Pengaruh Terapi Akupunktur dan Meditasi pada Wanita Kelebihan Berat Badan dan Obesitas: Studi Kasus

Abstract

Introduction: Overweight and obesity not only affect an individual’s health physically but also psychologically. So, it is imperative for a clinician to take care both aspects of the individuals. Methods: This study is to report the effects of acupuncture and meditation therapy on the slimming indices of the overweight and obese women visiting our aesthetic clinic. They were voluntarily segregated into two groups, ie. one group consisted of women who selected acupuncture therapy (AT) only, the other group consisted of women who selected acupuncture and meditation therapy (AMT). Both groups’ body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC) were measured at the first visit and after eight and sixteen sessions of therapy, respectively. The differences between pre-therapy and post-therapy indices and between AT and AMT groups were analysed using two tailed t-test at 95% confidence interval (alpha at 0.05). Results: Subjects were seventeen women with overweight and obesity visiting aesthetic clinic for slimming treatment. Ten women chose AT and seven women chose AMT. After eight and sixteenth sessions of therapy, both AT and AMT groups show very significant reduction in the BMI and WC (P<0.01). The AMT subjects reported that they felt more relaxed and refreshed, and continued meditation practice at home. Discussion: The subjects that chose AMT have significantly lower BMI at the first visit compared to the subjects that chose AT, ie. BMI at 24,33±0,97 kg/m2 and 28,00±2,08 kg/m2(P<0.01), respectively. The age of AMT subjects is in average significantly older than AT subjects, ie. 34,42±5,99 years and 29,2±4,9 years respectively (P<0.01). This may indicate that at the initial or milder state of gaining overweight or obesity, as well as the older women were more aware of the need to seek tranquillity or to overcome the stressful mind through meditation practice.