Comparing brief stress management courses in a community sample: mindfulness skills and progressive muscle relaxation

Tags:

• Adult
• Aged
• Female
• Humans
• Male
• Meditation
• Middle Aged
• Mind-Body Relations (Metaphysics)
• Muscle Relaxation
• Personal Satisfaction
• Pilot Projects
• Psychotherapy, Group
• Relaxation Therapy
• Self Care
• Stress, Psychological
• Treatment Outcome
• Young Adult

Notes:

• This study sought to compare a five-week mindfulness meditation (MM) course to a five-week course that taught progressive muscle relaxation (PMR). Forty-three adults from the community were randomly assigned to either MM (n = 19) or PMR (n = 24) courses after responding to flyers and other advertisements for a free stress management course. Mindfulness meditation participants practiced meditation significantly more often than PMR participants practiced relaxation during the intervention period (F[1, 43] = 7.42; P < .05). Interestingly, the two conditions did not differ significantly in their posttreatment levels of relaxation or mindfulness. Although there were no differences between groups on any of the primary outcome measures, across both treatment conditions there were statistically significant reductions from pretreatment to posttreatment in general psychological distress. Thus, although MM did not emerge as clearly superior to PMR, results of this study suggest that a brief mindfulness skills course may be effective for stress management.

Systematic review of the efficacy of meditation techniques as treatments for medical illness

Tags:

• Chronic Disease
• Holistic Health
• Humans
• Meditation
• Mental Healing
• Mind-Body Relations (Metaphysics)
• Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic
• Research Design

Notes:

• Meditative techniques are sought frequently by patients coping with medical and psychological problems. Because of their increasingly widespread appeal and use, and the potential for use as medical therapies, a concise and thorough review of the current state of scientific knowledge of these practices as medical interventions was conducted. Purpose: To systematically review the evidence supporting efficacy and safety of meditative practices in treating illnesses, and examine areas warranting further study. Studies on normal healthy populations are not included. Methods: Searches were performed using PubMed, PsycInfo, and the Cochrane Database. Keywords were Meditation, Meditative Prayer, Yoga, Relaxation Response. Qualifying studies were reviewed and independently rated based on quality by two reviewers. Mid-to-high-quality studies (those scoring above 0.65 or 65% on a validated research quality scale) were included. Results: From a total of 82 identified studies, 20 randomized controlled trials met our criteria. The studies included 958 subjects total (397 experimentally treated, 561 controls). No serious adverse events were reported in any of the included or excluded clinical trials. Serious adverse events are reported in the medical literature, though rare. The strongest evidence for efficacy was found for epilepsy, symptoms of the premenstrual syndrome and menopausal symptoms. Benefit was also demonstrated for mood and anxiety disorders, autoimmune illness, and emotional disturbance in neoplastic disease. Conclusions: The results support the safety and potential efficacy of meditative practices for treating certain illnesses, particularly in nonpsychotic mood and anxiety disorders. Clear and reproducible evidence supporting efficacy from large, methodologically sound studies is lacking.

In search of inner wisdom: guided mindfulness meditation in the context of suicide

Tags:

• Adult
• Female
• Humans
• Knowledge
• Male
• Meditation
• Middle Aged
• religion
• spirituality
• Suicide

Notes:

• Spiritual concerns are highly relevant, but often ignored, in psychotherapy in general and in suicide in particular. This article presents Internet data and clinical case material bearing on the topic, and describes an innovative therapeutic intervention administered in a group-workshop format with suicide survivors and mental health professionals. The technique incorporates relaxation and mindfulness meditation, with the addition of guided meditation in search of inner wisdom. Results of the group intervention are described and illustrated. Many participants reported a significant positive experience including connection to knowledge that was highly relevant to them in their current state of life. Whether such insights were experienced as coming from within (a deeper part of the self) or from an external source (a guiding figure or presence), indications are that guided meditation can be a powerful resource for therapists and their clients, suicidal and otherwise. Possible applications in diverse populations and settings, as well as the need for further research, are discussed.

Defining a Complex Intervention: The Development of Demarcation Criteria for "Meditation"

Tags:

• CAM
• characteristics
• Meditation
• mind-body techniques
• yoga

Notes:

• The authors used a 5-round Delphi study with a panel of 7 experts in meditation research to achieve agreement on a set of criteria for a working definition of “meditation” for use in a comprehensive systematic review of the therapeutic use of meditation. Participants agreed that essential to a meditation practice is its use of (a) a defined technique, (b) logic relaxation, and (c) a self-induced state. Participants also agreed that a meditation practice may (d) involve a state of psychophysical relaxation somewhere in the process; (e) use a self-focus skill or anchor; (f) involve an altered state/mode of consciousness, mystic experience, enlightenment or suspension of logical thought processes; (g) be embedded in a religious/spiritual/philosophical context; or (h) involve an experience of mental silence. The results of this study provide insight into the challenges faced by researchers who want to demarcate meditative practices from nonmeditative practices, and they describe an approach to this problem that may prove useful for researchers trying to operationalize meditation in the context of comparative research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved). (from the journal abstract)

Defining a complex intervention: The development of demarcation criteria for “meditation”.

