Meditation

Reduce Burnout in Caregivers for the Elderly with Meditation and Yoga

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Reduce Burnout in Caregivers for the Elderly with Meditation and Yoga

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“Self-care is very important for preventing caregiver burnout and senior stress, and two of the most effective self-care habits you can start are meditation and yoga.” – Harry Cline

 

There is a tremendous demand for caregiving. It is estimated that over 65 million (29% of the adult population) in the US provides care to someone who is ill, disabled or aged, averaging 20 hours per week spent caring for their loved ones. This caregiving comes at a cost exacting a tremendous toll on caregivers’ health and well-being. Caregiving has been associated with increased levels of depression and anxiety as well as higher use of psychoactive medications, poorer self-reported physical health, compromised immune function, and increased mortality. Mindfulness practice for caregivers has been shown to help them cope with the physical and psychological demands of caregiving.

 

In today’s Research News article “The effects of yoga and mindful meditation on elderly care worker’s burnout: a CONSORT-compliant randomized controlled trial.” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8753257/ ) Kukihara and colleagues recruited adult caregivers for the elderly and randomly assigned them to receive either no-treatment, or 6 weekly 60-minute programs of either yoga or mindful meditation. They were measured before and after treatment for burnout and provided saliva samples for assay for the stress marker α-amylase.

 

They found that in comparison to baseline and the no-treatment control group both the yoga and meditation groups had significant reductions in burnout, particularly emotional exhaustion, and the salivary stress marker α-amylase. There were no significant differences in the benefits of the yoga or the mindful meditation programs.

 

So, practice yoga or meditation to reduce burnout and stress in caregivers for the elderly.

 

“Caregiving for a senior is a wonderful thing to do, but it comes with its difficulties and stresses. Yoga and meditation are two practices that can help seniors and their caregivers lead happier and healthier lives.” – Beverly Nelson

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are also available on Twitter @MindfulResearch

 

Study Summary

 

Kukihara, H., Ando, M., & Yamawaki, N. (2022). The effects of yoga and mindful meditation on elderly care worker’s burnout: a CONSORT-compliant randomized controlled trial. Journal of rural medicine : JRM, 17(1), 14–20. https://doi.org/10.2185/jrm.2021-021

 

Abstract

Objectives: This study aims to investigate the effects of mindful meditation and yoga on reducing burnout and stress in care workers who assist elderly individuals. Knowing how to reduce burnout is important because that of care workers is associated with the quality of client care, worker productivity, and job turnover.

Patients and Methods: The participants included 44 care workers who worked for elderly care facilities in rural Fukuoka. They were randomly assigned to one of three intervention groups: control, yoga, or mindfulness. In the yoga intervention group, a certified yoga instructor taught a 60-minute yoga session each week for six weeks. In the mindfulness group, an experienced medical doctor instructed a mindful meditation program for the same length. Participants were asked to complete the Japanese Burnout Scale (JBS), and the research team collected the level of α-amylase in saliva using NIPRO: T-110-N pre- and post-interventions.

Results: MANOVA was performed with each intervention (control, yoga, mindfulness) as the independent variable on the three subscales of the JBS (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal achievement) and a biomarker of stress level (α-amylase). The results indicated a significant main effect of interventions, and a follow-up ANOVA showed a significant effect of interventions on emotional exhaustion and personal achievement.

Conclusion: The results indicate that practicing mindful meditation or yoga for 60 minutes once a week for six weeks can reduce care workers’ burnout. This study was notable because the biomarker of stress also improved. It is strongly recommended and encouraged that institutions caring for the elderly population provide mindful meditation or yoga intervention to reduce burnout, which benefits not only care workers but also their clients.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8753257/

 

Improve Positive Psychological States with Mindfulness

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Improve Positive Psychological States with Mindfulness

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“So how does meditation lead to greater happiness? “Loving-kindness is designed to elicit positive emotions. We are stretching the way we pay attention by looking for the good in ourselves or wishing ourselves well through loving-kindness.”  – Caren Osten

 

“Meditation leads to concentration, concentration leads to understanding, and understanding leads to happiness” – This wonderful quote from the modern-day sage Thich Nhat Hahn is a beautiful pithy description of the benefits of mindfulness practice. Mindfulness allows us to view our experience and not judge it, not put labels on it, not make assumptions about it, not relate it to past experiences, and not project it into the future. Rather mindfulness lets us experience everything around and within us exactly as it is arising and falling away from moment to moment. Mindfulness meditation has been shown to increase positive emotions and happiness. But there is a need to further investigate the effects of mindfulness on positive emotional states.

 

In today’s Research News article “A New Second-Generation Mindfulness-Based Intervention Focusing on Well-Being: A Randomized Control Trial of Mindfulness-Based Positive Psychology.” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8976107/ ) Zheng and colleagues recruited healthy adults and randomly assigned them to either a wait-list control condition or to receive mindfulness meditation instruction for 2.5 hours per week for 6 weeks followed by 20 minutes of meditation practice along with home practice. They were measured before, during (every 2 weeks), after, and 3 months after the treatment for satisfaction with life, positive and negative emotions, psychological well-being, mindfulness, attitudes toward self and others, and self-compassion.

