Effects Of Mindfulness Meditation Research Articles

Immediate Effects of Mindfulness Meditation on the Voice

The benefits of mindfulness meditation are well documented. This study evaluated the immediate effects of mindfulness meditation (MM) on the voice and voice user. Prospective experimental study. Participants: 19 vocally healthy (VH) individuals, and 26 individuals with common voice disorders (CVD; benign lesions and hyperfunctional muscle tension) deemed stimulable for voice therapy. Exclusionary criteria: prior training or regular meditation practice. Participants recorded speech samples before and after a 11.5-minute prerecorded session of MM. phonatory aerodynamics and participants' self-reported experience of voice. self-reported anxiety, vocal acoustics, speech breathing patterns, and auditory-perceptual outcomes. Baseline self-reported measures of voice (Voice Handicap Index-10 - VHI-10), breathing (Dyspnea Index - DI), stress (Perceived Stress Scale - PSS), and trait mindfulness (Cognitive and Mindfulness Scale - Revised, CAMS-R, Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire - FFMQ) were compared between groups. At baseline, CVD had significantly higher VHI-10 (P< 0.001) and DI (P= 0.0014), and lower trait mindfulness (CAMS-R, P= 0.02). No difference between groups for PSS or FFMQ. Changes postMM: decreased CPP for all-voiced sentences for VH (P= 0.003), decreased mean SPL (P= 0.012) on sustained vowel for VH, increased mean phonatory airflow during sustained vowel for CVD (P=0.012). VH demonstrated a decrease in CPP on the all-voice sentence, and CVD demonstrated an increase, resulting in a significant between group difference (P= 0.013). Participants reported improvements in voice, emotional and physical states. State anxiety decreased for both groups (= < 0.001). No other objective outcomes reached significance. After a brief MM, participants experienced improvement in physical, emotional, and cognitive states, and in their perceptions of their voice. Results indicate that a brief, single session of MM may be beneficial for some, but not sufficient to override habitual voice and speech patterns. Given the benefits of MM, future work should evaluate MM in a standard voice therapy protocol.

A preliminary neuroimaging investigation of the effects of mindfulness training on attention reorienting andamygdala reactivity to emotional faces in adolescent and adult females.

Adolescence is a time of increased emotional reactivity and improving cognitive control. Mindfulness meditation training may foster adolescents' cognitive control and emotional regulation skills; however little is known about the impact of mindfulness training in adolescents compared to adults. We examined the effect of mindfulness meditation versus a closely matched active control condition (relaxation training) on behavioral and neural measures of cognitive control and emotional reactivity in a small group of adolescents and adults. Structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging data were collected before and after 8 weeks of training in 26 adolescent (12-14 years) and 17 adult (23-33 years) female participants in the United Kingdom while they completed an n-back task with emotional face distractors and an attentional control task. Participants of each group chose a class date/time and the classes were then randomly allocated to mindfulness or relaxation conditions. Compared to relaxation training, mindfulness training led to an increase in the speed of reorienting attention across age groups. In addition, there was preliminary evidence for reduced amygdala response to emotional face distractors in adolescents after mindfulness training. An 8-week mindfulness program showed similar facilitative effects in adolescent and adult females on the reorienting of attention, a skill that is repeatedly practiced during mindfulness meditation. Mindfulness also reduced left amygdala reactivity to emotional face distractors in adolescents only. Mindfulness meditation practice can therefore have a facilitative effect on female adolescents' attentional control, and possibly attenuate their emotional reactivity.

Effects of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction on Blood Pressure, Mental Health, and Quality of Life in Hypertensive Adult Women: A Randomized Clinical Trial Study.