Tags:

• CAM
• characteristics
• Dualism
• Meditation
• mind–body techniques
• Relaxation
• yoga

New beginnings: evidence that the meditational regimen can lead to optimization of perception, attention, cognition, and other functions

Tags:

• Algorithms
• Attention
• Buddhism
• Cognition
• Consciousness
• Humans
• Meditation
• Perception
• Visual Perception

Notes:

• A “framework” is presented for understanding empirically confirmed and unconfirmed phenomena in the Indo-Tibetan meditation system, from an integrative perspective, and providing evidence that certain meditative practices enable meditators to realize the innate human potential to perceive light “at the limits imposed by quantum mechanics,” on the level of individual photons. This is part of a larger Buddhist agenda to meditatitively develop perceptual/attentional capacities to achieve penetrating insight into the nature of phenomena. Such capacities may also allow advanced meditators to perceive changes in natural scenes that are “hidden” from persons with “normal” attentional capacities, according to research on “change blindness,” and to enhance their visual system functioning akin to high-speed and time-lapse photography, in toto allowing for the perception, as well as sophisticated understanding, of the “moment to moment change or impermanence” universally characteristic of the phenomenal world but normally outside untrained attention and perception according to Buddhist doctrine.

Meditation in health: an operational definition

Tags:

• Definition
• Health
• Meditation

Notes:

• Despite its evergrowing use in health-related areas, procedures characterized as meditation have been little or not at all defined operationally, which hinders its use in a standardized manner. In the present study, the authors present a possible operational definition of meditation, which has been used in social and academic projects, developed in Universidade Federal de São Paulo. In this proposal, it is emphasized that, in order to be characterized as meditation, the procedure should encompass the following requirements: (1) the use of a specific technique (clearly defined), (2) muscle relaxation in some moment of the process and (3) “logic relaxation”; (4) it must necessarily be a self-induced state, and (5) use of “self-focus” skill (coined “anchor”).

An empirical study of the mechanisms of mindfulness in a mindfulness-based stress reduction program

Tags:

• Adult
• Aged
• Attention
• Awareness
• Female
• Humans
• Male
• Meditation
• Middle Aged
• Models, Psychological
• Questionnaires
• Relaxation Therapy
• Social Control, Informal
• Social Values
• Stress, Psychological
• Young Adult

Notes:

• S. L. Shapiro and colleagues (2006) have described a testable theory of the mechanisms of mindfulness and how it affects positive change. They describe a model in which mindfulness training leads to a fundamental change in relationship to experience (reperceiving), which leads to changes in self-regulation, values clarification, cognitive and behavioral flexibility, and exposure. These four variables, in turn, result in salutogenic outcomes. Analyses of responses from participants in a mindfulness-based stress-reduction program did not support the mediating effect of changes in reperceiving on the relationship of mindfulness with those four variables. However, when mindfulness and reperceiving scores were combined, partial support was found for the mediating effect of the four variables on measures of psychological distress. Issues arising in attempts to test the proposed theory are discussed, including the description of the model variables and the challenges to their assessment.

Loving-kindness meditation for chronic low back pain: results from a pilot trial

Tags:

• Adaptation, Psychological
• Adult
• Aged
• Aged, 80 and over
• Anger
• Attitude to Health
• Holistic Nursing
• Humans
• Low Back Pain
• Meditation
• Middle Aged
• Pain Measurement
• Pilot Projects
• Questionnaires
• spirituality
• Time Factors

Notes:

• Purpose: Loving-kindness meditation has been used for centuries in the Buddhist tradition to develop love and transform anger into compassion. This pilot study tested an 8-week loving-kindness program for chronic low back pain patients. Method: Patients (N = 43) were randomly assigned to the intervention or standard care. Standardized measures assessed patients’ pain, anger, and psychological distress. Findings: Post and follow-up analyses showed significant improvements in pain and psychological distress in the loving-kindness group, but no changes in the usual care group. Multilevel analyses of daily data showed that more loving-kindness practice on a given day was related to lower pain that day and lower anger the next day. Conclusions: Preliminary results suggest that the loving-kindness program can be beneficial in reducing pain, anger, and psychological distress in patients with persistent low back pain. Implications: Clinicians may find loving-kindness meditation helpful in the treatment of patients with persistent pain.

Cerebral blood flow effects of yoga training: preliminary evaluation of 4 cases

Notes:

• Objectives Experienced practitioners of yoga have been shown to alter brain function, but this case series measured cerebral blood flow before and after a 12-week training program in Iyengar yoga (IY) for naïve subjects. Methods: On the first day, each of the 4 subjects listened to the teacher speaking on the history and background of the yoga program while they were injected with 250 MBq of (99m)Tc-bicisate and received a single photon emission computed tomography scan (pre-program baseline). Subjects then had their first IY training and were injected and scanned with 925 MBq bicisate while they did their first meditation (pre-program meditation). Subjects then underwent a 12-week training program in IY and then underwent the same imaging protocol with a postprogram baseline and postprogram meditation scan. Baseline and meditation scans, before and after training, were compared using paired t tests. Results: There were significant decreases (p < 0.05) between the pre- and postprogram baseline scans in the right amygdala, dorsal medial cortex, and sensorimotor area. There was a significant difference (p < 0.05) in the pre- and postprogram percentage change (i.e., activation) in the right dorsal medial frontal lobe, prefrontal cortex, and right sensorimotor cortex. Conclusions: These initial findings suggest the brain experiences a “training effect” after 12 weeks of IY training.

