Anticipating Stress: To Focus on the Body or Do a Self-Inquiry? The Effects of a Focused and Deconstructive Meditation Session on the Stress Response
Liudmila Gamaiunova, Nicolas Pellerin
Mindfulness November 24, 2025 Peer reviewed DOI: 10.1007/s12671-025-02721-6 via OpenAlex
Summary
Brief meditation sessions before a stressful event can increase heart rate variability, indicating reduced physiological arousal, but do not lower stress during the event itself. In a randomized trial, 71 healthy adults listened to a 15-minute focused meditation, deconstructive meditation, or a story before a social stress task. Both meditation types raised heart rate variability before the stressor compared to the control, with deconstructive meditation showing a larger effect. Anticipatory threat appraisal decreased across all conditions, suggesting no unique cognitive benefit from meditation.
Study at a glance
| Design | randomized controlled trial |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 71 |
| Population | meditation-naive healthy volunteers |
| Key finding | Both focused and deconstructive meditations increased heart rate variability before a stressor compared to an active control, but this effect did not persist during the stress task. |
Abstract
Abstract Objectives Contemplative practices rooted in Buddhism have been linked to psychophysiological stress reduction. However, most research has been conducted on attentional meditations (e.g., mindfulness), leaving techniques from other meditation families largely unexplored. This study aimed to test the stress-attenuating effects of two different meditations administered before a social stress task. Method Eligible meditation-naive healthy volunteers ( n = 71) were randomized into three groups: focused meditation, deconstructive meditation, and active control. Participants listened to a 15-min meditation or a story right before a stressor, and filled out a questionnaire assessing anticipatory stress appraisal, and the activity of the autonomic nervous system was measured throughout the task. Results The results demonstrated that compared to active control, both focused ( d = 0.84, 95% CI [0.30, 1.49]) and analytical ( d = 1.27, 95% CI [0.79, 1.90]) meditations increased heart rate variability before the stressor, but this effect did not continue during the task. Anticipatory cognitive appraisal of threat decreased from pre- to post-intervention in all conditions, demonstrating no specific effect of meditations. Conclusions The results tentatively suggest that while a brief meditation session may not reduce stress during the task, it can effectively decrease physiological activation preceding the stress. Both meditations had a significantly higher effect than active control, suggesting that deconstructive meditations show a similar stress-reducing potential as the well-researched attentional meditations. Preregistration The study is not preregistered.