Randomized controlled trial examines mindfulness training's mind-body effects in athletes

Carmelo Campo, Filippo Cellucci, Giacomo Treggiari, Giorgio Alfredo Spedicato, Stefano Lasaponara, and David Conversi authored a preliminary randomized controlled trial titled "Mind-body effects of mindfulness-based training in athletes" that appears in the Mindfulness section of Frontiers in Psychology and shows 135 views on its article page. The Frontiers listing includes an internal contradiction - it displays "Published on 31 Dec 2025" alongside "Accepted on 26 Jan 2026" - a chronological inconsistency noted on the journal page.

The article is described on the journal page as "Original Research" and the initial report states, "Frontiers in Psychology released a preliminary randomized controlled trial investigating the mind-body impacts of mindfulness-based training on athletes." The report adds that "The study highlights potential benefits for performance and well-being in sports contexts," but the Frontiers excerpt provided does not publish the trial's sample size, outcomes, or effect estimates on the page excerpt available here.

Context for Campo et al.'s trial comes from a separate systematic review and meta-analysis that pooled randomized controlled trials of mindfulness-based interventions for athletes. That review states explicitly that "Thirty-two eligible studies were included in the narrative synthesis, of which nineteen were included in the quantitative analysis." The meta-analysis concluded that, narratively, MBIs "were effective in promoting athletes’ sports performance" and that pooled results "showed effectiveness on improving the mindfulness and mindfulness-based psychological components, yet no significant effects were found for mental health outcomes among athletes."

The meta-analysis highlights concrete, short-form interventions: "Specifically, a randomized controlled trial examined the effects of a 15 min mindfulness intervention on basketball players’ athletic performance under pressure. The results showed that 15 min mindfulness intervention was effective in promoting participants’ first free-throw performance under a stressful setting compared to the control condition." Another cited trial reported that participants in the intervention group (n = 18) receiving a 15 min mindfulness treatment had a small-to-moderate increase (Cohen’s d = 0.48) in free-throw performance compared with the control group (n = 18).

Practitioner voices underscore adoption in elite sport: DrPaulMcCarthy writes, "Elite competitors now keep taking structured mindfulness protocols like MAC, MSPE, and MBSR as part of their training." He links these protocols to specific mechanisms, noting "These practices lead to better concentration, decision-making, emotional control, and flow states" and that "By a lot, mindfulness helps develop interoceptive awareness. Athletes can better interpret their body's signals to pace themselves, recover properly, and prevent injuries."

DrPaulMcCarthy also stresses methodological gaps that bear on interpreting the Campo et al. paper and the pooled evidence: "Most current sports mindfulness studies use quasi-experimental designs or case studies ... We need more powerful randomized controlled trials with active control conditions to draw firm conclusions about how well mindfulness works," and he adds that "Long-term research remains rare."

Taken together, the Campo et al. paper joins a body of 32 RCTs discussed in the recent meta-analysis that report performance-related benefits from MBIs, while pooled analyses detect improvements in mindfulness-related psychological components but not in mental-health outcomes. The Frontiers page’s date inconsistency and the lack of full trial details on the article excerpt mean the Campo et al. trial's specific methods and effect sizes remain to be confirmed from the full text and journal record.