Mindfulness-specific or generic mechanisms of action

Tags:

• DEPRESSED persons
• NEUROLOGISTS
• PAIN -- Treatment
• rumination
• stress management
• SUBSTANCE abuse
• Transcendental Meditation

Can meditation slow rate of cellular aging? Cognitive stress, mindfulness, and telomeres

Tags:

• Adaptation, Psychological
• Cell Aging
• Cognition
• Humans
• Meditation
• Stress, Psychological
• Telomere

Notes:

• Understanding the malleable determinants of cellular aging is critical to understanding human longevity. Telomeres may provide a pathway for exploring this question. Telomeres are the protective caps at the ends of chromosomes. The length of telomeres offers insight into mitotic cell and possibly organismal longevity. Telomere length has now been linked to chronic stress exposure and depression. This raises the question of mechanism: How might cellular aging be modulated by psychological functioning? We consider two psychological processes or states that are in opposition to one another-threat cognition and mindfulness-and their effects on cellular aging. Psychological stress cognitions, particularly appraisals of threat and ruminative thoughts, can lead to prolonged states of reactivity. In contrast, mindfulness meditation techniques appear to shift cognitive appraisals from threat to challenge, decrease ruminative thought, and reduce stress arousal. Mindfulness may also directly increase positive arousal states. We review data linking telomere length to cognitive stress and stress arousal and present new data linking cognitive appraisal to telomere length. Given the pattern of associations revealed so far, we propose that some forms of 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. Aspects of this model are currently being tested in ongoing trials of mindfulness meditation.

Envisioning a Future Contemplative Science of Mindfulness: Fruitful Methods and New Content for the Next Wave of Research

The role of mindfulness in positive reappraisal

Tags:

• Cognitive Therapy
• Humans
• Internal-External Control
• Meditation
• Mind-Body Relations, Metaphysical
• Models, Psychological
• Psychotherapy, Group
• Quality of Life

The value of mindfulness-based methods in teaching at a clinical field placement

Intensive meditation training, immune cell telomerase activity, and psychological mediators.

Tags:

• Distress
• immune cell telomerase activities
• intensive meditation training
• Meditation
• Mindfulness
• Psychological distress
• psychological mediators

Meditative prayer, hope, adult attachment, and forgiveness: A proposed model.

Tags:

• adult attachment
• attachment behavior
• dispositional forgiveness
• Forgiveness
• hope
• Interpersonal Relationships
• meditative prayer
• prayer
• relational spirituality
• religion
• spirituality

Potential role of self-induced EEG fast oscillations in predisposition to seizures in meditators

Tags:

• EEG
• Fast oscillations
• Gamma activity
• Meditation

Developing an observing attitude: an analysis of meditation diaries in an MBSR clinical trial

Effects of low-dose mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR-ld) on working adults

Tags:

• Adolescent
• Adult
• Female
• Humans
• Hydrocortisone
• Male
• Meditation
• Middle Aged
• Occupational Exposure
• Saliva
• Stress, Psychological
• Treatment Outcome
• Young Adult

Notes:

• Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) has produced behavioral, psychological, and physiological benefits, but these programs typically require a substantial time commitment from the participants. This study assessed the effects of a shortened (low-dose [ld]) work-site MBSR intervention (MBSR-ld) on indicators of stress in healthy working adults to determine if results similar to those obtained in traditional MBSR could be demonstrated. Participants were randomized into MBSR-ld and wait-list control groups. Self-reported perceived stress, sleep quality, and mindfulness were measured at the beginning and end of the 6-week intervention. Salivary cortisol was assessed weekly. Significant reductions in perceived stress (p = .0025) and increases in mindfulness (p = .0149) were obtained for only the MBSR-ld group (n = 22). Scores on the global measure of sleep improved for the MBSR-ld group (p = .0018) as well as for the control group (p = .0072; n = 20). Implications and future research are discussed.

Brief meditation training can improve perceived stress and negative mood.

Notes:

• Objectives To test a brief, non-sectarian program of meditation training for effects on perceived stress and negative emotion, and to determine effects of practice frequency and test the moderating effects of neuroticism (emotional lability) on treatment outcome. DESIGN AND Setting: The study used a single-group, open-label, pre-test post-test design conducted in the setting of a university medical center. Patricipants: Healthy adults (N=200) interested in learning meditation for stress-reduction were enrolled. One hundred thirty-three (76% females) completed at least 1 follow-up visit and were included in data analyses. INTERVENTION: Participants learned a simple mantra-based meditation technique in 4, 1-hour small-group meetings, with instructions to practice for 15-20 minutes twice daily. Instruction was based on a psychophysiological model of meditation practice and its expected effects on stress. Outcome measures: Baseline and monthly follow-up measures of Profile of Mood States; Perceived Stress Scale; State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI); and Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI). Practice frequency was indexed by monthly retrospective ratings. Neuroticism was evaluated as a potential moderator of treatment effects. Results: All 4 outcome measures improved significantly after instruction, with reductions from baseline that ranged from 14% (STAI) to 36% (BSI). More frequent practice was associated with better outcome. Higher baseline neuroticism scores were associated with greater improvement. Conclusions: Preliminary evidence suggests that even brief instruction in a simple meditation technique can improve negative mood and perceived stress in healthy adults, which could yield long-term health benefits. Frequency of practice does affect outcome. Those most likely to experience negative emotions may benefit the most from the intervention.

