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

Two brief meditations—focused and deconstructive—administered before a social stress task increased heart rate variability prior to the stressor, indicating reduced physiological activation, compared to an active control condition. However, this effect did not persist during the stress task itself. Anticipatory cognitive threat appraisal decreased across all conditions, showing no specific meditation benefit. The findings suggest that even a single, short meditation session can lower physiological arousal before a stressful event, and that deconstructive meditations may offer stress-reducing potential similar to better-studied attentional meditations.

Study at a glance

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.