Boston University Charles River Campus
This academic study examines how everyday experiences are related to short-term physiological reactivity and recovery and whether one or more brief standardized mindfulness/attention-instruction sessions change these patterns. Adults living in the United States who can read and understand the English study materials participate for up to 4 weeks and complete 5 to 7 brief smartphone surveys per day on 14 total ecological momentary assessment (EMA) days during waking hours. The 14 EMA days may be consecutive or divided into two 7-day measurement bursts. Surveys include current experiences and recent alcohol and nicotine use; these reports are analyzed as contextual variables and are not automatic exclusion criteria. Some participants also use assigned non-invasive wearable sensors or blood-pressure monitors during prespecified measurement windows. Device output is used only for research measurement, not diagnosis, treatment, real-time medical decision-making, or patient management. In study waves with a randomized comparison, participants are randomized after consent to one or more brief mindfulness/attention-instruction sessions or time-matched no-instruction comparison sessions. Session duration, schedule, and allocation probabilities are specified before each study wave begins and applied consistently within that wave.
After informed consent and eligibility screening, participants complete baseline questions about health, medication use, daily habits (including typical alcohol and nicotine use), well-being, and prior mindfulness or meditation experience. Participants then complete smartphone ecological momentary assessment (EMA) surveys about current context, appraisals, action tendencies, downstream cost, stress or activation, perceived recovery, and recent alcohol and nicotine use since the prior prompt (or since waking for the first daily prompt). EMA is delivered on 14 total days within an enrollment per…
Inclusion Criteria: * Adults aged 18 years or older * Lives in the United States * Able to read and understand English well enough to provide informed consent and to complete study surveys and instructions * Has a compatible smartphone and the required study application * Willing to complete ecological momentary assessment (EMA) and assigned study procedures Exclusion Criteria: * Cannabis or other illicit drug use within the past 30 days * Any current pattern of substance use that would prevent informed consent or the safe and reliable completion of study procedures * Inability or unwilling…
At one or more assigned study measurement sessions, participants receive a brief, standardized, non-clinical instruction lasting approximately 1 to 10 minutes. The instruction directs attention to breathing or another clear body sensation, briefly acknowledges thoughts, emotions, wanting, resisting, or urges, and returns attention to the selected sensation. The number, duration, and schedule of sessions are specified before each study wave begins and applied consistently within that wave; comparison sessions are time-matched. Participants may open their eyes, change position, or stop at any time.