Stress-physiology Coherence, Interoception, and Well-being Following Mindfulness Training or Tracking Time Spent on Mobile Device

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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Chronic stress has been shown to impact long-term emotional and physical health. When nearly three-quarters of Americans report stress at levels that exceed what they consider healthy, there is a desperate need to understand factors that contribute to effective stress regulation. This work seeks to develop a measure tied to awareness and acceptance of stress that has shown promise as a predictor of multiple markers of mental and physical well-being, understand how it relates to awareness of the body, and explore whether it can be trained to alleviate suffering and promote well-being. This study aims to 1) Conceptually replicate and extend previous findings linking greater stress-physiology coherence to higher well-being. 2) Assess whether awareness of physiology is associated with stress-physiology coherence. 3) Explore whether stress-physiology coherence can be trained through a brief mindfulness training intervention.

Official Title
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Is Knowing the Body Knowing the Mind? Stress-physiology Coherence, Interoception, and Mindfulness

Conditions
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Not Seeking to Treat Any Conditions

Intervention / Treatment
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* Behavioral: Mindfulness training
* Behavioral: Tracking time spent on mobile device


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: Age 18 to 65; Comfortable reading, writing, and conversing in English U.S. Citizen or permanent resident (for payment purposes) Have a smartphone compatible with our study app Exclusion Criteria: Significant past experience with meditation, yoga, tai chi, or qi gong; Current or past psychotic disorder, Bipolar Disorder, PTSD, or social phobia; Current, severe major depressive episode; Current, severe generalized anxiety; Active prescription stimulant use (current or in the past month); Active prescription beta-blocker, beta-agonist, anti-high blood pressure, or anti-anxiety medication use (current or in the past month); Currently pregnant (due to physiological changes); History of neurological disorder; Currently diagnosed with high blood pressure, or heart murmur; Have a pacemaker Have participated in the Trier Social Stress Test previously

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 18 Years
Maximum Age: 65 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

Primary Purpose: Basic Science
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Interventional Model Description: Participants are randomly assigned after a baseline testing to either a mindfulness intervention or control group.
Masking: Double


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Experimental: Mindfulness training<br>Participants will listen to one to two 3-30 minute audio recordings each day for 4 weeks between study visits (28 days total) through the Healthy Minds @Work smartphone app and record when they listen to each recording on a paper log. The app will also collect data on which recordings, when, and for how long participants listen. | Behavioral: Mindfulness training<br>* Brief audio recordings discussing mindfulness or guided mindfulness practices.<br>* Other names: Mindfulness, contemplative, meditation;|
| Active Comparator: Tracking time spent on mobile device<br>Participants will record how much time they estimate they have spent on their phone in the past 24 hours, each day for 4 weeks (28 days total) between study visits. | Behavioral: Tracking time spent on mobile device<br>* Participants will record each day how much time they estimate they spent on their smart phone in the past 24 hours.<br>|

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Change in subjective stress-heart rate coherence | Within-participant association between repeated measures of subjective stress (1-100 Visual Analog Scale rating) and heart rate over the course of a stress-induction paradigm. Stronger positive associations indicate higher stress-heart rate coherence. | Baseline and post-test, separated by 4 weeks |