Digital Meditation Research Articles

Digital Meditation to Target Employee Stress: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Mindfulness meditation may improve well-being among employees; however, effects of digital meditation programs are poorly understood. To evaluate the effects of digital meditation vs a waiting list condition on general and work-specific stress and whether greater engagement in the intervention moderates these effects. This randomized clinical trial included a volunteer sample of adults (aged ≥18 years) employed at a large academic medical center who reported mild to moderate stress, had regular access to a web-connected device, and were fluent in English. Exclusion criteria included being a regular meditator. Participants were recruited from May 16, 2018, through September 28, 2019, and completed baseline, 8-week, and 4-month measures assessing stress, job strain, burnout, work engagement, mindfulness, depression, and anxiety. Data were analyzed from March 2023 to October 2024. Participants were randomized 1:1 to a digital meditation program or the waiting list control condition. Participants in the intervention group were instructed to complete 10 minutes of meditation per day for 8 weeks. The control group was instructed to continue their normal activities and not add any meditation during the study period. The primary outcome measure was change in Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) score at 8 weeks. Secondary outcome measures included changes in job strain, measured as work effort-reward imbalance. A total of 1458 participants (mean [SD] age, 35.54 [10.30] years; 1178 [80.80%] female) were included. Those randomized to meditation (n = 728) vs waiting list (n = 730) showed improvements in PSS (Cohen d, 0.85; 95% CI, 0.73-0.96) and in all secondary outcome measures (eg, job strain: Cohen d, 0.34; 95% CI, 0.23-0.46) at 8 weeks. These improvements were maintained at 4 months after randomization (PSS: Cohen d, 0.71; 95% CI, 0.59-0.84; job strain: Cohen d, 0.37; 95% CI, 0.25-0.50). Those using the app from 5 to 9.9 min/d vs less than 5 min/d showed greater reduction in stress (mean PSS score difference, -6.58; 95% CI, -7.44 to -5.73). The findings suggest that a brief, digital mindfulness-based program is an easily accessible and scalable method for reducing perceptions of stress. Future work should seek to clarify mechanisms by which such interventions contribute to improvements in work-specific well-being. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03527303.

Differential effects of digital mindfulness-based interventions on creative potential and responsibility among middle school students.

Creativity and responsibility are enhanced by meditation among adults, but such effects have not been studied in adolescents. Moreover, the determinants of the ethical effect (such as responsibility) of meditation are unclear. To address this gap by investigating the impact of digital in-class meditation programmes in middle school, focusing on intentions (self-centred vs. responsibility-centred), on adolescents' creative potential and sense of responsibility. These intentions are operationalized by different purpose-based meditations. We conducted a cluster randomized controlled trial involving 107 year 7 adolescents from six classes, assigning them to two experimental groups and an active control group. Pre- and post-intervention assessments were conducted over an 11-week period, including a creativity (EPoC) test comprising four exercises (graphic and verbal, divergent and convergent thinking), a responsibility and a mindfulness scale. Our findings revealed no discernible effects on divergent thinking or self-reported mindfulness. However, we observed significant differences in graphic and verbal convergent creative thinking, as well as impacting responsibility scores, between a responsibility-centred meditation group and a self-centred meditation group. Moreover, distinctions were noted between control and self-centred meditation groups and between some classes. Effect sizes indicated that the interventions had a moderate but significant impact on the variables measured. Our study reveals the effectiveness of digital meditation interventions in enhancing convergent creative thinking and responsibility among middle-school students. Notably, it shed new light on the importance of meditation intentions, which may be as significant as the form of meditation itself.

Laying the foundation for iCANmeditate: A mixed methods study protocol for understanding patient and oncologist perspectives on meditation.

People with cancer experience heightened levels of stress and anxiety, including psychological or physical. In recent years, digitally delivered complimentary therapies, such as meditation, have gained attention in cancer research and advocacy communities for improving quality of life. However, most digital meditation resources are commercially available and are not tailored to the unique needs of cancer patients (addressing fears of recurrence). As such, this study lays the foundation to co-design a publicly available digital meditation program called iCANmeditate that contains cancer-specific meditation content. To understand: (1) cancer patients' perceptions and practices of meditation, as well as their needs in addressing the stress that accompanies their cancer diagnosis and (2) current knowledge of meditation and prescribing trends amongst oncologists in Canada. A mixed-methods design comprised of online patient and oncologist surveys and interviews with patients will be used. Survey data analysis will use multivariate logistic regressions to examine predictors of: (1) interest in using a meditation app among patients and (2) prescribing meditation among oncologists. Patient interviews will gather insights about the contexts of daily living where meditation would be most beneficial for people with cancer; this data will be analyzed thematically. The results of this study will inform iterative co-design workshops with cancer patients to build the digital meditation program iCANmeditate; interview results will be used to develop vignettes or "personas" that will supply the initial stimulus material for the iterative co-design workshops. Once the program has been finalized in partnership with cancer patient participants, a usability and pilot study will follow to test the functionality and efficacy of the tool. Results from the oncologist survey will form the basis of knowledge mobilization efforts to facilitate clinical buy-in and awareness of the benefits of meditation to cancer patients.

