Heart rate variability is enhanced in controls but not maladaptive perfectionists during brief mindfulness meditation following stress-induction: A stratified-randomized trial

• Heart rate variability (HRV) was used to index cardiac relaxation after stress.
• Increased HRV was observed during mindfulness meditation after stress-induction.
• Maladaptive perfectionists did not demonstrate HRV increases as controls did.
• Mindfulness appears to promote cardiac relaxation, perfectionism may hinder it.

Heart rate variability (HRV) is a vagal nerve-mediated biomarker of cardiac function used to investigate chronic illness, psychopathology, stress and, more recently, attention-regulation processes such as meditation. This study investigated HRV in relation to maladaptive perfectionism, a stress-related personality factor, and mindfulness meditation, a stress coping practice expected to elevate HRV, and thereby promote relaxation. Maladaptive perfectionists (n = 21) and Controls (n = 39) were exposed to a lab-based assessment in which HRV was measured during (1) a 5-minute baseline resting phase, (2) a 5-minute cognitive stress-induction phase, and (3) a post-stress phase. In the post-stress phase, participants were randomly assigned to a 10-minute audio-instructed mindfulness meditation condition or a 10-minute rest condition with audio-description of mindfulness meditation. Analyses revealed a significant elevation in HRV during meditation for Controls but not for Perfectionists. These results suggest that mindfulness meditation promotes relaxation following cognitive stress and that the perfectionist personality hinders relaxation possibly because of decreased cardiac vagal tone. The results are discussed in the context of developing psychophysiological models to advance therapeutic interventions for distressed populations.