Research Update

 These investigators from Germany studied whether facets of trait mindfulness, prior to any training, were linked to acute stress reactivity and chronic stress load. A total of 131 participants completed the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ) and the Freiburg Mindfulness Inventory (FMI). For acute stress induction, a standardized psychosocial stress test (the Trier Social Stress Test) was conducted. Subjective stress and cortisol levels were assessed repeatedly. Hair cortisol and cortisone levels were also measured as indicators of long-term physiological stress. The results demonstrated that different facets of mindfulness were associated with subjective stress, cortisol, and hair cortisone levels.  The trait mindfulness facets of acceptance (accepting one’s experience) and describing (the ability to put one’s inner experience into words) were associated with significantly lower acute subjective and cortisol stress reactivity while monitoring-related trait mindfulness facets were associated with higher acute cortisol and marginally higher long-term cortisone release.   These results suggested that acceptance-related traits buffered against stress, while monitoring-related traits did not.

Gallistl M, Linz R, Puhlmann LMC, Singer T, Engert V.  Psychoneuroendocrinology 2024;166:107051.