I accept your point that the results of the study should be taken with caution, but don't these statements at least partially refute your dismissal? At the end

I accept your point that the results of the study should be taken with caution, but don't these statements at least partially refute your dismissal? At the end, all three groups (vacation, novice, and regular meditators) showed statistically significant improvements in scores of stress and depression, which were measured using well-established and commonly used questionnaires. If we stop there, it seems that vacation is just as good as mindfulness exercises for stress reduction and mood lifting. But what’s really striking are the result from 10 months later: the regular meditators still showed significant improvements on these scores, the novice meditators even more so. However, the vacationers were back to baseline.