Meditation and the Body’s Signs of Stress: What a Research Review Found

Research details

The review included 45 randomized controlled human studies comparing meditation with active control conditions.

Meditation was associated with lower levels of several physical stress-related markers, including cortisol, blood pressure, heart rate, and some inflammation markers.

All meditation subtypes examined were associated with lower systolic blood pressure.

Focused-attention meditation was associated with lower cortisol, while open-monitoring meditation was associated with a lower heart rate.

The findings support meditation as a possible aid in stress regulation, but they do not show identical effects for every method or person.

Teaser

A review of 45 randomized studies found that meditation was linked with lower levels of several physical stress markers, although results differed between meditation approaches and outcomes.

Plain Summary

A systematic review and meta-analysis published in the *Journal of Psychiatric Research* in 2017 examined whether meditation practice was associated with changes in physical signs related to stress. The researchers brought together 45 randomized controlled human studies. These studies compared meditation with active control conditions—other activities or approaches used for comparison—rather than simply comparing meditators with people who did nothing.

The studies measured several practical health indicators, including cortisol, blood pressure, heart rate, blood fats, and markers of inflammation. Across the research, meditation was associated with lower levels of several markers. These included cortisol, C-reactive protein, blood pressure, heart rate, triglycerides, and tumour necrosis factor-alpha. Cortisol is a hormone involved in the body’s stress response. C-reactive protein and tumour necrosis factor-alpha are substances used as indicators of inflammation. Triglycerides are a type of fat found in the blood.

The review also reported some differences between meditation subtypes. All of the meditation subtypes included in the review were associated with reductions in systolic blood pressure, which is the upper number in a blood-pressure reading. Focused-attention meditation was also associated with lower cortisol, while open-monitoring meditation was associated with a lower heart rate. These findings should not be taken to mean that every meditation method has exactly the same effects, since the results depended partly on the approach and the measure being studied.

Because this was a review of randomized controlled trials, it provides useful evidence for studying possible effects of meditation. However, the findings are best understood as evidence of an association in the included studies, not as a guarantee for every person. The review does not show that meditation cures a health condition or that it will produce the same physical changes for everyone. The PubMed abstract reports the number of studies—45—but not a combined total number of participants.

Practical Takeaway

In everyday terms, this review suggests that meditation may be linked with helpful changes in some of the body’s measurable stress signals, including blood pressure, heart rate, cortisol, and inflammation-related markers. The evidence came from 45 randomized studies, which makes the findings useful, but it does not mean meditation guarantees a particular result. Different meditation approaches showed different patterns, so one method should not automatically be treated as equivalent to another. Meditation may be one option for supporting stress regulation, while individual experiences and results can vary.