ArticleJMIR mental health2021
The Effect of Meditation and Physical Activity on the Mental Health Impact of COVID-19-Related Stress and Attention to News Among Mobile App Users in the United States: Cross-sectional Survey.
Article in JMIR mental health, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 27 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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
27 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Use of Traditional, Complementary and Integrative Medicine During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Frontiers in medicine · 2022Pooled it
- The Effectiveness of a Mobile Phone-Based Physical Activity Program for Treating Depression, Stress, Psychological Well-Being, and Quality of Life Among Adults: Quantitative Study.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2023Trial
- The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on stress and other psychological factors in pregnant women giving birth during the first wave of the pandemic.Reproductive health · 2022Trial
- Heartfulness Meditation-induced State and Trait Effects on Long-term, Short-term and Non-meditators Using Connectivity Analysis: An EEG Study on Prefrontal Cortex.Annals of neurosciences · 2026Article
- Dried Blood-Rumen Content Mixtures as Sustainable Poultry Feed: A Review on Nutritional, Economic, and Environmental Potential.Food science & nutrition · 2025Review
- Buddha image meditation is a potent predictor for mental health outcomes: A cross-sectional study among Thai high-school students.PloS one · 2025Article
- Understanding Morning Emotions by Analyzing Daily Wake-Up Alarm Usage: Longitudinal Observational Study.JMIR human factors · 2024Observational
- Does Self-Reported Trait Mindfulness Contribute to Reducing Perceived Stress in Women Who Practice Yoga and Are Physically Active?Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Predicting and Moderating COVID-Fear and Stress among College Students in Argentina and the USA.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- Expressive Interviewing Agents to Support Health-Related Behavior Change: Randomized Controlled Study of COVID-19 Behaviors.JMIR formative research · 2023Article
- Article
- Combining Behavioral Economics-Based Incentives With the Anchoring Strategy: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR research protocols · 2023Article
- Association of Perceived Stress With Depression Among Vaccinated Healthcare Workers During the SARS-CoV-2 Variant Outbreak: The Mediating Role of Compassion Fatigue.Psychiatry investigation · 2023Article
- Risk and resilience in couple's adjustment to the COVID-19 pandemic.Journal of social and personal relationships · 2022Article
- Impact of COVID social distancing measures on eating and exercise behaviors among a sample of Hispanic parents of young children in the United States.Journal of public health research · 2022Article
- Knowledge deficit and fear of COVID-19 among higher education students during the first wave of the pandemic and implications for public health: a multi-country cross-sectional survey.BMC public health · 2022Article
- A Mobile App for Stress Management in Middle-Aged Men and Women (Calm): Feasibility Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR formative research · 2022Article
- Mobile opportunity against stress: Open study protocol on the effectiveness of a mobile platform for stress self-management in the post-pandemic era.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Article
- Online Short-Term Mindfulness-Based Intervention During COVID-19 Quarantine in Italy: Effects on Wellbeing, Stress, and Anxiety.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Article
- Online Mindfulness Intervention, Mental Health and Attentional Abilities: A Randomized Controlled Trial in University Students During COVID-19 Lockdown.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic has been declared an international public health emergency, and it may have long-lasting effects on people's mental health. There is a need to identify effective health behaviors to mitigate the negative mental health impact of COVID-19.
objectiveThe objectives of this study were to (1) examine the regional differences in mental health and COVID-19-related worry, attention to news, and stress, in light of the state-level prevalence of COVID-19 cases; (2) estimate the associations between mental health and COVID-19-related worry, attention to news, and stress and health behavior engagement (ie, physical activity, mindfulness meditation); and (3) explore the mediating effect of health behavior engagement on the associations between mental health and COVID-19-related worry, attention to news, and stress.
methodsA cross-sectional survey was distributed to a sample of US adult paying subscribers to the Calm app (data were collected from April 22 to June 3, 2020). The survey assessed COVID-19-related worry, attention to news, and stress; health behavior engagement; and mental health (ie, perceived stress, posttraumatic stress disorder, and anxiety and depression). Statistical analyses were performed using R software. Differences in COVID-19-related worry, attention to news, and stress and mental health by location were assessed using t tests and chi-square tests. Logistic and ordinary least squares models were used to regress mental health and health behavior on COVID-19-related worry, attention to news, and stress; moreover, causal mediation analysis was used to estimate the significance of the mediation effects.
resultsThe median age of the respondents (N=8392) was 47 years (SD 13.8). Participants in the Mid-Atlantic region (New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania) reported higher levels of stress, more severe depression symptoms, greater worry about COVID-19, paying more attention to COVID-19-related news, and more stress related to social distancing recommendations than participants living in other regions. The association between worry about COVID-19 and perceived stress was significantly mediated by changes in physical activity (P<.001), strength of meditation habit (P<.001), and stopping meditation (P=.046). The association between worry about COVID-19 and posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms was significantly mediated by changes in physical activity (P<.001) and strength of meditation habit (P<.001).
conclusionsOur findings describe the mental health impact of COVID-19 and outline how continued participation in health behaviors such as physical activity and mindfulness meditation reduce worsening of mental health due to the COVID-19 pandemic. These data have important implications for public health agencies and health organizations to promote the maintenance of health habits to reduce the residual mental health burden of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Indexed as
Identifiers
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.