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Meditation can be effective at reducing stress
Stress can have a big impact on our daily lives. Many people are awake at night because they simply can not let go of the stress of the day. Most sufferers do not do anything about the harmful stress, which is associated with an increased risk of heart attacks and strokes. Researchers have now found that meditation learned in mindfulness classes is very effective in reducing stress and anxiety, and can help those affected so reliably.
Georgetown University Medical Center researchers found that meditation can very successfully reduce stress and anxiety. The physicians published the results of their current study in the journal "Psychiatry Research".
Many physicians see the use of meditation for the treatment of various health problems rather critical. However, research has shown that meditation is quite successful against stress and its effects on the body. (Image: fizkes / fotolia.com) Mindfulness courses teach strategies against stress
Meditation can relieve stress and anxiety. In special mindfulness training courses, participants learn different strategies to better control and reduce their stress, the authors explain in a press release. Participants also had a lower hormonal and inflammatory response compared to people not taking part in such courses.
Medical community has been skeptical about meditation so far
Many physicians are skeptical of meditation and so-called mindfulness courses, explains author Dr. Elizabeth Hoge of Georgetown University Medical Center. The doctor and her colleagues wanted to find out in the current study, therefore, whether people feel simply better after meditation or whether there are really measurable changes in the effects caused by stress. The courses during the study lasted eight weeks each and included an identical amount of class time and homework. The participants were physically healthy, but suffered from a so-called general anxiety disorder, the doctors report.
Subjects participated in one of two courses
During the mindfulness classes, the participants learned the different elements of meditation, which have so far provided the most scientific evidence of any impact on existing stress, the experts explain. The other half of the participants completed stress management training with lectures on the importance of nutrition, exercise, sleep and time management. The courses lasted 2.5 hours each week.
Everyone can learn the meditation
Although the roots of meditation treatment are Buddhism, they need not be religious for treatment. There is no need to believe in anything specific or to sing in a foreign language in order to succeed in the treatment, explains Drs. Hoge.
Courses are designed to help those affected to resist stress
The actual goal of the course is not to help attendees relax in a group environment. Rather, sufferers should be hardened to prevent the onset of acute stress.
Subjects were deliberately exposed to stressful tasks
Before the courses began and immediately after graduation, the researchers presented the participants with tasks that triggered a reliable stress load. These tasks included, for example, a speech to an audience over a period of eight minutes, say the doctors.
Meditation reduces the stress hormone ACTH
People who had learned to meditate were less stressed, compared to participants in the other class, the researchers report. Also measurements of the stress hormone ACTH in the blood were lower, explain the scientists further. In addition, so-called inflammatory cytokines, which are considered as a general marker for inflammation, reduced.
Mindfulness courses can avoid taking medications and psychotherapy
The results are really strong evidence that the meditation practice used in mindfulness courses not only makes you feel better, it also helps people to be more resilient, the study authors explain. Through mindfulness courses, it is possible that sufferers do not need to take any medication. Participation in psychotherapy would be avoided if necessary. (As)