(Bellosta-Batalla et al., 2020)
Mindfulness-based interventions have been widely shown to be effective in reducing anxiety and negative moods in health professionals. Less known are the effects of mindfulness on biological markers that may correspond to these changes in mood and anxiety and may lead to enhanced empathy. A research team from Valencia, Spain recently investigated the effects of a brief mindfulness-based intervention on both mood and biological markers on a sample of health professional students.
This study separated 68 participants with no prior meditation experience into two groups. In the experimental group, participants were led through a brief series of 15-minute guided meditations that directed participants to focus their attention to their breathing, physical sensations, and mental activity. Unlike the experimental group, the control group completed emotion recognition exercises and played verbal creativity games. For both groups, researchers measured self-reported mood, anxiety levels, and collected saliva samples 10 minutes before the group sessions and again 10 minutes after the group session.
Within the saliva samples, this team of researchers analyzed the amount of salivary oxytocin, a peripheral biomarker associated with reductions of stress, anxiety, and the promotion of social bonding. In prior research studies, the intranasal administration of oxytocin has been shown to exert a positive effect on social cognition, such as increasing attention to socially relevant information, emotional accuracy, empathy, and even the development of strong therapeutic relationships. Results from prior studies examining whether mindfulness-based interventions increase salivary oxytocin are unclear and warrant further investigation.
Findings from this study revealed that the experimental group receiving the guided meditations had both lower state anxiety levels and lower negative affect compared to the control group. However, the study notes no difference in the level of positive affect between the groups. Importantly, results suggested that the experimental group receiving guided meditations had a statistically significant higher level of salivary oxytocin than the control group. The study authors suggest that the combination of improvements in self-reported mood and increased salivary oxytocin lend to a growing body of evidence that supports mindfulness-based interventions effectiveness at enhancing emotional regulation that may be associated with empathy.
“These researchers posit that mindfulness-based interventions may lead to increased emotional regulation and the upregulation of biological systems that facilitate feelings of empathy, important processes for health professionals.”
The study also notes that the effect size of mindfulness sessions on oxytocin, a metric to assess magnitude of change, was higher than previous studies examining changes in salivary oxytocin after various relaxation exercises and even skin-to-skin contact between parents and infants. These researchers posit that mindfulness-based interventions may lead to increased emotional regulation and the upregulation of biological systems that facilitate feelings of empathy, important processes for health professionals.
Although this study has notable limitations, this study offers insight into the possible mechanisms that link changes in emotional regulation to mindfulness-based practices. Future studies will have the opportunity to evaluate whether these results extrapolate to more diverse populations and with more regular mindfulness-based practices than the brief 15 minute guided mindfulness practices used within this study. Furthermore, since salivary oxytocin is a biomarker more accessible than oxytocin found in the central nervous system, more research will need to clarify the relationship between the peripheral and central oxytocin. This study advances the importance of biomarkers in understanding the mechanisms of mindfulness-based practices and how they work in concert to improve emotional health and wellness.
Michael is pursuing his PhD in Clinical Psychology at the University of Hawai’i, Mānoa.
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