Is meditation always relaxing? Investigating heart rate, heart rate variability, experienced effort and likeability during training of three types of meditation.
Anna-Lena Lumma, Bethany E Kok, Tania Singer
International Journal of Psychophysiology July 1, 2015 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2015.04.017 (opens in new tab)
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Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Longitudinal mental training study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Interventions | breathing meditation loving-kindness meditation observing-thoughts meditation |
| Duration | One-year longitudinal study with each meditation practiced daily for 3 months |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Keywords | Effort Enjoyment Heart rate variability Mental training |
| Key findings | Loving-kindness and observing-thoughts meditation produce higher heart rate and effort than breathing meditation, and training over time increases heart rate and likeability while decreasing heart rate variability and effort. |
Abstract
Meditation is often associated with a relaxed state of the body. However, meditation can also be regarded as a type of mental task and training, associated with mental effort and physiological arousal. The cardiovascular effects of meditation may vary depending on the type of meditation, degree of mental effort, and amount of training. In the current study we assessed heart rate (HR), high-frequency heart rate variability (HF-HRV) and subjective ratings of effort and likeability during three types of meditation varying in their cognitive and attentional requirements, namely breathing meditation, loving-kindness meditation and observing-thoughts meditation. In the context of the ReSource project, a one-year longitudinal mental training study, participants practiced each meditation exercise on a daily basis for 3 months. As expected HR and effort were higher during loving-kindness meditation and observing-thoughts meditation compared to breathing meditation. With training over time HR and likeability increased, while HF-HRV and the subjective experience of effort decreased. The increase in HR and decrease in HF-HRV over training was higher for loving-kindness meditation and observing-thoughts meditation compared to breathing meditation. In contrast to implicit beliefs that meditation is always relaxing and associated with low arousal, the current results show that core meditations aiming at improving compassion and meta-cognitive skills require effort and are associated with physiological arousal compared to breathing meditation. Overall these findings can be useful in making more specific suggestions about which type of meditation is most adaptive for a given context and population.
Comparable studies
Other observational and cohort studies on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Using Self-Report Assessment Methods to Explore Facets of Mindfulness Undergraduate students | 2006 | Observational cohort | |
| Effectiveness of a meditation-based stress reduction program in the treatment of anxiety disorders Patients with generalized anxiety disorder or panic disorder with or without agoraphobia | 1992 | Observational cohort | n = 22 |
| Meditation experience is associated with increased cortical thickness Participants with extensive Insight meditation experience and matched controls | 2005 | Observational cohort | n = 20 |
| Meditation experience is associated with differences in default mode network activity and connectivity Experienced meditators and matched meditation-naive controls | 2011 | Observational cohort | |
| Long-term meditators self-induce high-amplitude gamma synchrony during mental practice Long-term Buddhist practitioners and controls | 2004 | Observational cohort |
Citations in the library
Cited by 65
- Compassion and Loving-Kindness Meditation: An Overview and Prospects for the Application in Clinical Samples Harvard Review of Psychiatry July 1, 2018
- Beyond the veil of duality—topographic reorganization model of meditation Neuroscience of Consciousness 2022
- Meditation and Cognitive Ageing: the Role of Mindfulness Meditation in Building Cognitive Reserve Journal of Cognitive Enhancement April 12, 2017
- Ultra-Brief Mindfulness Training Reduces Alcohol Consumption in At-Risk Drinkers: A Randomized Double-Blind Active-Controlled Experiment The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology July 28, 2017
- Biological mechanism study of meditation and its application in mental disorders General Psychiatry July 13, 2020
and 60 more in the library
Cites 21
- How Does Mindfulness Meditation Work? Proposing Mechanisms of Action From a Conceptual and Neural Perspective Perspectives on Psychological Science October 14, 2011
- Mindfulness Training Improves Working Memory Capacity and GRE Performance While Reducing Mind Wandering Psychological Science March 28, 2013
- Loving-kindness and compassion meditation: potential for psychological interventions. Clinical Psychology Review July 26, 2011
- Neural mechanisms of attentional control in mindfulness meditation Frontiers in Neuroscience 2013
- Functional brain mapping of the relaxation response and meditation Neuroreport May 1, 2000
and 16 more in the library