 

They found that the mindfulness meditation program produced a significant reduction in negative emotions and significant increases in self-compassion and environmental mastery. They also found that the greater the amount of meditation practice the higher the levels of positive emotions, positive relations, and awareness.

 

So, mindfulness meditation increased positive psychological states in healthy adults.

 

“In order to have the resiliency to face difficulties . . . we need to find and nurture the positive parts of ourselves, and make a point of paying attention to experiences that give us pleasure.” – Sharon Salzberg

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are also available on Twitter @MindfulResearch

 

Study Summary

 

Zheng, Y., Zhou, J., Zeng, X., Jiang, M., & Oei, T. (2022). A New Second-Generation Mindfulness-Based Intervention Focusing on Well-Being: A Randomized Control Trial of Mindfulness-Based Positive Psychology. Journal of happiness studies, 1–22. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-022-00525-2

 

Abstract

Second-generation mindfulness-based interventions (SG-MBIs) align well with positive psychology philosophy and practices, but trials of SG-MBIs have largely focused on ill-being. This study developed a mindfulness-based positive psychology (MBPP) intervention integrating positive psychology with an SG-MBI to enhance well-being. A randomized control trial was performed to compare MBPP with a waitlist condition among 138 Chinese participants. The results showed that MBPP significantly reduced negative emotions for subjective well-being and significantly improved environmental mastery for psychological well-being. Improvements in self-compassion and negative attitudes but not avoidance, mediated changes in well-being. Changes in positive emotions, positive relations, and awareness were associated with the amount of meditation practice. These findings showed that MBPP is promising for improving well-being and that the positive psychology components play important roles. Broadly, the study illustrated that positive psychology and SG-MBIs can be effectively integrated, and it supported the further application of SG-MBIs from the positive psychology perspective.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8976107/

 

Improve Persistence of Meditation with a Fixes Anchor to Daily Life

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Improve Persistence of Meditation with a Fixes Anchor to Daily Life

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“That which we persist in doing becomes easier to do, not that the nature of the thing has changed but that our power to do has increased.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

Mindfulness training has been shown to improve health and well-being. It has also been found to be effective for a large array of medical and psychiatric conditions, either stand-alone or in combination with more traditional therapies. As a result, mindfulness training has been called the third wave of therapies. But in order for meditation to be beneficial it must be practiced. There needs to be developed methods to improve the persistence of meditation practice over time. One method might be to anchor it to a set daily habit.

 

In today’s Research News article “Using Personalized Anchors to Establish Routine Meditation Practice With a Mobile App: Randomized Controlled Trial.” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8734923/ ) Stecher and colleagues recruited subscribers to the “Calm” meditation app who had not yet established a practice. They were asked to engage in meditation for 10 minutes per day using the app for 8 weeks and were sent a daily reminder to meditate. They were randomly assigned to receive wither no further instructions, instructions to use a personalized anchor, or instructions to use a fixed anchor. The participants in the personalized anchor condition were asked to select a consistent existing routine such a drinking morning coffee and meditate after that. The fixed ancho participant were instructed to meditate daily after brushing teeth. Their daily use of the app was recorded over the 8-week intervention period and for 8 more weeks.

 

They found that all groups declined in their likelihood of meditating over the intervention and follow-up period. But the group that used the fixed anchor declined significantly less than the other groups. Hence, using a fixed anchor for meditation improves persistence of daily meditation.

 

So, to produce consistent daily meditation create a fixed anchor point in the daily routine for meditation.

 

“To meditate successfully one needs to be like the long-distance runner who accepts whatever terrain he encounters.” – Ananda

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are also available on Twitter @MindfulResearch

 

Study Summary

 

Stecher, C., Sullivan, M., & Huberty, J. (2021). Using Personalized Anchors to Establish Routine Meditation Practice With a Mobile App: Randomized Controlled Trial. JMIR mHealth and uHealth, 9(12), e32794. https://doi.org/10.2196/32794

 

Abstract

Background

Physical and mental health benefits can be attained from persistent, long-term performance of mindfulness meditation with a mobile meditation app, but in general, few mobile health app users persistently engage at a level necessary to attain the corresponding health benefits. Anchoring or pairing meditation with a mobile app to an existing daily routine can establish an unconsciously initiated meditation routine that may improve meditation persistence.

Objective

The purpose of this study was to test the use of either personalized anchors or fixed anchors for establishing a persistent meditation app routine with the mobile app, Calm.

Methods

We conducted a randomized controlled trial and randomly assigned participants to one of 3 study groups: (1) a personalized anchor (PA) group, (2) fixed anchor (FA) group, or (3) control group that did not use the anchoring strategy. All participants received app-delivered reminder messages to meditate for at least 10 minutes a day using the Calm app for an 8-week intervention period, and app usage data continued to be collected for an additional 8-week follow-up period to measure meditation persistence. Baseline, week 8, and week 16 surveys were administered to assess demographics, socioeconomic status, and changes in self-reported habit strength.

