It's not what you think, it's how you relate to it: dispositional mindfulness moderates the relationship between psychological distress and the cortisol awakening response.

Objective: The cortisol awakening response (CAR) is a natural metabolic response that can be potentiated by negative cognitive-emotional processes, including stress appraisals, negative affect, and rumination. Psychological distress and the CAR are not consistently related, however. Individual differences in aspects of dispositional mindfulness which reflect how people relate to negative thoughts and emotions may help explain such inconsistencies.