The Influence of Meditative Interventions on Immune Functioning: A Meta-Analysis

Objectives Meditative practices have grown in popularity, but the results of meditative intervention studies on immune functioning have been inconsistent. Although prior reviews have been conducted, the present meta-analysis provides a more comprehensive and updated examination. Methods One hundred and five eligible studies, including mindfulness-based, movement-based, and meditation-focused, meditative interventions with biological markers of immune functioning were analyzed. The current work (a) incorporates a greater number of studies available for review, (b) examines the overall magnitude of the effect of meditative interventions on immune functioning, (c) examines the effects of health on some individual level biomarkers (i.e., NF-κB, IgA, and IL-6), (d) compares different types of meditative interventions and (e) reveals the effect of various theoretical (e.g., the health of participants) and methodological (e.g., delivery of interventions) moderators. Results The meta-analysis indicated that meditative interventions, including formal meditation, mindfulness-based, and movement-based, have a small but significant effect on immune functioning ( g = 0.181, k = 105, p < 0.001) as compared to controls ( g = -0.001, p = 0.982). Furthermore, the results indicated that the effect of meditative interventions on immune functioning remained robust, regardless of the type of control condition. Conclusions The present meta-analysis suggests a small and significant effect of meditative interventions on immune functioning and serves to clarify inconsistent results in the literature. Further, it provides insight into both theoretical and methodological moderators for future research. Meditative interventions could be implemented in various formats and modalities, especially among those with physiological and psychological disorders. Preregistration The present meta-analysis was not preregistered.