Table 1.

Changes in psychological state, heart rate, blood pressure, vasomotor state, cortisol and cytokine secretion by mind–body interventions focusing on women.

Scope	Sub-Scope	Reference	Study Type	Population (n, % Female, Age)	Intervention	Control	Considered Confounders	Outcome
Brain (psychological)	Depression	Gong et al. [152]	Meta-analysis (six RCTs)	Pregnant women (n = 375, 100% female, age range, 20–40)	Yoga	Usual care or any other physical or mental care	N/A	Compared to the comparison groups, the level of depression was significantly reduced in yoga groups.
Brain (psychological)	PTSD	Van der Kolk et al. [153]	RCT	Women with chronic, treatment-resistant PTSD (n = 64, 100% female, mean age, 43)	Yoga for ten weeks	Health education for ten weeks	Age, race, education, marital status, income, etc.	Both groups exhibited significant decreases on the PTSD scale, with a larger reduction in the yoga group compared to the control group.
Brain (psychological)	Depression, stress, anxiety	Haller et al. [154]	Meta-analysis (ten RCTs)	Women with breast cancer (n = 1709, 100% female)	MBSR, MBCT	Usual care, active comparator (supportive expressive therapy, nutritional education program)	N/A	Compared to usual care, there were significant postintervention effects of MBSR/MBCT for health-related QOL, fatigue, sleep, stress, anxiety, and depression. Compared to other active interventions, significant effects were found for anxiety and depression.
Brain (psychological)	Affect (female vs. male)	Kang et al. [155]	RCT	Sixth-grade students (n = 114, 46% female, mean age, 12)	School-based mindfulness training for six weeks	Active control for six weeks	Age, % female, psychological state	Female meditators exhibited greater increases in positive affect compared to females in the control group, whereas male meditators and control males showed equivalent gains. Increases in self-reported self-compassion were associated with improvements in affect among females but not males.
Brain (psychological)	Affect (female vs. male)	Rojiani et al. [156]	A longitudinal study	University students (n = 77, 47% female, mean age, 21)	Meditation for 12 weeks	N/A	Age, affect, mindfulness, self-compassion, placebo effect-like confounders driven by self-selection	Women exhibited greater decreases in negative affect and greater increases in mindfulness and self-compassion compared to men.
Brain (psychological)	Anxiety, withdrawal symptoms (female vs. male)	Chen et al. [157]	A controlled longitudinal study	Volunteers in the rehabilitation unit of a residential addiction treatment facility (n = 207, 27% female, mean age, 34)	Qigong meditation (relaxation, breathing, guided imagery, inward attention, mindfulness) for two weeks	Stress management and relaxation training for two weeks	Race, % female, employment, education, social perception (religion, general feeling about life, etc.), withdrawal symptoms, etc.	Female meditation participants reported a significantly higher reduction in anxiety and withdrawal symptoms than did any other group.
Brain (structure)	Brain structure (female vs. male)	Luders et al. [158]	A cross-sectional study	Long-term meditators (mean practice time, 20.2 years) vs. meditation-naïve individuals; mean age, 47 years; 50% female; n = 60	N/A	N/A	Sex, handedness, age	Meditation effects differed between men and women in magnitude, laterality and location on the hippocampus surface.
Brain (psychological)	Depression, anxiety	Wong et al. [159]	RCT	Postmenopausal women with mild to moderate symptoms (n = 197, 100% female, mean age, 52)	MBSR for eight weeks	Menopause education for eight weeks	Age, education, occupation, marital status, religion, family size, income, menopause state	MBSR showed a greater reduction of psychological symptoms of depression and anxiety than active controls but did not reduce other somatic, urogenital and vasomotor symptoms.
Cardiovascular	Vasomotor symptoms	Chattha et al. [160]	RCT	Women with menopausal symptoms (n = 120, 100% female, mean age, 48)	Yoga (postures, breathing, meditation) for eight weeks	Exercise (walking, stretching, rest) for eight weeks	Age, occupation, BMI, diet, menopause state	Hot flushes, night sweats and sleep disturbance were significantly reduced in the yoga group compared to the control group.
Cardiovascular	Vasomotor symptoms	Carmody et al. [161]	RCT	Late perimenopausal and early postmenopausal women experiencing moderate or severe hot flushes (including night sweats) (n = 110, 100% female, mean age, 53)	MBSR for three months	Waitlist	Age, race, education, employment, smoking, physical activity, alcohol intake, BMI, QOL, etc.	Bother from hot flushes was significantly decreased by the treatment.
Cardiovascular	Blood pressure	Campbell et al. [162]	A waitlist-controlled longitudinal study	Female post-treatment cancer patients (n = 70, 100% female, mean age, 53)	MBSR for eight weeks	Waitlist	Age, SBP, DBP	In the MBSR group, women with ‘higher BP’ at week 1 had decreased their SBP by week 8. In the MBSR group, decreases in rumination correlated with decreases in SBP and increases in mindful attention.
ANS, cardiovascular	Blood pressure, HRV	Muthukrishnan et al. [163]	RCT	Pregnant Indian women at 12 weeks gestation (n = 74, 100% female, mean age, 22)	Mindfulness meditation for five weeks	Usual obstetric care for five weeks	SBP, DBP, RR, perceived stress, HRV, cold pressor SBP, cold pressor DBP, etc.	In the meditation group, a significant decrease in perceived stress scores, a significant decrease in blood pressure response to the cold pressor test and a significant increase in HRV.
