Trait mindfulness is associated with blood pressure and interleukin-6: exploring interactions among subscales of the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire to better understand relationships between mindfulness and health

• Published in: Journal of behavioral medicine Vol. 38; no. 1; pp. 28 - 38
• Main Authors: Tomfohr, Lianne M., Pung, Meredith A., Mills, Paul J., Edwards, Kate
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Boston Springer US 01-02-2015; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Age Factors; Blood pressure; Blood Pressure - physiology; Body Mass Index; Cytokines; Depression - blood; Depression - physiopathology; Drug abuse; Ethnic Groups - psychology; Family Medicine; Female; General Practice; Health aspects; Health Psychology; Health Status; Hormones; Humans; Interleukin-6; Interleukin-6 - blood; Intervention; Male; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Meditation; Mindfulness; Mindfulness meditation; Physiology; Psychological research; Questionnaires; Self Report; Sex Factors; Stress, Psychological - blood; Stress, Psychological - physiopathology; Surveys and Questionnaires; Tumor necrosis factor-TNF; Young Adult; Canada; Calgary Alberta Canada; Mindfulness; Blood pressure; Interleukin-6
• ISSN: 0160-7715; 1573-3521
• DOI: 10.1007/s10865-014-9575-4

Mindfulness based interventions have been associated with improvements in physical health; however, the mechanisms underlying these changes are unclear. The current study explored relationships between trait mindfulness, blood pressure (BP) and interleukin-6 (IL-6). Relationships between physical health variables and (1) a composite score of mindfulness, (2) individual facets of mindfulness and (3) interactions between theoretically relevant pairs of mindfulness subscales were investigated. One hundred and thirty healthy, young adults [M (SD) age = 21.7(2.7) years] reported trait levels of mindfulness (Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire, subscales include:
observing
,
describing
,
acting with awareness (AWA)
,
nonjudging
and
nonreactivity
), had their resting BP measured and underwent a blood draw to assesses circulating IL-6 levels. Age, gender, body mass index, race/ethnicity, depression and perceived stress were obtained and used as covariates. A composite score of trait mindfulness was associated with lower BP and a trend suggested that it was also associated with lower IL-6. Investigation of individual facets of mindfulness revealed interactions between the subscales
AWA
and
nonjudging
, such that higher endorsement of
AWA
was associated with lower BP only when
nonjudging
was also high. A second interaction was observed between the subscales
observing
and
nonreactivity
, such that higher endorsement of
observing
was associated with lower IL-6 only when levels of
nonreactivity
were also high. Trait mindfulness was associated with both BP and IL-6. Examining interactions between facets of mindfulness variables may be important in understanding how mindfulness based interventions influence physiology.