title: Understanding the physiology of mindfulness: aortic hemodynamics and heart rate variability.
abstract: Data were collected to examine autonomic and hemodynamic cardiovascular modulation underlying mindfulness from two independent samples. An initial sample (N = 185) underwent laboratory assessments of central aortic blood pressure and myocardial functioning to investigated the association between mindfulness and cardiac functioning. Controlling for religiosity, mindfulness demonstrated a strong negative relationship with myocardial oxygen consumption and left ventricular work but not heart rate or blood pressure. A second sample (N = 124) underwent a brief (15 min) mindfulness inducing intervention to examine the influence of mindfulness on cardiovascular autonomic modulation via blood pressure variability and heart rate variability. The intervention had a strong positive effect on cardiovascular modulation by decreasing cardiac sympathovagal tone, vasomotor tone, vascular resistance and ventricular workload. This research establishes a link between mindfulness and cardiovascular functioning via correlational and experimental methodologies in samples of mostly female undergraduates. Future directions for research are outlined.
authors.affiliation: a Family Institute, The Florida State University , Tallahassee , USA .
authors.forename: Ross W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: May
authors.affiliation: b College of Nursing, The Florida State University , Tallahassee , USA , and.
authors.forename: Mandy
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bamber
authors.affiliation: a Family Institute, The Florida State University , Tallahassee , USA .
authors.forename: Gregory S
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Seibert
authors.affiliation: c Division of Clinical & Translational Research , Larkin Community Hospital , South Miami , Florida , USA.
authors.forename: Marcos A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Sanchez-Gonzalez
authors.affiliation: a Family Institute, The Florida State University , Tallahassee , USA .
authors.forename: Joseph T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Leonard
authors.affiliation: a Family Institute, The Florida State University , Tallahassee , USA .
authors.forename: Rebecca A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Salsbury
authors.affiliation: a Family Institute, The Florida State University , Tallahassee , USA .
authors.forename: Frank D
authors.initials: FD
authors.lastname: Fincham
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001011:Aorta / Q000502:physiology*; D001341:Autonomic Nervous System / Q000502:physiology; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology*; D002320:Cardiovascular Physiological Phenomena; D005260:Female; D006321:Heart / Q000502:physiology; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology*; D006439:Hemodynamics / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D064866:Mindfulness; D010101:Oxygen Consumption / Q000502:physiology; D014655:Vascular Resistance / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Blood pressure; blood pressure variability; cardiovascular; heart rate variability; hemodynamics; mindfulness