Mindfulness meditation and the immune system: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials.
Level 1 - systematic review of randomized trials
Systematic review of randomized controlled trials
PubMed 26799456 · doi:10.1111/nyas.12998
What was done
Authors conducted a systematic review of randomized controlled trials evaluating the effects of mindfulness meditation on five immune system outcomes: circulating and stimulated inflammatory proteins, cellular transcription factors and gene expression, immune cell count, immune cell aging, and antibody response.
What was found
The abstract provides no numerical data, effect sizes, or counts of included studies. It reports tentative possible effects of mindfulness meditation on specific markers of inflammation, cell-mediated immunity, and biological aging, alongside substantial heterogeneity across trials.
Why it matters
This review evaluates biological mechanisms behind self-reported clinical benefits of mindfulness, suggesting plausible pathways involving immune dynamics and aging that warrant rigorous confirmation.
Limits
The abstract does not disclose the number of studies or participants included. It highlights significant heterogeneity across study populations, trial designs, and laboratory assay procedures, rendering all findings tentative.
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