Meditative movement as a category of exercise: implications for research

Tags:

• Biomedical Research
• Blood Pressure
• Breathing Exercises
• Humans
• Immune System
• Meditation
• mental health
• Movement
• Postural Balance
• Relaxation
• Stress, Psychological
• Tai Ji

A quantitative electroencephalographic study of meditation and binaural beat entrainment

Brain Functional Mapping on Physiological Regulating Phenomena during Meditation Exercise

Notes:

• Introduction: The mechanism why meditation improves people’s health remains unclear. Since different meditations may activate different regions in brain, we can use fMRI to investigate it. Chinese original quiet sitting (COQS) is mainly one kind of traditional Chinese meditation. It is composed of two different parts: a short period of keeping phrase and receiving cosmic Qi energy (named “Invitation of Primordial Qi”: IPQ), and a long period of relaxation with no further action (named “Allow its Natural Workings”: ANW). Chen had studied it by EEG [1]. We also had a previous study by fMRI [2-3]. In this paper, we want to study the brain activation area during the ANW state. Methods: One special kind of paradigm was designed to find the BOLD signals during the ANW periods. It consisted of three parts: 3-minutes of control state, followed by 3-minutes of IPQ state, and then 9-minutes of ANW state. Total scan time was 15-minutes. Seventeen well-trained subjects with seven females and ten males participated in this fMRI study. Their mean age was 47.5 ± 2.9 (Mean ± SEM, 32not, vert, similar70) with meditation experience 12.4 ± 1.4 (4not, vert, similar21) years. Their regularly mean practice times every day was about 1.3 ± 0.1 (1not, vert, similar3) with mean practice duration 53.8 ± 5.5 (30not, vert, similar120) minutes each time. Experiments were performed on Bruker MEDSPEC 3T system (Bruker, Ettlingen, Germany). Images were acquired using gradient-echo EPI with matrix size 128×128, TE 35ms, and TR 6000ms. All experiments had 12 continuous slices (slice thickness=7mm), FOV 30×30cm2. Data were analyzed by random effect analysis in SPM. Results: Our results showed that (with p<0.05, T>1.75, degree of freedom=16, and number of clusters>25), during the ANW period, certain brain regions showed negative activation, such as (showed in Talairach pick and T-value): dACC (dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, 4,42,12, T= −5.89), superior frontal gyrus (−22,44,22, T= −4.83), caudate body (−6,12,14, T= −2.60), amygdala (26,-12,-28, T= −5.07, −30,-8,-30, T= −4.69), superior temporal gyrus (68,-24,6, T= −4.10, −50,-42,6, T= −4.53) and cuneus (−22,-96,-2, T= −4.51). Other regions showed positive activation, such as: vACC (ventral anterior cingulate cortex, -6,22,-4, T=4.51), declive (−6,-56,-16, T=2.89), culmen (−6,-54,-16, T=2.74), thalamus (4,-8,10, T=2.57) and hypothalamus (−4,6,-24, T=2.38). Conclusions: During the COQS-ANW state, the activity of cognition, self-awareness, sensation and the memory system of the body seemed all “calming down”. Lacking of the emotional event and the physical activity, amygdala might show negative activation. The more profound signification of all these negative activation regions still need further study. The positive activation regions showed special physiological meanings. Hypothalamus is a collecting center for information concerned with the internal well-being of the body. Much of this information is used to control secretions of the many globally important pituitary hormones [4]. VACC may involve in the regulation of mental and emotional activities. Thalamus may regulate the autonomic and visceral functions, motor systems and sensory systems. The activation of declive and culmen in cerebellum may be involved in the subtle regulation of motor functions.

Mindfulness meditation research: issues of participant screening, safety procedures, and researcher training

Tags:

• Attention
• Biomedical Research
• Humans
• Meditation
• Mental Disorders
• mental health
• Mind-Body Therapies
• Patient Selection
• Research Personnel
• spirituality

BOLD signal in insula is differentially related to cardiac function during compassion meditation in experts vs. novices

Notes:

• The brain and the cardiovascular system influence each other during the processing of emotion. The study of the interactions of these systems during emotion regulation has been limited in human functional neuroimaging, despite its potential importance for physical health. We have previously reported that mental expertise in cultivation of compassion alters the activation of circuits linked with empathy and theory of mind in response to emotional stimuli. Guided by the finding that heart rate increases more during blocks of compassion meditation than neutral states, especially for experts, we examined the interaction between state (compassion vs. neutral) and group (novice, expert) on the relation between heart rate and BOLD signal during presentation of emotional sounds presented during each state. Our findings revealed that BOLD signal in the right middle insula showed a significant association with heart rate (HR) across state and group. This association was stronger in the left middle/posterior insula when experts were compared to novices. The positive coupling of HR and BOLD was higher within the compassion state than within the neutral state in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex for both groups, underlining the role of this region in the modulation of bodily arousal states. This state effect was stronger for experts than novices in somatosensory cortices and the right inferior parietal lobule (group by state interaction). These data confirm that compassion enhances the emotional and somatosensory brain representations of others’ emotions, and that this effect is modulated by expertise. Future studies are needed to further investigate the impact of compassion training on these circuits.

