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Science of Mindfulness


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Seeing is Believing 

As children we were all told that eating our vegetables was good for us but it wasn’t until we were adults and had realized the evidence for ourselves that the string beans started to disappear from our plate without protest or bribe.  In much the same way it’s all well and good to hear that mindfulness practice is good for you but why should you believe me.

 

magnifying glassRead the Evidence for Yourself

The boxes to the right represent the five most recent scientific studies on the effects of mindfulness practice.  Read the excerpt and then click on the link to read the original article if you want more information.  Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

Reduce Anxiety

In a meta-analysis of 47 trials with 3515 participants mindfulness practice was shown to reduce anxiety with an effect size of 0.22 after just 3 months of regular practice. Additionally mindfulness practice was shown to reduce depression (effect size of 0.23) and chronic pain (effect size of 0.33). These effect sizes are comparable to other treatment modalities including medications. PMID:

PTSD

A group of patients suffering from PTSD underwent an 8-week mindful breathing training. Patients who underwent mindfulness training not only demonstrated a statistically significant reduction in levels of PTSD symptoms but demonstrated a statistically significant reduction in cortisol levels (the stress hormone) when compared to controls. PMID:

Major Depression

A study of patients recovering from major depression demonstrated that mindfulness-based cognitive therapy was equally effective when compared to antidepressant medication in preventing relapse. PMID:

Multiple Sclerosis

Patients with multiple sclerosis who participated in a mindfulness training program demonstrated a statistically significant improvement in all areas of quality of life on a health-related quality of life measure when they were compared with control groups. PMID:

Stress

In a study of 6-18 yo children sitting meditation was shown to demonstrate statistically significant improvement in physiologic and psychologic measures of stress. PMID:

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