations within a given meditation practice. When these factors are considered, convergent and meaningful patterns emerge, allowing for a shift from the broad notion of 'long-term' meditation to a more precise characterization of 'advanced' meditation, highlighting skills, states, and stages of mastery developed over time. Our synthesis is particularly useful for understanding both long-term and advanced meditation, as it reveals specific heart rate variability patterns, including very low and low-frequency spectral power peaks, along with cardiac and respiratory coupling. Better characterization of the role of the autonomic nervous system in the context of advanced meditation promises to inform improved meditation training, including training assisted by technology, toward more impactful outcomes.
Comparable studies
Other systematic reviews and meta-analyses on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meditation Programs for Psychological Stress and Well-being Diverse adult clinical populations | 2014 | Meta-analysis | n = 3,515 |
| Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction for Stress Management in Healthy People: A Review and Meta-Analysis Healthy subjects | 2009 | Systematic review and meta-analysis | |
| The psychological effects of meditation: A meta-analysis. Nonclinical groups of adult meditators | 2012 | Meta-analysis | n = 163 |
| Efficacy of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy in Prevention of Depressive Relapse Adults with recurrent depression in full or partial remission | 2016 | Meta-analysis of individual patient data from randomized controlled trials | n = 1,258 |
| Mindfulness‐Based Stress Reduction and Mindfulness‐Based Cognitive Therapy – a systematic review of randomized controlled trials | 2011 | Systematic review |
Citations in the library
Cited by 12
- Mindfulness, cognition, and long-term meditators: Toward a science of advanced meditation. Imaging Neuroscience 2025
- Neural and molecular changes during a mind-body reconceptualization, meditation, and open label placebo healing intervention Communications Biology November 6, 2025
- Active inference, computational phenomenology, and advanced meditation: Toward the formalization of the experience of meditation. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews March 1, 2026
- Toward a neuroscience of consciousness using advanced meditation. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews February 1, 2026
- Advanced meditation, sleep, and consciousness science: An emerging frontier. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews August 1, 2026
and 7 more in the library
Cites 57
- Mind the Hype: A Critical Evaluation and Prescriptive Agenda for Research on Mindfulness and Meditation Perspectives on Psychological Science October 10, 2017
- Loving-kindness and compassion meditation: potential for psychological interventions. Clinical Psychology Review July 26, 2011
- Investigating the phenomenological matrix of mindfulness-related practices from a neurocognitive perspective. American Psychologist October 1, 2015
- The meeting of meditative disciplines and western psychology: A mutually enriching dialogue. American Psychologist 2006
- Physiological Effects of Transcendental Meditation Science March 27, 1970
and 52 more in the library