The Effect of Meditation on Neural Systems Implicated in Social Judgments

Notes:

• Introduction Meditation practices are often purported to have beneficial consequences on one’s attentional performance or on one’s capacity for positive behaviors in social interactions. Meditation is defined as a self-directed practice with a goal of suspending discursive and evaluative thought. Previous research on meditation, mainly within Eastern traditions such as Buddhism, have been shown to have an effect on systems of attention (Lutz et al., 2008; Slagter et al., 2007); thus, consequently, meditation has been adopted as a significant form of mind-body intervention within clinical healthcare with promising results including decreased levels of stress, chronic pain and anxiety. However, it is not known whether these practices may influence social decision-making. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we investigated whether neural areas that were differentially activated by meditation continued to be recruited during simple judgments involving making trustworthiness attributions from just visual facial images. Methods: Using a within subjects experimental design, experienced practitioners either meditated or focused attention on an audio narrative and signaled via button press when mind wandering occurred. Subsequently, participants made trustworthiness judgments based on facial images presented for 50 milliseconds, preceded by 10 minutes of either meditating or focusing on the narrative. Results: During meditation, mindfulness in contrast to mind wandering recruited a greater activation in the bilateral insula and paracingulate [Figure 1]. Mindfulness during meditation in contrast to focused listening was associated with greater activation in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), dorsomedial prefrontal cortex and right precuneus [Figure 2]. Meditation prior to making trustworthiness judgments elicited increased activation in the left lateralized insula, inferofrontal gyrus and ventral anterior cingulate cortex (vACC) [Figure 3]. In contrast to focused listening, meditation was associated with a larger recruitment of the left insula, ACC, and right parietal cortex [Figure 4]. Conclusions: We have shown that mindfulness during meditation recruits networks associated with attention and affective processing and in a differentially increased manner in contrast to focused listening. When compared to focused listening, meditation prior to social decision making was associated with greater recruitment of areas implicated in processing attention, emotion and interoception. These findings suggest that meditation may influence neural circuits in an enduring manner in which they may be easily recruited during social cognition. In a recent review, Craig (2009) proposed that the insula and ACC be regarded as limbic sensory and motor cortices that produce the feeling and motivation that compose an emotion. This theory is based on the dual lamina I spinothalamocortical projection to both the insula and the ACC, recruitment of both of these areas in numerous studies investigating emotion and their respective descending projections to sensory and motor brainstem regions. It is also suggested that the co-activation of the ACC and insula are associated with greater emotional and self-conscious awareness (Seeley et al., 2007; Craig, 2009). Further analyses on the functional connectivity between the insula and ACC will be conducted to further extend these findings.

Cortisol as a marker for improvement in mindfulness-based stress reduction

Tags:

• Cortisol
• Mbsr
• Meditation
• Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction
• Stress

Using mindfulness meditation to teach beginning therapists therapeutic presence: a qualitative study

Meditation, mindfulness and cognitive flexibility

Tags:

• Attention
• Cognition
• Humans
• Meditation

Notes:

• This study investigated the link between meditation, self-reported mindfulness and cognitive flexibility as well as other attentional functions. It compared a group of meditators experienced in mindfulness meditation with a meditation-naïve control group on measures of Stroop interference and the “d2-concentration and endurance test”. Overall the results suggest that attentional performance and cognitive flexibility are positively related to meditation practice and levels of mindfulness. Meditators performed significantly better than non-meditators on all measures of attention. Furthermore, self-reported mindfulness was higher in meditators than non-meditators and correlations with all attention measures were of moderate to high strength. This pattern of results suggests that mindfulness is intimately linked to improvements of attentional functions and cognitive flexibility. The relevance of these findings for mental balance and well-being are discussed.

A randomized controlled trial on effects of the Transcendental Meditation program on blood pressure, psychological distress, and coping in young adults

Passage meditation reduces perceived stress in health professionals: a randomized, controlled trial

Tags:

• Adult
• Female
• Health Personnel
• Humans
• Male
• Meditation
• Psychological Theory
• spirituality
• Stress, Psychological

Notes:

• The authors evaluated an 8-week, 2-hr per week training for physicians, nurses, chaplains, and other health professionals using nonsectarian, spiritually based self-management tools based on passage meditation (E. Easwaran, 1978/1991). Participants were randomized to intervention (n = 27) or waiting list (n = 31). Pretest, posttest, and 8- and 19-week follow-up data were gathered on 8 measures, including perceived stress, burnout, mental health, and psychological well-being. Aggregated across examinations, beneficial treatment effects were observed on stress (p = .0013) and mental health (p = .03). Treatment effects on stress were mediated by adherence to practices (p = .05). Stress reductions remained large at 19 weeks (84% of the pretest standard deviation, p = .006). Evidence suggests this program reduces stress and may enhance mental health.

Innate immune, neuroendocrine and behavioral responses to psychosocial stress do not predict subsequent compassion meditation practice time

Tags:

• Compassion
• Cortisol
• Interleukin-6
• Meditation
• Mindfulness
• Trier Social Stress Test

Positive impact of cyclic meditation on subsequent sleep

Tags:

• Adult
• Humans
• Male
• Meditation
• Polysomnography
• Rest
• Sleep
• yoga

Heart Rate Variability During Sleep Following the Practice of Cyclic Meditation and Supine Rest

Stress reduction programs in patients with elevated blood pressure: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Tags:

• Biofeedback (Psychology)
• Blood Pressure
• Cardiovascular Diseases
• Evidence-Based Medicine
• Humans
• Hypertension
• Meditation
• Stress, Psychological

Notes:

• Substantial evidence indicates that psychosocial stress contributes to hypertension and cardiovascular disease (CVD). Previous meta-analyses of stress reduction and high blood pressure (BP) were outdated and/or methodologically limited. Therefore, we conducted an updated systematic review of the published literature and identified 107 studies on stress reduction and BP. Seventeen trials with 23 treatment comparisons and 960 participants with elevated BP met criteria for well-designed randomized controlled trials and were replicated within intervention categories. Meta-analysis was used to calculate BP changes for biofeedback, -0.8/-2.0 mm Hg (P = NS); relaxation-assisted biofeedback, +4.3/+2.4 mm Hg (P = NS); progressive muscle relaxation, -1.9/-1.4 mm Hg (P = NS); stress management training, -2.3/-1.3 mm (P = NS); and the Transcendental Meditation program, -5.0/-2.8 mm Hg (P = 0.002/0.02). Available evidence indicates that among stress reduction approaches, the Transcendental Meditation program is associated with significant reductions in BP. Related data suggest improvements in other CVD risk factors and clinical outcomes.

