Mindfulness Meditation Versus Physical Exercise: Comparing Effects on Stress and Immunocompetence

NCT03728062 | Completed DMC

• 1 other identifier: 0709201711717
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 72
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The objective of this research project is to examine if including mindfulness meditation or physical exercise at lunch break improve workers' recovery from work stress. Therefore, 72 workers included either mindfulness meditation or physical exercise during their lunchbreaks for a month in order to find out if these recovery strategies have more favorable outcomes than usually spent lunch breaks concerning: a) psychological detachment, b) perceived stress, c) general health, d) burnout, e) fatigue, f) quality of sleep, g) cortisol awakening response and h) immunocompetence.

Conditions

Stress; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice

Keywords

Mindfulness; Physical exercise; Salivary Immunoglobulin A; Recovery strategy from stress

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (4)

• Spanish version of the Perceived Stress Questionnaire of Levenstein

  Validation of the Spanish version of the Perceived Stress Questionnaire of Levenstein et al. (1993). It is a scale to measure stress in psychosomatic disorders. It consists of 30 items, with Likert responses from 1(almost never) to 4 (almost always). The Spanish version has 6 factors: Harrassment-social acceptance, Overload, Irritability-tension-fatigue, Energy-Joy, Fear-anxiety, Self-realization-satisfaction. The higher score, the higher perceived stress.

  8 months

• Recovery Experience Questionnaire (Sonnentag et al., 2007)

  Recovery Experience Questionnaire (Sonnentag et al. 2007) is a measure for assessing recuperation from work. It has 16 items divided into four subscales: psychological detachment, relaxation, mastery and control. Each subscale has 4 items. Every items has a 5-point scale from 1 (I do not agree al all) to 5 (I fully agree). Higher scores indicates a higher degree of recovery from work stress.

  8 months

• Spanish version of the General Health Questionnaire (Goldberg et al., 1997)

  Short version of General Health questionnaire. It has 12 items divided into three subscales: Stress, Coping strategies and Self-steem. Every item has a Likert scale to answer from 0 to 3. Higher scores indicates worse general health.

  8 months

• Salivary Immunoglobulin A

  Level changes from Baseline to 1 month follow-up. Samples were collected in Salivettes -trademark- (a plastic tube with a swab) twice a day: in the morning (round 7am) and after work (round 7pm). There were collected two Salivettes every of the three moment of measuring (pretest, postest and 1 month follow-up). That means there were taken 6 tubes for every participant.

  1 months

Study Arms (3)

Mindfulness meditation during lunch break

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants performed mindfulness meditation during lunch break at work place for a month, beginning with 15 minutes and ending with 30 minutes. They had available a "quiet room" and mp3 audios with guided meditations based on the MBSR program.

Behavioral: Mindfulness meditation

Physical exercise during lunch break

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants performed physical exercises during lunch break at a gym for a month, beginning with 15 minutes and ending with 30 minutes. They were instructed to do cardio exercise such as running through a park or going to the gym for running, rowing, cycling or elliptical exercise. 20-140 beats per minute must be reach.

Behavioral: Physical exercise

Control group

NO INTERVENTION

Participants continue their normal lunch routine.

Interventions

Mindfulness meditation BEHAVIORAL

Guided mindfulness meditation focused on breath sensations, thoughts and emotions.

Also known as: Mindfulness based intervention (MBSR)

Mindfulness meditation during lunch break

Physical exercise BEHAVIORAL

Cardio exercise at gym like rowing, eliptical, cycling, or running outside.

Also known as: Cardio exercise

Physical exercise during lunch break

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 65 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Knowledge-workers of an specific company with similar stress level.

You may not qualify if:

• Serious illness
• Regular meditation
• Regular physical exercise

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia: lead
• Universidad Rey Juan Carlos: collaborator
• Universidad de Zaragoza: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

Telefonica S.A, Telecom company

Madrid, Spain

Location

Related Publications (12)

• Sonnentag S, Venz L, Casper A. Advances in recovery research: What have we learned? What should be done next? J Occup Health Psychol. 2017 Jul;22(3):365-380. doi: 10.1037/ocp0000079. Epub 2017 Mar 30.

  PMID: 28358572 BACKGROUND

• Bliese PD, Edwards JR, Sonnentag S. Stress and well-being at work: A century of empirical trends reflecting theoretical and societal influences. J Appl Psychol. 2017 Mar;102(3):389-402. doi: 10.1037/apl0000109. Epub 2017 Jan 26.