The Effects of Dose, Practice Habits, and Objects of Focus on Digital Meditation Effectiveness and Adherence: Longitudinal Study of 280,000 Digital Meditation Sessions Across 103 Countries.

The efficacy of digital meditation is well established. However, the extent to which the benefits remain after 12 weeks in real-world settings remains unknown. Additionally, findings related to dosage and practice habits have been mixed, and the studies were conducted on small and homogeneous samples and used a limited range of analytical procedures and meditation techniques. Findings related to the predictors of adherence are also lacking and may help inform future meditators and meditation programs on how to best structure healthy sustainable practices. This study aimed to measure outcome change across a large and globally diverse population of meditators and meditations in their naturalistic practice environments, assess the dose-response relationships between practice habits and outcome change, and identify predictors of adherence. We used ecological momentary assessment to assess participants' well-being over a 14-month period. We engineered outcomes related to the variability of change over time (equanimity) and recovery following a drop in mood (resilience) and established the convergent and divergent validity of these outcomes using a validated scale. Using linear mixed-effects and generalized additive mixed-effects models, we modeled outcome changes and patterns of dose-response across outcomes. We then used logistic regression to study the practice habits of participants in their first 30 sessions to derive odds ratios of long-term adherence. Significant improvements were observed in all outcomes (P<.001). Generalized additive mixed models revealed rapid improvements over the first 50-100 sessions, with further improvements observed until the end of the study period. Outcome change corresponded to 1 extra day of improved mood for every 5 days meditated and half-a-day-faster mood recovery compared with baseline. Overall, consistency of practice was associated with the largest outcome change (4-7 d/wk). No significant differences were observed across session lengths in linear models (mood: P=.19; equanimity: P=.10; resilience: P=.29); however, generalized additive models revealed significant differences over time (P<.001). Longer sessions (21-30 min) were associated with the largest magnitude of change in mood from the 20th session onward and fewer sessions to recovery (increased resilience); midlength sessions (11-20 min) were associated with the largest decreases in recovery; and mood stability was similar across session lengths (equanimity). Completing a greater variety of practice types was associated with significantly greater improvements across all outcomes. Adhering to a long-term practice was best predicted by practice consistency (4-7 d/wk), a morning routine, and maintaining an equal balance between interoceptive and exteroceptive meditations. Long-term real-world digital meditation practice is effective and associated with improvements in mood, equanimity, and resilience. Practice consistency and variety rather than length best predict improvement. Long-term sustainable practices are best predicted by consistency, a morning routine, and a practice balanced across objects of focus that are internal and external to the body.

Using a Digital Meditation Application to Mitigate Anxiety and Sleep Problems in Children with ADHD

Objective: ADHD affects 11% of children in the United States and is associated with significant levels of anxiety. Although the literature supports mindfulness-based interventions as a promising strategy for managing anxiety, it falls short in the feasibility of digital mindfulness interventions. Method: This study investigated the usefulness of the pediatric version of Headspace, a digital mindfulness program, for reducing stress in 18 children with ADHD. We conducted a 4-week pilot study to evaluate the Headspace digital mindfulness application for children ages 6 to 12 with ADHD. Parents completed the Beck Anxiety Inventory and the Children’s Sleep Habits Questionnaire at baseline and endpoint. Results: Participants had an average age of 9.2 years and were 78% male. The Headspace intervention significantly reduced anxiety and sleep problems in children with ADHD. Conclusion: Children with ADHD and comorbid anxiety and/or sleep problems could benefit from a digitally based meditation application. (J. of Att. Dis. XXXX; XX(X) XX-XX)

Reconfiguration of Electroencephalography Microstate Networks after Breath-Focused, Digital Meditation Training.