Theta phase synchrony and conscious target perception: impact of intensive mental training

Tags:

• Adult
• Analysis of Variance
• Attentional Blink
• Brain Mapping
• Consciousness
• Contingent Negative Variation
• Female
• Humans
• Male
• Middle Aged
• Negotiating
• Photic Stimulation
• Reaction Time
• Theta Rhythm
• Time Factors
• Young Adult

Notes:

• The information processing capacity of the human mind is limited, as is evidenced by the attentional blink-a deficit in identifying the second of two targets (T1 and T2) presented in close succession. This deficit is thought to result from an overinvestment of limited resources in T1 processing. We previously reported that intensive mental training in a style of meditation aimed at reducing elaborate object processing, reduced brain resource allocation to T1, and improved T2 accuracy [Slagter, H. A., Lutz, A., Greischar, L. L., Francis, A. D., Nieuwenhuis, S., Davis, J., et al. Mental training affects distribution of limited brain resources. PloS Biology, 5, e138, 2007]. Here we report EEG spectral analyses to examine the possibility that this reduction in elaborate T1 processing rendered the system more available to process new target information, as indexed by T2-locked phase variability. Intensive mental training was associated with decreased cross-trial variability in the phase of oscillatory theta activity after successfully detected T2s, in particular, for those individuals who showed the greatest reduction in brain resource allocation to T1. These data implicate theta phase locking in conscious target perception, and suggest that after mental training the cognitive system is more rapidly available to process new target information. Mental training was not associated with changes in the amplitude of T2-induced responses or oscillatory activity before task onset. In combination, these findings illustrate the usefulness of systematic mental training in the study of the human mind by revealing the neural mechanisms that enable the brain to successfully represent target information.

Effect of two yoga-based relaxation techniques on memory scores and state anxiety

Notes:

• Background: A yoga practice involving cycles of yoga postures and supine rest (called cyclic meditation) was previously shown to improve performance in attention tasks more than relaxation in the corpse posture (shavasana). This was ascribed to reduced anxiety, though this was not assessed. Methods: In fifty-seven male volunteers (group average age +/- S.D., 26.6 +/- 4.5 years) the immediate effect of two yoga relaxation techniques was studied on memory and state anxiety. All participants were assessed before and after (i) Cyclic meditation (CM) practiced for 22:30 minutes on one day and (ii) an equal duration of Supine rest (SR) or the corpse posture (shavasana), on another day. Sections of the Wechsler memory scale (WMS) were used to assess; (i) attention and concentration (digit span forward and backward), and (ii) associate learning. State anxiety was assessed using Spielberger’s State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). Results: There was a significant improvement in the scores of all sections of the WMS studied after both CM and SR, but, the magnitude of change was more after CM compared to after SR. The state anxiety scores decreased after both CM and SR, with a greater magnitude of decrease after CM. There was no correlation between percentage change in memory scores and state anxiety for either session. Conclusion: A cyclical combination of yoga postures and supine rest in CM improved memory scores immediately after the practice and decreased state anxiety more than rest in a classical yoga relaxation posture (shavasana).

Changes in midlatency auditory evoked potentials following two yoga-based relaxation techniques

Notes:

• Practicing meditation while focusing on a sound or a symbol influenced midlatency auditory evoked potentials (MLAEPs). Cyclic meditation (CM) is a technique combining yoga postures with meditation while supine, which has influenced the P300 event-related potential. The effects of CM on MLAEPs have not been previously studied. The MLAEPs were studied before and after the practice of CM compared to an equal duration of supine rest (SR) in 47 male volunteers (group mean age 26.5 +/- 4.4 years), recorded from the vertex referenced to linked earlobes. The sessions were one day apart and subjects were randomly assigned to each session. The Pa wave peak latency and Nb wave peak latency significantly increased following CM compared to before CM (repeated measures ANOVA, post-hoc analysis with least significant difference, p<0.05). There was a significant increase in the peak amplitude of the Nb wave (p<0.05) compared to before CM. Post SR there was a significant increase in the peak latency of the Na wave (p<0.05) compared to before SR. In conclusion following CM the latencies of neural generators corresponding to cortical areas is prolonged, whereas following SR a similar change occurs at mesencephalic-diencephalic levels.

Central and autonomic nervous system interaction is altered by short-term meditation

Tags:

• Autonomic Nervous System
• Brain
• Brain Mapping
• Exercise
• Female
• Humans
• Male
• Meditation
• Relaxation
• Skin Physiological Phenomena
• Young Adult

Notes:

• Five days of integrative body-mind training (IBMT) improves attention and self-regulation in comparison with the same amount of relaxation training. This paper explores the underlying mechanisms of this finding. We measured the physiological and brain changes at rest before, during, and after 5 days of IBMT and relaxation training. During and after training, the IBMT group showed significantly better physiological reactions in heart rate, respiratory amplitude and rate, and skin conductance response (SCR) than the relaxation control. Differences in heart rate variability (HRV) and EEG power suggested greater involvement of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) in the IBMT group during and after training. Imaging data demonstrated stronger subgenual and adjacent ventral anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) activity in the IBMT group. Frontal midline ACC theta was correlated with high-frequency HRV, suggesting control by the ACC over parasympathetic activity. These results indicate that after 5 days of training, the IBMT group shows better regulation of the ANS by a ventral midfrontal brain system than does the relaxation group. This changed state probably reflects training in the coordination of body and mind given in the IBMT but not in the control group. These results could be useful in the design of further specific interventions.

