Mindfulness meditation counteracts self-control depletion

Friese, Malte; Messner, Claude; Schaffner, Yves (2012). Mindfulness meditation counteracts self-control depletion. Consciousness and cognition, 21(2), pp. 1016-1022. Amsterdam: Elsevier 10.1016/j.concog.2012.01.008

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Mindfulness meditation describes a set of different mental techniques to train attention and awareness. Trait mindfulness and extended mindfulness interventions can benefit self-control. The present study investigated the short-term consequences of mindfulness meditation under conditions of limited self-control resources. Specifically, we hypothesized that a brief period of mindfulness meditation would counteract the deleterious effect that the exertion of self-control has on subsequent self-control performance. Participants who had been depleted of self-control resources by an emotion suppression task showed decrements in self-control performance as compared to participants who had not suppressed emotions. However, participants who had meditated after emotion suppression performed equally well on the subsequent self-control task as participants who had not exerted self-control previously. This finding suggests that a brief period of mindfulness meditation may serve as a quick and efficient strategy to foster self-control under conditions of low resources.

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