Sustained attention and working memory were improved in young adults after they engaged in a recently developed, closed-loop, digital meditation practice. Whether this type of meditation also has a sustained effect on dominant resting-state networks is currently unknown. In this study, we examined the resting brain states before and after a period of breath-focused, digital meditation training versus placebo using an electroencephalography (EEG) microstate approach. We found topographical changes in postmeditation rest, compared with baseline rest, selectively for participants who were actively involved in the meditation training and not in participants who engaged with an active, expectancy-match, placebo control paradigm. Our results suggest a reorganization of brain network connectivity after 6 weeks of intensive meditation training in brain areas, mainly including the right insula, the superior temporal gyrus, the superior parietal lobule, and the superior frontal gyrus bilaterally. These findings provide an opening for the development of a novel noninvasive treatment of neuropathological states by low-cost, breath-focused, digital meditation practice, which can be monitored by the EEG microstate approach.

Closed-loop digital meditation for neurocognitive and behavioral development in adolescents with childhood neglect

Adverse childhood experiences are linked to poor attentive behaviors during adolescence, as well as increased risk for mental health disorders in adults. However, no study has yet tested targeted interventions to optimize neurocognitive processes in this population. Here, we investigated closed-loop digital interventions in a double-blind randomized controlled study in adolescents with childhood neglect, and evaluated the outcomes using multimodal assessments of neuroimaging, cognitive, behavioral, and academic evaluations. In the primary neuroimaging results, we demonstrate that a closed-loop digital meditation intervention can strengthen functional connectivity of the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) in the cingulo-opercular network, which is critically developing during the adolescent period. Second, this intervention enhanced sustained attention and interference-resolution abilities, and also reduced behavioral hyperactivity at a 1-year follow-up. Superior academic performance was additionally observed in adolescents who underwent the digital meditation intervention. Finally, changes in dACC functional connectivity significantly correlated with improvements in sustained attention, hyperactivity, and academic performance. This first study demonstrates that closed-loop digital meditation practice can facilitate development of important aspects of neurocognition and real-life behaviors in adolescents with early childhood neglect.

Closed-loop digital meditation improves sustained attention in young adults.

Attention is a fundamental cognitive process that is critical for essentially all aspects of higher-order cognition and real-world activities. Younger generations have deeply embraced information technology and multitasking in their personal lives, school, and the workplace, creating myriad challenges to their attention. While improving sustained attention in healthy young adults would be beneficial, enhancing this ability has proven notoriously difficult in this age group. Here we show that six-weeks of engagement with a meditation-inspired, closed-loop software program (MediTrain) delivered on mobile devices led to gains in both sustained attention and working memory in healthy young adults (n = 22). These improvements were associated with positive changes in key neural signatures of attentional control (frontal theta inter-trial coherence and parietal P3b latency), as measured by electroencephalography. Our findings suggest the utility of delivering aspects of the ancient practice of focused-attention meditation in a modern, technology-based approach and its benefits on enhancing sustained attention.

The Impact of 8 Weeks of Digital Meditation Application and Healthy Eating Program on Work Stress and Health Outcomes

The Impact of 8 Weeks of Digital Meditation Application and Healthy Eating Program on Work Stress and Health Outcomes

Representation and mediation in digitalized work: evidence from maintenance of mining machinery

The increased digitalization of work results in practices that are increasingly networked and knowledge-based. As such, we need to continuously inquire how digital technology leads to changes in work and not be content knowing that it leads to change. This paper contributes to advancing such knowledge through an analysis of digitalized condition-based maintenance of machinery in a Swedish iron ore mine. Drawing on the distinction between digital representation and digital meditation figurations of human and material agency, we analyze how the distributed network of workers used a diverse portfolio of digital technologies to make complex knowledge-based decisions on when and how to maintain the mining machinery. We combine these empirical insights with extant literature to advance a new theoretical perspective on how key characteristics of digital technologies are implicated in networked, knowledge-based work practices.

Mindfulness Meditation with Undergraduates in Face-to-Face and Digital Practice: a Formative Analysis

This paper describes the experience of a group of undergraduate students’ (n = 40) experience learning mindfulness meditation. The practice of mindfulness meditation can help individuals to self-calm, focus on the present moment, and experience physical and mental health benefits. This skill is of particular importance to undergraduate students, who often experience stress, anxiety, or depression. Participants were led by the author in a 15-min face-to-face exercise in which they focused attention on specific body parts in a progressive fashion. Participants were also provided a digital (mp3/podcast) version of the session so that they could listen to it at their convenience and learn to perform the technique on their own. About a quarter of the student participants preferred the digital practice, citing its privacy and ability to repeat the practice as benefits. Well over half of the students preferred the face-to-face session, citing the value of having a leader and colleagues; this preference provides support for the notion of the sangha, or community, in spiritual practice. The study outlines the benefits and challenges of face-to-face and digital meditation practice and emphasizes the importance of learning the practice via both delivery methods.