Brief mindfulness meditation can lower health threat avoidance and promote intentions but not behaviors in sleep and screening: experimental evidence

Because threatening health messages often trigger defensive responses rather than behavioral change, it is critical to identify effective approaches for reducing defensiveness toward health threats. Building on evidence of the efficacy of mindfulness, this study investigated whether brief mindfulness meditation can reduce individual defensiveness and promote health intentions and behaviors across two domains: sleep health and disease screening. Two online experiments (N1 = 248; N2 = 168) were conducted. Experiment 1 addressed sleep hygiene, while Experiment 2 utilized a fictional rare disease screening scenario. Fear, defensiveness, and intentions were measured in both experiments; Experiment 2 further assessed actual appointment-making behavior. Data were analyzed using ANOVA, ANCOVA, and mediation modeling via the PROCESS macro for SPSS. Brief mindfulness meditation consistently reduced defensiveness and indirectly increased intentions for sleep improvement and health screening in both experiments. In Experiment 2, a serial mediation effect was observed: mindfulness increased risk-feedback acceptance and reduced message defensiveness, which in turn bolstered screening intentions. However, the effect of mindfulness on actual screening appointment behavior was non-significant. Brief mindfulness meditation practice attenuates defensive responses to health threats and enhances behavioral intentions in both sleep and screening contexts. These findings suggest that brief mindfulness-based interventions can potentially amplify the impact of health communication by fostering a more receptive and less defensive processing of health-related information.