Results

A total of 101 participants across the 3 study groups were included in the final analysis: (1) PA (n=56), (2) FA (n=49), and (3) control group (n=62). Participants were predominantly White (83/101, 82.2%), female (77/101, 76.2%), and college educated (ie, bachelor’s or graduate degree; 82/101, 81.2%). The FA group had a significantly higher average odds of daily meditation during the intervention (1.14 odds ratio [OR]; 95% CI 1.02-1.33; P=.04), and all participants experienced a linear decline in their odds of daily meditation during the 8-week intervention (0.96 OR; 95% CI 0.95-0.96; P<.001). Importantly, the FA group showed a significantly smaller decline in the linear trend of their odds of daily meditation during the 8-week follow-up (their daily trend increased by 1.04 OR from their trend during the intervention; 95% CI 1.01-1.06; P=.03). Additionally, those who more frequently adhered to their anchoring strategy during the intervention typically used anchors that occurred in the morning and showed a significantly smaller decline in their odds of daily meditation during the 8-week follow-up period (1.13 OR; 95% CI 1.02-1.35; P=.007).

Conclusions

The FA group had more persistent meditation with the app, but participants in the FA or PA groups who more frequently adhered to their anchoring strategy during the intervention had the most persistent meditation routines, and almost all of these high anchorers used morning anchors. These findings suggest that the anchoring strategy can create persistent meditation routines with a mobile app. However, future studies should combine anchoring with additional intervention tools (eg, incentives) to help more participants successfully establish an anchored meditation routine.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8734923/

Meditation Improves Word Recognition

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Meditation Improves Word Recognition

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“Meditative practice changes a perception of emotional coloring of written speech.” – Alexander Savostyanov

 

Mindfulness training has been shown to be effective in improving physical and psychological health and also improves cognition. In today’s Research News article “Meditation affects word recognition of meditation novices.” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8942899/ ) Lusnig and colleagues recruited online healthy college students and randomly assigned them to receive 8 weeks of 1.5 hour weekly practice of mindfulness meditation, loving kindness meditation, or silent study for a class. The participant groups did not differ in mood states, personality, sustained attention, or intelligence. Before and after training they also performed a lexical decision task on a computer where they had to decide as quickly as possible whether a set of letters presented was a word or not and rated their feelings toward the word.

 

They found that after either meditation but not the control condition the participants found the words to be more neutral while after loving kindness meditation the participants found the positive words as more positive than prior the intervention. They also found that after either meditation but not the control condition the participants responded faster in detection words or non-words (lexical )decision) while loving kindness meditation participants had the fastest overall responses. These results suggest that meditation reduces emotional responses to words and improves word recognition.

 

These results suggest that meditation can help people think better. This may well be because meditation improves attention and reduces mind wandering and improves the regulation of emotions. Thus, meditation improves thinking (cognition) by making people calmer and more attentive.

 

“By training my mind to concentrate solely on what I am reading . . . I am better able to not only more fully enjoy the experience of reading again, but to really delve into what a book is saying, and making connections to other things I have read or knowledge I already possess.” – Kerri Jarema

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are also available on Twitter @MindfulResearch

 

Study Summary

 

Lusnig, L., Radach, R., & Hofmann, M. J. (2022). Meditation affects word recognition of meditation novices. Psychological research, 86(3), 723–736. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-021-01522-5

 

Abstract

This work represents one of the first attempts to examine the effects of meditation on the processing of written single words. In the present longitudinal study, participants conducted a lexical decision task and rated the affective valence of nouns before and after a 7-week class in mindfulness meditation, loving-kindness meditation, or a control intervention. Both meditation groups rated the emotional valence of nouns more neutral after the interventions, suggesting a general down-regulation of emotions. In the loving-kindness group, positive words were rated more positively after the intervention, suggesting a specific intensification of positive feelings. After both meditation interventions, response times in the lexical decision task accelerated significantly, with the largest facilitation occurring in the loving-kindness group. We assume that meditation might have led to increased attention, better visual discrimination, a broadened attentional focus, and reduced mind-wandering, which in turn enabled accelerated word recognition. These results extend findings from a previous study with expert Zen meditators, in which we found that one session of advanced meditation can affect word recognition in a very similar way.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8942899/

 

Internal are Superior of External Focused Meditation Techniques in Producing Relaxation

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Internal are Superior of External Focused Meditation Techniques in Producing Relaxation

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“We all have our unique differences, and it’s important to celebrate those even when choosing a meditation technique. What works for one person may not work for another. We each have predispositions and lifestyle habits that make choosing a meditation technique an important process.” – Susi Amendola

 

Meditation training has been shown to improve health and well-being. It has also been found to be effective for a large array of medical and psychiatric conditions, either stand-alone or in combination with more traditional therapies. As a result, meditation training has been called the third wave of therapies. One problem with understanding meditation effects is that there are, a wide variety of meditation techniques and it is not known which work best for affecting different psychological areas. There are meditation techniques that focus on internal experience and others that focus on external stimuli. It is not known which are best for inducing relaxation.

