Systematic Literature Review: Heart Rate Variability (HRV) as a Neurobiological Biomarker of Mindfulness Effects on Emotion Regulation
Anggita Rana Sasmita Lestari, Atika Rahmania El Barusi
International Journal of Science Education and Cultural Studies October 20, 2025 DOI: 10.58291/ijsecs.v4i2.431 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Systematic review Randomized Longitudinal Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Meditation |
| Keywords | Heart rate variability Psychological intervention Systematic review Flexibility engineering Biomarker Meta-analysis Distress Clinical psychology Cognitive psychology Randomized controlled trial Psychophysiology Emotion recognition |
| Citations | 1 |
| Key findings | Mindfulness interventions significantly increase parasympathetic-related HRV measures (RMSSD and HF) and reduce emotional distress relative to baseline or control conditions. |
Abstract
Heart Rate Variability (HRV) is increasingly relevant in applied psychology and medicine because it offers objective indices of autonomic flexibility tied to emotion regulation. Mindfulness interventions including brief, intensive, and online‐based programs have been studied in relation to HRV, using both time-domain (e.g. RMSSD, SDNN) and frequency-domain (e.g. high-frequency power, HF; LF/HF ratio) parameters. In this review (40 empirical studies from 2020–2025, randomized controlled trials, within-subject and longitudinal designs), we find that mindfulness significantly increases parasympathetic‐related HRV measures (notably RMSSD and HF) and reduces emotional distress (e.g. anxiety, stress) relative to baseline or control conditions. However, effect sizes are variable due to methodological inconsistencies (different HRV recording durations, resting vs. active tasks) and heterogeneous samples. The review highlights HRV’s promise as a biomarker for mindfulness‐based emotion regulation, especially when studies use standardized protocols. For maximum impact, future work should employ longer follow‐ups, rigorous RCTs, and integrate multi‐modal physiological and psychological measurement across diverse populations.
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 |