  PMID: 28125263 BACKGROUND

• Sonnentag S, Arbeus H, Mahn C, Fritz C. Exhaustion and lack of psychological detachment from work during off-job time: moderator effects of time pressure and leisure experiences. J Occup Health Psychol. 2014 Apr;19(2):206-16. doi: 10.1037/a0035760. Epub 2014 Mar 17.

  PMID: 24635737 BACKGROUND

• Nagel IJ, Sonnentag S. Exercise and sleep predict personal resources in employees' daily lives. Appl Psychol Health Well Being. 2013 Nov;5(3):348-68. doi: 10.1111/aphw.12014. Epub 2013 Oct 8.

  PMID: 24395817 BACKGROUND

• Hahn VC, Binnewies C, Sonnentag S, Mojza EJ. Learning how to recover from job stress: effects of a recovery training program on recovery, recovery-related self-efficacy, and well-being. J Occup Health Psychol. 2011 Apr;16(2):202-16. doi: 10.1037/a0022169.

  PMID: 21463049 BACKGROUND

• Sanz-Vergel AI, Sebastian J, Rodriguez-Munoz A, Garrosa E, Moreno-Jimenez B, Sonnentag S. [Adaptation of the "Recovery Experience Questionnaire" in a Spanish sample]. Psicothema. 2010 Nov;22(4):990-6. Spanish.

  PMID: 21044543 BACKGROUND

• Hulsheger UR, Walkowiak A, Thommes MS. How can mindfulness be promoted? Workload and recovery experiences as antecedents of daily fluctuations in mindfulness. J Occup Organ Psychol. 2018 Jun;91(2):261-284. doi: 10.1111/joop.12206. Epub 2018 Mar 4.

  PMID: 29861554 BACKGROUND

• Jamieson SD, Tuckey MR. Mindfulness interventions in the workplace: A critique of the current state of the literature. J Occup Health Psychol. 2017 Apr;22(2):180-193. doi: 10.1037/ocp0000048. Epub 2016 Sep 19.

  PMID: 27643606 BACKGROUND

• Daubenmier J, Hayden D, Chang V, Epel E. It's not what you think, it's how you relate to it: dispositional mindfulness moderates the relationship between psychological distress and the cortisol awakening response. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2014 Oct;48:11-8. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2014.05.012. Epub 2014 May 27.

  PMID: 24971591 BACKGROUND

• Leicht CA, Goosey-Tolfrey VL, Bishop NC. Exercise intensity and its impact on relationships between salivary immunoglobulin A, saliva flow rate and plasma cortisol concentration. Eur J Appl Physiol. 2018 Jun;118(6):1179-1187. doi: 10.1007/s00421-018-3847-6. Epub 2018 Apr 7.

  PMID: 29627864 BACKGROUND

• Kobayashi H, Song C, Ikei H, Park BJ, Kagawa T, Miyazaki Y. Diurnal Changes in Distribution Characteristics of Salivary Cortisol and Immunoglobulin A Concentrations. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2017 Aug 31;14(9):987. doi: 10.3390/ijerph14090987.

  PMID: 28858222 BACKGROUND

• Moreira A, Freitas CG, Nakamura FY, Drago G, Drago M, Aoki MS. Effect of match importance on salivary cortisol and immunoglobulin A responses in elite young volleyball players. J Strength Cond Res. 2013 Jan;27(1):202-7. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0b013e31825183d9.

  PMID: 22395269 BACKGROUND

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Behavior; Motor Activity

Interventions

Mindfulness; Exercise

Intervention Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy; Behavior Therapy; Psychotherapy; Behavioral Disciplines and Activities; Motor Activity; Movement; Musculoskeletal Physiological Phenomena; Musculoskeletal and Neural Physiological Phenomena

Study Officials

• Miguel Angel Santed Germán, PhD

  Universidad Nacional Española a Distancia

  STUDY DIRECTOR

• Carlos María Alcover de las Heras, PhD

  Universidad Rey Juan Carlos

  STUDY DIRECTOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: SUPPORTIVE CARE
• Intervention Model: FACTORIAL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: October 11, 2018
• First Posted: November 1, 2018
• Study Start: September 4, 2017
• Primary Completion: November 1, 2017
• Study Completion: May 1, 2018
• Last Updated: November 7, 2018

Record last verified: 2018-07

Locations

ES (1)