 

In today’s Research News article “A Retrospective Analysis of Three Focused Attention Meditation Techniques: Mantra, Breath, and External-Point Meditation.” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8967094/ ) Sharma and colleagues recruited healthy adults and had them perform mantra, breath focused, or external-point (eyes open) meditations for 3 minutes each. During the meditation the alpha rhythm in the electroencephalogram was measured as an index of achieving a calm state.

 

They found that the time spent in the calm state during meditation was significantly higher during mantra and breath focused meditations than during external-point meditation.  It has been previously established that the amount of alpha rhythm is reduced in the eyes open condition. So, the present study demonstrates that this is true for meditation also.

 

Hence it appears that keeping the eyes closed during meditation produces greater calm.

 

“Not all meditation styles are right for everyone. These practices require different skills and mindsets. How do you know which practice is right for you? “It’s what feels comfortable and what you feel encouraged to practice,” – Mira Dessy

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are also available on Twitter @MindfulResearch

 

Study Summary

 

Sharma, K., Wernicke, A. G., Rahman, H., Potters, L., Sharma, G., & Parashar, B. (2022). A Retrospective Analysis of Three Focused Attention Meditation Techniques: Mantra, Breath, and External-Point Meditation. Cureus, 14(3), e23589. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.23589

 

Abstract

Objective

The goal of this study is to compare the effectiveness of three different meditation techniques (two internal focus techniques and one external focus technique) using a low-cost portable electroencephalography (EEG) device, namely, MUSE, for an objective comparison.

Methods

This is an IRB-approved retrospective study. All participants in the study were healthy adults. Each study participant (n = 34) was instructed to participate in three meditation sessions: mantra (internal), breath (internal), and external point. The MUSE brain-sensing headband (EEG) was used to document the “total time spent in the calm state” and the “total time spent in the calm or neutral state” (outcomes) in each three-minute session to conduct separate analyses for the meditation type. Separate generalized linear models (GLM) with unstructured covariance structures were used to examine the association between each outcome and the explanatory variable (meditation type). For all models, if there was a significant association between the outcome and the explanatory variable, pairwise comparisons were carried out using the Tukey-Kramer correction.

Results

The median time (in seconds) spent in the calm state while practicing mantra meditation was 131.5 (IQR: 94-168), while practicing breath meditation was 150 (IQR: 113-164), and while practicing external-point meditation was 100 (IQR: 62-126). Upon analysis, there was a significant association between the meditation type and the time spent in the calm state (p-value = 0.0006).

Conclusion

This is the first study comparing “internal” versus “external” meditation techniques using an objective measure. Our study shows the breath and mantra technique as superior to the external-point technique as regards time spent in the calm state. Additional research is needed using a combination of “EEG” and patient-reported surveys to compare various meditative practices. The findings from this study can help incorporate specific meditation practices in future mindfulness-based studies that are focused on healthcare settings and on impacting clinical outcomes, such as survival or disease outcomes.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8967094/

Improve Mental Health with Mantra-Based Meditation

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Improve Mental Health with Mantra-Based Meditation

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“Many people find that using a mantra can boost awareness and improve concentration. Since it helps you stay focused, it could lead to improved results from meditation.” – Timothy Legg

 

Meditation training has been shown to improve health and well-being. It has also been found to be effective for a large array of medical and psychiatric conditions, either stand-alone or in combination with more traditional therapies. But many people have difficulty quieting the mind and maintaining concentration during meditation. Repeating a mantra during meditation has been thought to help prevent intrusive thoughts and improve concentration and focus during meditation. There have been a number of studies of the psychological benefits of mantra-based meditations. It makes sense then to summarize what has been learned.

 

In today’s Research News article “Effectiveness of Mantra-Based Meditation on Mental Health: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8949812/ ) Álvarez-Pérez and colleagues review, summarize, and perform a meta-analysis of the effects of mantra-based meditations on mental health. They found 51 published research studies.

 

They report that the published research studies found that mantra-based meditations produced significant reduction in anxiety, depression, perceived stress, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, and psychopathology, and significant increases in health-related quality of life. All of these effects had small to moderate effect sizes.

 

So, the published research demonstrate that mantra-based meditations produce significant improvements in mental health.

 

“Mantra meditation is not magic, but the results can be magical.”— Thomas Ashley-Farrand”

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are also available on Twitter @MindfulResearch

 

Study Summary

 

Álvarez-Pérez, Y., Rivero-Santana, A., Perestelo-Pérez, L., Duarte-Díaz, A., Ramos-García, V., Toledo-Chávarri, A., Torres-Castaño, A., León-Salas, B., Infante-Ventura, D., González-Hernández, N., Rodríguez-Rodríguez, L., & Serrano-Aguilar, P. (2022). Effectiveness of Mantra-Based Meditation on Mental Health: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. International journal of environmental research and public health, 19(6), 3380. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19063380

 