Central and autonomic nervous system interaction is altered by short-term meditation

Tags:

• Autonomic Nervous System
• Brain
• Brain Mapping
• Exercise
• Female
• Humans
• Male
• Meditation
• Relaxation
• Skin Physiological Phenomena
• Young Adult

Short-term meditation training improves attention and self-regulation

Tags:

• Adult
• Attention
• Case-Control Studies
• Female
• Humans
• Male
• Meditation
• Psychological Tests
• Social Control, Informal
• Time Factors

Notes:

• Recent studies suggest that months to years of intensive and systematic meditation training can improve attention. However, the lengthy training required has made it difficult to use random assignment of participants to conditions to confirm these findings. This article shows that a group randomly assigned to 5 days of meditation practice with the integrative body-mind training method shows significantly better attention and control of stress than a similarly chosen control group given relaxation training. The training method comes from traditional Chinese medicine and incorporates aspects of other meditation and mindfulness training. Compared with the control group, the experimental group of 40 undergraduate Chinese students given 5 days of 20-min integrative training showed greater improvement in conflict scores on the Attention Network Test, lower anxiety, depression, anger, and fatigue, and higher vigor on the Profile of Mood States scale, a significant decrease in stress-related cortisol, and an increase in immunoreactivity. These results provide a convenient method for studying the influence of meditation training by using experimental and control methods similar to those used to test drugs or other interventions.

The effects of the transcendental meditation program on mindfulness

Tags:

• Adult
• Analysis of Variance
• Attention
• Awareness
• Female
• Humans
• Male
• Meditation
• Questionnaires
• Students
• Young Adult

Notes:

• Mindfulness is associated with low levels of neuroticism, anxiety, and depressive symptoms, as well as high levels of self-esteem and satisfaction with life (Brown & Ryan, 2003). As part of a 3-month randomized waitlist-controlled trial of the effects of the Transcendental Meditation (TM) program on university students (N=295), we examined the impact of TM practice on mindfulness as measured by the Kentucky Inventory of Mindfulness Skills (KIMS; Baer, Smith, & Allen, 2004). A repeated measures ANOVA on total KIMS scores showed a significant timextreatment interaction, with the TM participants reporting greater increases in mindfulness than the waitlist participants. All KIMS subscales were positively intercorrelated at pretreatment, and there were no differences over time or as a function of treatment condition in subscale intercorrelations. Therefore, previously published findings of a positive correlation between subscales measuring the skills of observing and accepting-without-judgment one’s inner experiences only among those with meditation experience may have reflected a self-selection effect rather than a change in the relation of these mindfulness components resulting directly from meditation practice.

Meditators and non-meditators: EEG source imaging during resting

Tags:

• pre

Notes:

• Many meditation exercises aim at increased awareness of ongoing experiences through sustained attention and at detachment, i.e., non-engaging observation of these ongoing experiences by the intent not to analyze, judge or expect anything. Long-term meditation practice is believed to generalize the ability of increased awareness and greater detachment into everyday life. We hypothesized that neuroplasticity effects of meditation (correlates of increased awareness and detachment) would be detectable in a no-task resting state. EEG recorded during resting was compared between Qigong meditators and controls. Using LORETA (low resolution electromagnetic tomography) to compute the intracerebral source locations, differences in brain activations between groups were found in the inhibitory delta EEG frequency band. In the meditators, appraisal systems were inhibited, while brain areas involved in the detection and integration of internal and external sensory information showed increased activation. This suggests that neuroplasticity effects of long-term meditation practice, subjectively described as increased awareness and greater detachment, are carried over into non-meditating states.

Age effects on attentional blink performance in meditation

Notes:

• Here we explore whether mental training in the form of meditation can help to overcome age-related attentional decline. We compared performance on the attentional blink task between three populations: A group of long-term meditation practitioners within an older population, a control group of age-matched participants and a control group of young participants. Members of both control groups had never practiced meditation. Our results show that long-term meditation practice leads to a reduction of the attentional blink. Meditation practitioners taken from an older population showed a reduction in blink as compared to a control group taken from a younger population, whereas, the control group age-matched to the meditators’ group revealed a blink that was comparatively larger and broader. Our results support the hypothesis that meditation practice can: (i) alter the efficiency with which attentional resources are distributed and (ii) help to overcome age-related attentional deficits in the temporal domain.

Long-term meditation is associated with increased gray matter density in the brain stem

Tags:

• Brain Stem
• Female
• Humans
• Linear Models
• Magnetic Resonance Imaging
• Male
• Meditation
• Middle Aged
• Neuronal Plasticity

Long-term meditation is associated with increased gray matter density in the brain stem

Tags:

• Brain Stem
• Female
• Humans
• Linear Models
• Magnetic Resonance Imaging
• Male
• Meditation
• Middle Aged
• Neuronal Plasticity

Notes:

• Extensive practice involving sustained attention can lead to changes in brain structure. Here, we report evidence of structural differences in the lower brainstem of participants engaged in the long-term practice of meditation. Using magnetic resonance imaging, we observed higher gray matter density in lower brain stem regions of experienced meditators compared with age-matched nonmeditators. Our findings show that long-term practitioners of meditation have structural differences in brainstem regions concerned with cardiorespiratory control. This could account for some of the cardiorespiratory parasympathetic effects and traits, as well as the cognitive, emotional, and immunoreactive impact reported in several studies of different meditation practices.

