Abstract
Familial caregivers of patients with Alzheimer's disease exhibit reduced quality of life and increased stress levels. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of an 8-week yoga and compassion meditation program on the perceived stress, anxiety, depression, and salivary cortisol levels in familial caregivers. A total of 46 volunteers were randomly assigned to participate in a stress-reduction program for a 2-month period (yoga and compassion meditation program—YCMP group) (n = 25) or an untreated group for the same period of time (control group) (n = 21). The levels of stress, anxiety, depression, and morning salivary cortisol of the participants were measured before and after intervention. The groups were initially homogeneous; however, after intervention, the groups diverged significantly. The YCMP group exhibited a reduction of the stress (P < 0.05), anxiety (P < 0.000001), and depression (P < 0.00001) levels, as well as a reduction in the concentration of salivary cortisol (P < 0.05). Our study suggests that an 8-week yoga and compassion meditation program may offer an effective intervention for reducing perceived stress, anxiety, depression, and salivary cortisol in familial caregivers.
Highlights
The aging of the worldwide population has contributed to the increasing incidence of dementia-causing chronic degenerative diseases, notably Alzheimer’s disease [1]
Forty-six of the subjects completed all of the stages of the study after random allocation into 2 groups: 25 volunteers (22 females and 3 males) participated in the yoga and compassion meditation program (YCMP group), and 21 (19 females and two males) volunteers made up the control group (CG), which was a nontreated group
No participant in any group was in either the absent or alert stages, 86% in the CG and 80% in the YCMP group were in the phase of resistance, 14% in the CG, and 12% in the YCMP group were in the phase of quasiexhaustion, and only 2 individuals in the YCMP group were in the phase of exhaustion
Summary
The aging of the worldwide population has contributed to the increasing incidence of dementia-causing chronic degenerative diseases, notably Alzheimer’s disease [1]. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia and is characterized as a progressive brain disorder with loss of reasoning, memory, language skills, and the ability to maintain an independent life [2]. The physical and mental burden imposed on caregivers frequently results in poor quality of life [4]. The physical, mental, social, and financial burden to which caregivers are exposed to might result in an increased risk of acute myocardial infarction and death [5,6,7]. Several studies of Alzheimer’s disease patients and caregivers stress the importance of the medical team orienting the familial caregivers beginning in the earliest stages of disease, and plans for such support interventions have been suggested in the literature [14,15,16]. Yoga and meditation are among the modalities of intervention that might be applied to this population
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