Abstract

Background: Meditation is defined as a form of cognitive training that aims to improve attentional and emotional self-regulation. This systematic review aims to evaluate the available scientific evidence on the effectiveness and safety of mantra-based meditation techniques (MBM), in comparison to passive or active controls, or other active treatment, for the management of mental health symptoms. Methods: MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, and PsycINFO databases were consulted up to April 2021. Randomised controlled trials regarding meditation techniques mainly based on the repetition of mantras, such as transcendental meditation or others, were included. Results: MBM, compared to control conditions, was found to produce significant small-to-moderate effect sizes in the reduction of anxiety (g = −0.46, IC95%: −0.60, −0.32; I2 = 33%), depression (g = −0.33, 95% CI: −0.48, −0.19; I2 = 12%), stress (g = −0.45, 95% CI: −0.65, −0.24; I2 = 46%), post-traumatic stress (g = −0.59, 95% CI: −0.79, −0.38; I2 = 0%), and mental health-related quality of life (g = 0.32, 95% CI: 0.15, 0.49; I2 = 0%). Conclusions: MBM appears to produce small-to-moderate significant reductions in mental health; however, this evidence is weakened by the risk of study bias and the paucity of studies with psychiatric samples and long-term follow-up.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8949812/

Meditation is an Effective Treatment for a Variety of Medical Conditions

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Meditation is an Effective Treatment for a Variety of Medical Conditions

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“Mindfulness is not a cure-all. . . . There have been thousands of studies showing that there are psychological and physical benefits to mindfulness meditation, but the intention . . . is not to cure the disease or fully treat the symptoms, but to treat the whole person — and that includes their mental and emotional well-being — so they can live in greater health and joy.” – Men’s Health

 

Over the last several decades, research and anecdotal experiences have accumulated an impressive evidential case that meditation has positive benefits for the individual’s mental, physical, and spiritual life. Meditation appears to be beneficial both for healthy people and for people suffering from a myriad of mental and physical illnesses. It appears to be beneficial across ages, from children to the elderly. And it appears to be beneficial across genders, personalities, race, and ethnicity. The breadth and depth of benefits is unprecedented. There is no other treatment or practice that has been shown to come anyway near the range of mindfulness’ positive benefits.

 

Over the last few decades, a vast amount of research has been published on the benefits of meditation on the mental and physical health of the practitioners. So, it makes sense to step back and summarize what has been learned.

 

In today’s Research News article “Systematic Review for the Medical Applications of Meditation in Randomized Controlled Trials.” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8834867/ ) Kim and colleagues review and summarize the 104 published randomized controlled trials on the benefits of meditation practices on mental and physical well-being.

 

They report that the published research found that different studies report varying results but the most common significant benefits of meditation practice were improvements in fatigue, sleep quality, quality of life, stress, PTSD symptoms, blood pressure, intraocular pressure, and depression. In general yoga-based practices produced slightly better results than mindfulness based techniques,

 

Hence, meditation practices have been found to help improve mental and physical well-being.

 

“meditation can improve mental health and reduce symptoms associated with chronic conditions.” – Ashley Welch

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are also available on Twitter @MindfulResearch

 

Study Summary

 

Kim, D. Y., Hong, S. H., Jang, S. H., Park, S. H., Noh, J. H., Seok, J. M., Jo, H. J., Son, C. G., & Lee, E. J. (2022). Systematic Review for the Medical Applications of Meditation in Randomized Controlled Trials. International journal of environmental research and public health, 19(3), 1244. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19031244

 

Abstract

Background: Meditation has been increasingly adapted for healthy populations and participants with diseases. Its beneficial effects are still challenging to determine due to the heterogeneity and methodological obstacles regarding medical applications. This study aimed to integrate the features of therapeutic meditation in randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Methods: We conducted a systematic review of RCTs with meditation for populations with diseases using the PubMed database through June 2021. We analyzed the characteristics of the diseases/disorders, participants, measurements, and their overall benefits. Results: Among a total of 4855 references, 104 RCTs were determined and mainly applied mindfulness-based (51 RCTs), yoga-based (32 RCTs), and transcendental meditation (14 RCTs) to 10,139 patient-participants. These RCTs were conducted for participants with a total of 45 kinds of disorders; the most frequent being cancer, followed by musculoskeletal and connective tissue diseases and affective mood disorder. Seven symptoms or signs were frequently assessed: depressive mood, feeling anxious, quality of life, stress, sleep, pain, and fatigue. The RCTs showed a higher ratio of positive outcomes for sleep (73.9%) and fatigue (68.4%). Conclusions: This systematic review produced the comprehensive features of RCTs for therapeutic meditation. These results will help physicians and researchers further study clinical adaptations in the future as reference data.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8834867/

 

Improve Physical and Mental Health during Aging with Mindfulness

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Improve Physical and Mental Health during Aging with Mindfulness

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“The healthier and more active one’s lifestyle, the more likely he or she will maintain cognitive performance over time. And meditation may be a key ingredient for ensuring brain health and maintaining good mental performance.“ – Grace Bullock

 

The aging process involves a systematic progressive decline in every system in the body, the brain included. The elderly frequently have problems with attention, thinking, and memory abilities, known as mild cognitive impairment. An encouraging new development is that mindfulness practices such as meditation training and mindful movement practices can significantly reduce these declines in cognitive ability. In addition, it has been found that

mindfulness practices reduce the deterioration of the brain that occurs with aging restraining the loss of neural tissue. Indeed, the brains of practitioners of meditation have been found to degenerate less with aging than non-practitioners.

