A Very Brief Introduction to Mindfulness Research

published 6/5/19; research links updated 8/3/24

Image by John Hain from Pixabay

by Catharine Hannay, founder of MindfulTeachers.org

As I mentioned in a post on Challenging Questions about the Benefits of Mindfulness,

One issue with the research is trying to compare results when there are there are so many different understandings of what is being measured and how.

We can't really quantify mindfulness since it’s a state of being, not a medical condition or a competition. There’s no standard test that measures how mindful people are or how they benefit from practicing mindfulness. Instead, there are three typical methods of gathering information, which are quite different from each other.

Surveys and interviews.

Testing the level of cortisol in saliva.
- Since cortisol is a stress hormone, there’s a lower level of it in our bodies when we feel less anxious. (Yes, our spit changes when we’re stressed. Am I the only one who thinks that’s a little weird?)
Brain scans
- an EEG (electroencephalography) measures electrical activity when our neurons send signals to each other;
- an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) shows which parts of the brain are active during different types of activities; and
- an fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) shows how brain activity changes over time.

There are a plethora of studies using one or more of these methods to study how mindfulness might (or might not) benefit specific populations.

You'll find links to many of these studies at the following websites: