ReviewAnnals of the New York Academy of Sciences2009
Can meditation slow rate of cellular aging? Cognitive stress, mindfulness, and telomeres.
Review in Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 2009. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT03510117 (Creating and Optimizing Mindfulness Measures to Enhance and Normalize Clinical Evaluation), which is not on this map. Cited by 104 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Creating and Optimizing Mindfulness Measures to Enhance and Normalize Clinical Evaluation (COMMENCE)
Who cites it
104 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- The Frail Depressed Patient: A Narrative Review on Treatment Challenges.Clinical interventions in aging · 2022Pooled it
- Challenge or Threat? The Effects of the Standard and a Second-Generation Mindfulness Intervention with Buddhist Practices on Cognitive Appraisals of Stress: Secondary Analysis of a Randomized Controlled Experiment Performed in Switzerland.Journal of religion and health · 2024Trial
- Trial
- Effect of a Qigong Intervention on Telomerase Activity and Mental Health in Chinese Women Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence: A Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA network open · 2019Trial
- Leukocyte telomere length and depression, anxiety and stress and adjustment disorders in primary health care patients.BMC psychiatry · 2017Trial
- Treating major depression with yoga: A prospective, randomized, controlled pilot trial.PloS one · 2017Trial
- Trial
- Effects of Meditation versus Music Listening on Perceived Stress, Mood, Sleep, and Quality of Life in Adults with Early Memory Loss: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD · 2016Trial
- Variation in the oxytocin receptor gene moderates the protective effects of a family-based prevention program on telomere length.Brain and behavior · 2016Trial
- Influence of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) on telomerase activity in women with breast cancer (BC).Biological research for nursing · 2014Trial
- A pilot study of yogic meditation for family dementia caregivers with depressive symptoms: effects on mental health, cognition, and telomerase activity.International journal of geriatric psychiatry · 2013Trial
- Tai chi diminishes oxidative stress in Mexican older adults.The journal of nutrition, health & aging · 2012Trial
- Maintenance of a positive outlook during acute stress protects against pro-inflammatory reactivity and future depressive symptoms.Brain, behavior, and immunity · 2012Trial
- Effect of Different Meditation Types on Migraine Headache Medication Use.Behavioral medicine (Washington, D.C.)Trial
- Sympathetic-parasympathetic system deregulation theory of aging.npj aging · 2025Review
- From telomeres and senescence to integrated longevity medicine: redefining the path to extended healthspan.Biogerontology · 2025Review
- Temperament and sex as moderating factors of the effects of exposure to maternal depression on telomere length in early childhood.Development and psychopathology · 2025Article
- Psychogenic Aging: A Novel Prospect to Integrate Psychobiological Hallmarks of Aging.Translational psychiatry · 2024Review
- Periodontal Health and Its Relationship with Psychological Stress: A Cross-Sectional Study.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Article
- [A biobehavioral theoretical framework based on the mechanism of cellular aging for nursing interventions to promote autonomic balance].Journal of Korean biological nursing science · 2024Review
44 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Understanding the malleable determinants of cellular aging is critical to understanding human longevity. Telomeres may provide a pathway for exploring this question. Telomeres are the protective caps at the ends of chromosomes. The length of telomeres offers insight into mitotic cell and possibly organismal longevity. Telomere length has now been linked to chronic stress exposure and depression. This raises the question of mechanism: How might cellular aging be modulated by psychological functioning? We consider two psychological processes or states that are in opposition to one another-threat cognition and mindfulness-and their effects on cellular aging. Psychological stress cognitions, particularly appraisals of threat and ruminative thoughts, can lead to prolonged states of reactivity. In contrast, mindfulness meditation techniques appear to shift cognitive appraisals from threat to challenge, decrease ruminative thought, and reduce stress arousal. Mindfulness may also directly increase positive arousal states. We review data linking telomere length to cognitive stress and stress arousal and present new data linking cognitive appraisal to telomere length. Given the pattern of associations revealed so far, we propose that some forms of meditation may have salutary effects on telomere length by reducing cognitive stress and stress arousal and increasing positive states of mind and hormonal factors that may promote telomere maintenance. Aspects of this model are currently being tested in ongoing trials of mindfulness meditation.
Indexed as
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.