 

In today’s Research News article “Long-Term Physical Exercise and Mindfulness Practice in an Aging Population.” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00358/full?utm_source=F-AAE&utm_medium=EMLF&utm_campaign=MRK_1832518_a0P58000000G0YfEAK_Psycho_20220317_arts_A&utm_source=sfmc&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Article+Alerts+V4.1-Frontiers&utm_term=%%%3d+++++++REDIRECTTO(+++++CONCAT(%27http%3a%2f%2fjournal.frontiersin.org%2farticle%2f%27%2c+TreatAsContent(field(%40article%2c+%27DOI__c%27))%2c+%27%2ffull%3futm_source%3dF-AAE%26utm_medium%3dEMLF%26utm_campaign%3dMRK_%27%2c+TreatAsContent(JobID)%2c+%27_%27%2c+TreatAsContent(%40FieldId)%2c+%27_%27%2c+TreatAsContent(Substring(Replace(Field(%40field%2c+%27Name%27)%2c+%27+%27%2c+%27%27)%2c+0%2c+6))% ) Tang and colleagues compared older adults (average age of 64 years) who were either experienced (> 10 years) meditators or exercisers on physical, mental, immune, stress, and brain plasticity measures.

 

They report that the older adults who exercised had superior cardiovascular and respiratory fitness. But the older adults who meditated had superior physiological relaxation, quality of life, immune response, stress response, and brain plasticity. They conclude that the optimum results for older adults would be produced by combining meditation and exercise. Regardless, it is clear that meditation restrains the physical and mental deterioration with aging.

 

“it’s heartening to know that age may not only bring wisdom or sore knees, but also more mindfulness.” – Jenn Director Knudsen 

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are also available on Twitter @MindfulResearch

 

Study Summary

 

Tang Y-Y, Fan Y, Lu Q, Tan L-H, Tang R, Kaplan RM, Pinho MC, Thomas BP, Chen K, Friston KJ and Reiman EM (2020) Long-Term Physical Exercise and Mindfulness Practice in an Aging Population. Front. Psychol. 11:358. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00358

 

Previous studies have shown that physical exercise and mindfulness meditation can both lead to improvement in physical and mental health. However, it is unclear whether these two forms of training share the same underlying mechanisms. We compared two groups of older adults with 10 years of mindfulness meditation (integrative body-mind training, IBMT) or physical exercise (PE) experience to demonstrate their effects on brain, physiology and behavior. Healthy older adults were randomly selected from a large community health project and the groups were compared on measures of quality of life, autonomic activity (heart rate, heart rate variability, skin conductance response, respiratory amplitude/rate), immune function (secretory Immunoglobulin A, sIgA), stress hormone (cortisol) and brain imaging (resting state functional connectivity, structural differences). In comparison with PE, we found significantly higher ratings for the IBMT group on dimensions of life quality. Parasympathetic activity indexed by skin conductance response and high-frequency heart rate variability also showed more favorable outcomes in the IBMT group. However, the PE group showed lower basal heart rate and greater chest respiratory amplitude. Basal sIgA level was significantly higher and cortisol concentration was lower in the IBMT group. Lastly, the IBMT group had stronger brain connectivity between the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) and the striatum at resting state, as well as greater volume of gray matter in the striatum. Our results indicate that mindfulness meditation and physical exercise function in part by different mechanisms, with PE increasing physical fitness and IBMT inducing plasticity in the central nervous systems. These findings suggest combining physical and mental training may achieve better health and quality of life results for an aging population.

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00358/full?utm_source=F-AAE&utm_medium=EMLF&utm_campaign=MRK_1832518_a0P58000000G0YfEAK_Psycho_20220317_arts_A&utm_source=sfmc&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Article+Alerts+V4.1-Frontiers&utm_term=%%%3d+++++++REDIRECTTO(+++++CONCAT(%27http%3a%2f%2fjournal.frontiersin.org%2farticle%2f%27%2c+TreatAsContent(field(%40article%2c+%27DOI__c%27))%2c+%27%2ffull%3futm_source%3dF-AAE%26utm_medium%3dEMLF%26utm_campaign%3dMRK_%27%2c+TreatAsContent(JobID)%2c+%27_%27%2c+TreatAsContent(%40FieldId)%2c+%27_%27%2c+TreatAsContent(Substring(Replace(Field(%40field%2c+%27Name%27)%2c+%27+%27%2c+%27%27)%2c+0%2c+6))%

 

Meditation Increases a Biological Marker that Protects Against Age-Related Decline

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Meditation Increases a Biological Marker that Protects Against Age-Related Decline

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“meditation may have salutary effects on telomere length by reducing cognitive stress and stress arousal and increasing positive states of mind and hormonal factors that may promote telomere maintenance.” – Elissa Epel

 

One of the most exciting findings in molecular biology in recent years was the discovery of the telomere. This is a component of the DNA molecule that is attached to the ends of the strands. Recent genetic research has suggested that the telomere and its regulation is the biological mechanism that produces aging. As we age the tail of the DNA molecule called the telomere shortens. When it gets very short cells have a more and more difficult time reproducing and become more likely to produce defective cells. On a cellular basis, this is what produces aging. As we get older the new cells produced are more and more likely to be defective. The shortening of the telomere occurs each time the cell is replaced. So, slowly as we age it gets shorter and shorter.

 

Fortunately, there is a mechanism to protect the telomere. There is an enzyme in the body called telomerase that helps to prevent shortening of the telomere. It also promotes cell survival and enhances stress-resistance.  Research suggests that processes that increase telomerase activity tend to slow the aging process by protecting the telomere.  One activity that seems to increase telomerase activity and protect telomere length is mindfulness practice. Hence, engaging in mindfulness practices may protect the telomere and thereby slow the aging process.

 

In today’s Research News article “Impact of Meditation-Based Lifestyle Practices on Mindfulness, Wellbeing, and Plasma Telomerase Levels: A Case-Control Study.” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.846085/full?utm_source=F-AAE&utm_medium=EMLF&utm_campaign=MRK_1827462_a0P58000000G0YfEAK_Psycho_20220308_arts_A&utm_source=sfmc&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Article+Alerts+V4.1-Frontiers&utm_term=%%%3d++++++REDIRECTTO(+++++CONCAT(%27http%3a%2f%2fjournal.frontiersin.org%2farticle%2f%27%2c+TreatAsContent(field(%40article%2c+%27DOI__c%27))%2c+%27%2ffull%3futm_source%3dF-AAE%26utm_medium%3dEMLF%26utm_campaign%3dMRK_%27%2c+TreatAsContent(JobID)%2c+%27_%27%2c+TreatAsContent(%40FieldId)%2c+%27_%27%2c+TreatAsContent(Substring(Replace(Field(%40field%2c+%27Name%27)%2c+%27+%27%2c+%27%27)%2c+0%2c+6))%2c ) Dasanayaka  and colleagues examine the telomerase activity in long-term meditators in comparison to matched control participants.

 

They report that the long-term meditators have significantly higher levels of telomerase in their bloodstream, mindfulness, and quality of life. They also found that the higher the levels of mindfulness the higher the levels of telomerase.

 

These findings support the contention that meditation can help protect against the physical and mental deterioration that occurs with aging by increasing the levels of telomerase thereby protecting the telomere.

 

“Meditation also helps to protect our telomeres, the protective caps at the end of our chromosomes. Telomeres are longest when we’re young and naturally shorten as we age. Shorter telomeres are associated with stress and higher risk for many diseases including cancer, and depend on the telomerase enzyme to enable them to rebuild and repair.” – Paula Watkins

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are also available on Twitter @MindfulResearch

 

Study Summary

 

Dasanayaka NN, Sirisena ND and Samaranayake N (2022) Impact of Meditation-Based Lifestyle Practices on Mindfulness, Wellbeing, and Plasma Telomerase Levels: A Case-Control Study. Front. Psychol. 13:846085. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.846085

 

Meditation involves psychophysical training which can result in a range of benefits including creating a calm mind and increasing self-awareness, relaxation, and tranquility. Increasing evidence, mostly based on short-term focused interventions, suggests that meditation-based activities may also have favorable effects on physical wellbeing including cellular aging. Hence, the aim of this study was to investigate if continued practice of meditation benefited quality of life, state of mindfulness, and plasma telomerase level in healthy adults. 30 long-term and skilled meditators were recruited from meditation centers in different parts of the island following a two-tier screening process of 70 eligible participants and 30 age- and gender-matched healthy non-meditators were recruited from the community. Mindfulness level and the quality of life were measured using the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ) and Quality of Life Questionnaire, respectively, while the levels of plasma telomerase enzyme were measured using Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay. Skilled meditators had a better mindfulness level (p < 0.001) and quality of life (QOL; p < 0.001) than those in the comparison group. Similarly, higher plasma telomerase levels were observed in skilled meditators compared to non-meditators (p = 0.002). Trait mindfulness level and plasma telomerase level showed a significant relationship with the duration of meditation practice (p = 0.046 and p = 0.011, respectively). Regression analysis indicated that trait mindfulness level (p < 0.001) significantly predicts the plasma telomerase level. The findings of this comparative study add to the evidence on sustained benefits of meditation on wellbeing and healthy aging and supports incorporating meditation-based activities into lifestyle practices.

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.846085/full?utm_source=F-AAE&utm_medium=EMLF&utm_campaign=MRK_1827462_a0P58000000G0YfEAK_Psycho_20220308_arts_A&utm_source=sfmc&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Article+Alerts+V4.1-Frontiers&utm_term=%%%3d++++++REDIRECTTO(+++++CONCAT(%27http%3a%2f%2fjournal.frontiersin.org%2farticle%2f%27%2c+TreatAsContent(field(%40article%2c+%27DOI__c%27))%2c+%27%2ffull%3futm_source%3dF-AAE%26utm_medium%3dEMLF%26utm_campaign%3dMRK_%27%2c+TreatAsContent(JobID)%2c+%27_%27%2c+TreatAsContent(%40FieldId)%2c+%27_%27%2c+TreatAsContent(Substring(Replace(Field(%40field%2c+%27Name%27)%2c+%27+%27%2c+%27%27)%2c+0%2c+6))%2c

 

Reduce Aggression in Law Enforcement Officers with Mindfulness

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Reduce Aggression in Law Enforcement Officers with Mindfulness

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“Law enforcement officers (LEOs) are exposed to significant stressors, elevating their risk for aggression and excessive use of force, as well as mental health consequences, including post-traumatic stress disorder, burnout, alcohol misuse, depression, and suicide. Mindfulness training is a promising approach with high-stress populations that has been shown effective for increasing resilience and improving negative mental health outcomes common among LEOs.” – Michael Christopher

 

Policing is a very stressful occupation. Stress in police can result from role conflicts between serving the public, enforcing the law, and upholding ethical standards and personal responsibilities as spouse, parent, and friend. Stress also results from, threats to health and safety, boredom, responsibility for protecting the lives of others, continual exposure to people in pain or distress, the need to control emotions even when provoked, the presence of a gun, even during off-duty hours, and the fragmented nature of police work, with only rare opportunities to follow cases to conclusion or even to obtain feedback or follow-up information.

 

This stress can have serious consequences for the individual and in turn for society. Police officers have one of the highest suicide rates in the nation, possibly the highest. They have a high divorce rate, about second in the nation. They are problem drinkers about twice as often as the general population. This is a major problem as stress and the resultant complications can impact job performance, which sometimes involve life or death situations. It can also lead to increased aggressiveness. Mindfulness training has been shown to improve the physiological and psychological responses to stress. So, it is likely that mindfulness training with police can help them cope with the stress, improve their psychological well-being, and reduce aggressiveness.

 

In today’s Research News article “Differential impact of mindfulness practices on aggression among law enforcement officers.” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8274577/ ) Ribeiro and colleagues recruited meditation naïve law enforcement officers and randomly assigned them to a wait-list control condition or to receive 8 weekly 2-hour sessions of Mindfulness-Based Resilience Training (MBRT) including body scan, sitting and walking meditations, mindful movement, and group discussion along with home practice. They were measured before and after practice for meditation practice and aggression, including physical aggression, verbal aggression, anger, and hostility.

 

They found that adherence to home practice was sporadic, with participants practicing at home on average for 14 days of the 56 days available. Nevertheless, they found that in comparison to baseline and the wait-list control condition, Mindfulness-Based Resilience Training (MBRT) produced a significant decrease in the levels of aggression. They also found that the higher the frequency of home meditation practices, the greater the total duration of home practice, and the greater the number of days practiced at home the lower the levels of aggression. This was true for all of the meditation practices.

 

These are interesting results that suggest that mindfulness practices reduce aggression in law enforcement officers even when practice is sporadic. Even though home practice was low, the amounts of that practice predicted the levels of reduction in aggression, the more home practice, the lower the aggression. But there were no follow-up measurements to ascertain if the effects are lasting and there was no collection of on-the-job aggression to ascertain if this reduction of aggression obtained with paper and pencil measures translates to the real world of policing. Hence, the results must be interpreted cautiously. More intensive research in the future is called for as reducing aggression in law enforcement officers would probably make them more effective and reduce burnout.

 

So, reduce aggression in law enforcement officers with mindfulness.

 

“an 8-week mindfulness intervention for police officers led to self-reported improvements in distress, mental health, and sleep, and a lower [cortisol awakening response].” – Daniel W. Grupe

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are available on Twitter @MindfulResearch

 

Study Summary

 

Ribeiro, L., Colgan, D. D., Hoke, C. K., Hunsinger, M., Bowen, S., Oken, B. S., & Christopher, M. S. (2020). Differential impact of mindfulness practices on aggression among law enforcement officers. Mindfulness, 11(3), 734–745. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-019-01289-2

 

Abstract

Objectives:

Home-based mindfulness practice is a common component of formal mindfulness training (MT) protocols. Obtaining objective data from home-based mindfulness practice is challenging. Interpreting associations between home-based mindfulness practice and clinically impactful outcomes is complicated given the variability in recommendations in length, frequency, and type of practice. In this exploratory study, adherence to home-based practices of Mindfulness-Based Resilience Training (MBRT) was studied in order to evaluate associations with clinical outcomes.

Methods:

Home practices from 24 (92% male, non-Hispanic white, aged M = 43.20 years) law enforcement officers (LEOs) from the urban Pacific Northwest enrolled in a feasibility and efficacy trial of MBRT were studied using an objective tracking device and self-report data. Outcomes included adherence to home-based mindfulness practices and self-reported aggression.

Results:

Participants completed 59.12% of the frequency amount of practice assigned in the MBRT curriculum. Frequency of practice was associated with decreased aggression, adjusted R2 = .41, F(3,23) = 6.14, p = .004. Duration of practice also predicted decreased aggression, adjusted R2 = .33, F(3,23) = 4.76, p = .011.

Conclusions:

Home-based MBRT practices for LEOs, even at low rates of adherence, may reduce aggression. MTs may show beneficial effects for other populations presented with challenges to engage in regular MT practices.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8274577/