Hypertension is one of the most important causes of cardiovascular diseases. Patients with hypertension have a lower quality of life. We aimed to evaluate the effects of mindfulness meditation on blood pressure, mental health, and quality of life in patients with hypertension. This randomized clinical trial was performed in 2019 in Isfahan. Eighty adult women with Stage I or II hypertension were included and assigned randomly to 2 groups: 12 weeks of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) and routine care. At baseline and 1 week after the end of the intervention, blood pressure, stress, depression, anxiety, and quality of life of the studied participants were measured using the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21) and 36-Item Short Form Survey (SF-36) questionnaires. The data were analyzed using the independent t-test, the paired t-test, and the MANCOVA test. After the intervention, the mean systolic and diastolic blood pressures decreased significantly in the intervention group compared with the baseline (142.82±11.01 mmHg vs 133.7±510.43 mmHg for systolic pressure and 86.12±8.24 mmHg vs 79.15±6.26 mmHg for diastolic pressure) and the control group (140.18±14.27 mmHg vs 142.15±10.23 mmHg for systolic pressure and 84.62±9.22 vs mmHg 88.51±8.54 mmHg for diastolic pressure; P=0.001). There was also a significant increase in quality of life, stress, anxiety, and depression scores in the intervention group (P<0.05). The 12-week MBSR program resulted in a significant reduction in the mean systolic and diastolic blood pressures and improvement in mental health and different aspects of quality of life.

Effects of meditation on physiological and metabolic parameters in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus “MindDM”: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

BackgroundSri Lanka is faced with the challenge of managing a large population with diabetes mellitus by 2030. Psychological stress plays a major role in disease outcome by exerting physiological, psychological and social effects on individuals with chronic disorders.Meditation-based interventions have positive effects on the management of stress and diabetes, which are mediated via modulation of neuro-humoral mechanisms and autonomic functions, among others. Mechanisms of bio-physiological effects of meditation are considered to be through reduction of stress hormones, improvement of insulin resistance and improvement of autonomic dysfunction.MethodsThis study will be conducted as an open-label, randomized controlled clinical trial in the Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo. The aim is to investigate the effects of meditation on glycaemic control and possible mechanisms of how meditation affects glycaemic control in patients with type 2 diabetes. The study was approved by the Ethics Review Committee of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo (ERC/2019/094). Patients who are attending the professorial unit medical clinic with type 2 diabetes (172 in total) will be recruited based on inclusion-exclusion criteria. Patients who have never meditated or rarely meditated (less than once every three months) will be randomized using block randomization to meditation and waitlisted arms (1:1 allocation ratio). The meditation arm will undergo a mindfulness meditation program (selected after studying several meditation methods) conducted by a qualified instructor weekly for a period of 12 weeks in addition to usual care, while the waitlisted arm will only receive usual care. Daily meditation practices will be recorded in a diary. The primary outcome measure is HbA1c. Secondary outcome measures are fasting blood sugar, fructosamine, insulin resistance (calculated using fasting serum insulin), 24-h urinary cortisol, body mass index, cardiac autonomic reflex testing (Ewing’s battery of tests) and orocecal transit time using hydrogen breath analysis. All these will be done prior to commencement of the intervention and after 3 months in both arms. Data will be analysed using SPSS V-23.DiscussionThis study aims to identify the effect of mindfulness meditation on glycaemic control and the possible mechanisms (neuro humoral and autonomic functions) by which beneficial effects are mediated.Trial registrationRegistered under Sri Lanka Clinical Trial Registry: SLCTR/2021/015The Universal Trial Number (UTN) U1111-1266-8640

Instantaneous effects of mindfulness meditation on tennis return performance in elite junior athletes completing an implicitly sequenced serve return task.

Single-session meditation augmentation of sport-specific skill performance was tested with elite junior tennis athletes. Athletes completed one of two styles of mindfulness meditation (focused-attention or open-monitoring) or a control listening condition prior to performing an implicitly sequenced tennis serve return task involving the goal of hitting a target area placed on the service court. Unbeknownst to athletes, six distinct serves followed a repeating second-order conditional sequence for two task blocks before the sequence was altered in a third transfer block. Task performance was operationalized as serve return outcome and analyzed using beta regression modeling. Models analyzed group by block differences in the proportion of returned serves (i.e., non-aces), returns placed in the service court, and target hits. Contrary to previous laboratory findings, results did not support meditation-related augmentation of performance and/or sequence learning. In fact, compared to control, meditation may have impaired performance improvements and acquisition of serve sequence information. It is possible that the effects of single-session meditation seen in laboratory research may not extend to more complex motor tasks, at least in highly-trained adolescents completing a well-learned skill. Further research is required to elucidate the participant, task, and meditation-related characteristics that might promote single-session meditation performance enhancement.