Cardiovascular	Blood pressure	Rakshani et al. [164]	RCT	Pregnant women at 12 weeks gestation with previous medical history in pregnancy (n = 68, 100% female, mean age, 27)	Yoga (breathing, meditation, yogi postures) for 15 weeks	Standard care plus conventional antenatal exercises (walking) for 15 weeks	Age, education, income, weight, height, BMI, SBP, DBP	A significant difference between groups in the ratio of pregnancy-induced hypertension.
Cardiovascular	Blood pressure	Thornton et al. [165]	RCT	Healthy community-dwelling women (n = 34, 100% female, mean age, 48)	Tai chi for 12 weeks	Control	Age, body weight, body height, blood pressure	Both systolic and diastolic blood pressure were significantly decreased by tai chi training.
ANS	HRV	Trivedi et al. [166]	RCT	Healthy women (n = 36, 100% female, mean age, 33)	Active meditation (breathing, positive emotions, guided imagery) for 20 min	Control (silence meditation—breathing only) for 20 min	Age, HRV, affect	In the experimental group, HRV (specifically, PNS) parameters showed a significant improvement compared to the control group.
ANS	HRV	Praveena et al. [167]	A prospective longitudinal study	Women within five years of menopause (n = 67, 100% female, age range, 45~60)	Yoga for three months	Control	Age, duration of menopause, body fat, resting heart rate, systolic blood pressure, etc.	Yoga practice improved HRV in early postmenopausal women significantly.
ANS	HRV	Audette et al. [168]	RCT	Sedentary women (n = 27, 100% female, mean age, 71)	Tai chi for 12 weeks (RCT)	Brisk walking for 12 weeks (RCT), sedentary life style for 12 weeks (a separate group)	Age, weight, exercise test, HRV, flexibility, single leg balance	In the tai chi group, significant improvement in estimated VO2 max, increase in high-frequency power (representing increased parasympathetic activity) and decrease in low-frequency power (representing decreased sympathetic activity) were found.
HPA	Cortisol	Field et al. [169]	RCT	Prenatally depressed women at 22 weeks gestation (n = 92, 100% female, mean age, 24)	Yoga for 12 weeks	Social support for 12 weeks	Age, education, SES, ethnicity, marital status	Cortisol levels decreased for both groups following each session.
HPA	Cortisol slope, stress, QOL	Carlson et al. [170]	RCT	Distressed survivor women of stage I to III breast cancer (n = 271, 100% female, mean age, 55)	MBCR for eight weeks	SET for 12 weeks, control (one-day stress management)	Age, cancer severity, time since diagnosis, alcohol, nicotine intake, quality of sleep, diet	Cortisol slopes were maintained over time in both the SET and MBCR groups relative to the control group, where the cortisol slopes became flatter. The MBCR group exhibited a significant improvement in stress symptoms and QOL compared to the SET group and the control group.
HPA	Cortisol	Daubenmier et al. [171]	RCT	Overweight/obese women (n = 47, 100% female, mean age, 41)	A four-month mindfulness program for stress eating	Waitlist	Age, weight, BMI, waist circumference, psychological state, CAR response, eating behavior	The mindfulness group exhibited significant reductions in the CAR and maintained body weight, while the control group had a stable CAR and gained weight. Improvements in mindfulness, chronic stress and CAR were associated with reductions in abdominal fat.
HPA, immune	Cortisol, cytokine	Witek–Janusek et al. [172]	A longitudinal study	Women newly diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer (n = 66, 100% female, mean age, 55), women without cancer (mean age = 55, n = 30)	MBSR for eight weeks	Non-MBSR, cancer-free group	Age, assessment time of the day	Women in the MBSR group had reduced cortisol levels, improved QOL and increased coping effectiveness compared to the non-MBSR group. The non-MBSR group exhibited continued reductions in NKCA and IFN-γ production with increased IL-4, IL-6 and IL-10 production, while the MBSR group re-established their NKCA and cytokine production levels.
Immune	Cytokine	Robins et al. [173]	RCT	Women with high CVD risk (n = 63, 100% female, 35–50 years)	Tai chi for eight weeks	Waitlist	Age, waist circumference	The tai chi group significantly lowered the level of interferon gamma, TNF, IL-8 and IL-4 compared to the control group.
Immune	Cytokine	Harkess et al. [174]	RCT	A subsample (n = 28, mean age, 41) from a population of women reporting psychological distress (n = 116, 100% female)	Yoga for eight weeks	Waitlist	Age, weight-to-height ratio	Reduced methylation of the TNF region in the yoga group relative to the waitlist control.
Immune	Cytokine	Gallegos et al. [175]	A longitudinal study	Trauma-exposed women (n = 50, 100% female, mean age, 44)	MBSR for eight weeks	N/A	Age, race, employment status, income	Session attendance was associated with significant decreases in IL-6 levels.

Abbreviation: RCT, randomized controlled trial; N/A, not available; PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder; MBSR, mindfulness-based stress reduction; MBCT, mindfulness-based cognitive therapy; BMI, body mass index; QOL, quality of life; BP, blood pressure; SBP, systolic blood pressure; DBP, diastolic blood pressure; RR, respiratory rate; HRV, heart rate variability; ANS, autonomic nervous system; PNS, parasympathetic nervous system; MBCR, mindfulness-based cancer recovery; SET, supportive–expressive group therapy; HPA, hypothalamus–pituitary–adrenal; CAR, cortisol awakening response; IL, interleukin; TNF, tumor necrosis factor.