Do Mindfulness Meditation Participants Do Their Homework? And Does It Make a Difference? A Review of the Empirical Evidence

Tags:

• Homework
• Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy
• Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction
• Practice

Cardiorespiratory phase synchronization during normal rest and inward-attention meditation

Tags:

• Cardiorespiratory interaction
• Cardiorespiratory phase synchronization (CRPS)
• Inward-attention meditation
• Self-sustained oscillator
• Synchrogram

Functional Connectivity at Meditation State

Notes:

• Introduction: Meditation means a mental training practice for the meditators to strengthen attentional focus and achieve a tranquil state (Brefczynski-Lewis JA, 2007). The engagement of such process on experienced meditators was reported combining with the increase of attention and improvement of perception (Jha A, 2007 and Carter OL, 2005). However, mapping the brain functions during meditation is arduous for experimental designs since the normal meditation usually last for a long time, comparing to timing of traditional cognitive task design. Therefore, in this work we applied the resting-state fMRI analyses (Biswal B, 1995) on the comparison between normal resting conditions and traditional Chinese meditation states. Methods: Eight healthy experienced mediators participated in the experiments on a 3T Bruker Medspec system. A typical gradient-echo EPI sequence was used to collect imagings for 21 minutes (630 measurements, TR=2s). Images were acquired on the whole cerebrum (24 slices) along the AC-PC line, with FOV of 256 mm, MTX of 64×64, and slice thickness of 4mm. At first, subjects were instructed to close their eyes and stayed in a relaxing resting status during the beginning of 9-minute scan. Subsequently, the subjects were asked to read mantra and prepared to perform meditation, which lasted for no longer than 3 minutes. Subsequently, the subjects remained at meditation for the rest of the scan time (not, vert, similar 9 min, as shown in fig. 1). Data were pre-processed with motion correction, detrending, and low-pass filtered (<0.1 Hz) using MATLAB, and then underwent spatial normalization (resampled to an isotropic resolution 3×3×3 mm3), smoothing (Gausian kernel = 6 mm) and statistical analyses by AFNI. Physiological noise and motion artifacts were regressed out during individual calculation of cross-correlation. Spherical seeds with 6 mm diameter were placed on the right primary motor cortex (M1) [36, −28, 54] and right middle frontal gyrus (MFG) [38, 28, 26] in the normalized MNI/Talairach space to observe the connectivity in sensori-motor and attentional networks, respectively. A group-level analysis of correlation maps was performed to reveal significant functional connectivity (p <10−4, cluster = 529 mm3). Results: Fig.2 shows the group results of functional connectivity maps on both motor and attention networks, overlaid on an averaged anatomical image. With seeds placed on right M1, strong connections are observed in the supplementary motor area (SMA) and contralateral M1, formatting the structure of sensori-motor networks. However, such connection was suppressed, or even disappeared in some brain area during the meditation state, such as the contralateral M1. When putting seeds on the right MFG, only ipsilateral connections to precentral gyrus (PCG) and middle temporal gyrus (MTG) are explicit under the resting state; however, under the meditation state, the contralateral side of MFG, and MTG are aroused, showing the concentration during performing meditation practices. Conclusions: Functional connectivity analysis was first time adopted in the research of meditation in the current work. Such experimental design is more reliable and feasible for meditators without interruption of experimental interests. In contrast to resting status of the same group, the functional connectivity of motor and attention networks was indeed modulated by the practice of meditation.

Does meditation enhance cognition and brain plasticity?

Tags:

• Brain
• Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor
• Clinical Trials as Topic
• Cognition
• Electroencephalography
• Humans
• Meditation
• Meta-Analysis as Topic
• Models, Biological
• Neurodegenerative Diseases
• Neuronal Plasticity

Notes:

• Meditation practices have various health benefits including the possibility of preserving cognition and preventing dementia. While the mechanisms remain investigational, studies show that meditation may affect multiple pathways that could play a role in brain aging and mental fitness. For example, meditation may reduce stress-induced cortisol secretion and this could have neuroprotective effects potentially via elevating levels of brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). Meditation may also potentially have beneficial effects on lipid profiles and lower oxidative stress, both of which could in turn reduce the risk for cerebrovascular disease and age-related neurodegeneration. Further, meditation may potentially strengthen neuronal circuits and enhance cognitive reserve capacity. These are the theoretical bases for how meditation might enhance longevity and optimal health. Evidence to support a neuroprotective effect comes from cognitive, electroencephalogram (EEG), and structural neuroimaging studies. In one cross-sectional study, meditation practitioners were found to have a lower age-related decline in thickness of specific cortical regions. However, the enthusiasm must be balanced by the inconsistency and preliminary nature of existing studies as well as the fact that meditation comprises a heterogeneous group of practices. Key future challenges include the isolation of a potential common element in the different meditation modalities, replication of existing findings in larger randomized trials, determining the correct “dose,” studying whether findings from expert practitioners are generalizable to a wider population, and better control of the confounding genetic, dietary and lifestyle influences.

The effect of mindfulness meditation on cough reflex sensitivity

Effects of brief and sham mindfulness meditation on mood and cardiovascular variables