On Whether to Meditate Before a Negotiation: Mindfulness Slightly Impairs Negotiation Performance

What little prior empirical research there is that investigated the effects of mindfulness meditation on negotiation performance was conducted in Singapore and the UK and finds benefits. This research reports a mini meta-analysis of ten studies (N > 1100) we conducted in the US on the effect of a brief mindfulness meditation induction on negotiation outcomes and finds a small detriment in terms of value claimed. We had initially hypothesized that mindfulness meditation would help individuals obtain better objective outcomes by claiming more value for themselves. However, the first study we ran found a moderately strong result in the opposite direction – participants who had just meditated obtained worse objective outcomes by claiming less value than participants in the control condition who had not meditated. In terms of subjective negotiation outcomes, participants in the mindfulness condition reported less satisfaction with the instrumental outcome and their sense of self compared to participants in the control condition. Then we ran nine more experiments and never obtained a significant effect of mindfulness on objective outcomes again. The meta-analysis of the total effect on objective outcomes across these ten studies was significant (p = .021), negative, and very small (aggregated d = -.139, 95% confidence interval [-.256, -.021]). If Americans wonder whether they should meditate before a negotiation, our suggestion is that they probably should not, as it is unlikely to help performance, and may weakly harm performance.

The Mindfulness Meditation Effect on Anxiety in nursing Students level II of nursing study Program STIKes Santa Elisabeth Medan 2022

&#x0D; &#x0D; &#x0D; &#x0D; Mindfulness meditation is an intervention with mindfulness and mind exercises that aims to relax the mind, increase concentration, and find joy and joy. Mindfulness meditation can reduce anxiety. Anxiety is a psychological and physiological state that is disturbed, due to excessive feelings of a stressor that appears, so that it can cause cognitive, somatic, emotional and behavioral discomfort accompanied by symptoms such as feelings of sadness, emptiness, hopelessness, guilt, worthlessness. irritability, restlessness, loss of interest in activities even though they are pleasurable. This study aims to identify the Mindfulness Meditation Effect on Anxiety in nursing Students level II of nursing study Program STIKes Santa Elisabeth Medan 2022. This research method uses a one group pretest-posttest design. The sampling technique was purposive sampling with a total of 47 respondents. The results of the statistical test showed that there was an effect of mindfulness meditation on anxiety in sophomore students at the Santa Elisabeth Medical School Study Program, Medan in 2022 with the results of the Wilcoxon sign rank test, obtained p value = 0.001. Mindfulness meditation as an alternative to dealing with anxiety in students can reduce students' anxiety levels thereby increasing concentration and relaxing the mind..Further researchers are advised to conduct research on mindfulness meditation with the duration and frequency of the intervention extended by 2-3 cycles to make it more optimal.&#x0D; &#x0D; &#x0D; &#x0D; &#x0D;

Mindfulness meditation reduces guilt and prosocial reparation.

The present research investigates whether and how mindfulness meditation influences the guilt-driven tendency to repair harm caused to others. Through a series of eight experiments (N > 1,400), we demonstrate that state mindfulness cultivated via focused-breathing meditation can dampen the relationship between transgressions and the desire to engage in reparative prosocial behaviors. Experiment 1 showed that induced state mindfulness reduced state guilt. Experiments 2a-2c found that induced state mindfulness reduced the willingness to engage in reparative behaviors in normally guilt-inducing situations. Experiments 3a and 3b found that guilt mediated the negative effect of mindfulness meditation on prosocial reparation. Experiment 4 demonstrated that induced state mindfulness weakened the link between a transgression and reparative behavior, as well as documented the mediating role of guilt over and above other emotions. Finally, in Experiment 5, we found that loving kindness meditation led to significantly more prosocial reparation than focused-breathing meditation, mediated by increased other-focus and feelings of love. We discuss theoretical and practical implications. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Effect of mindfulness meditation on blood pressure on elderly with hypertension at the elderly Posyandu

Hypertension is a disease that many people suffer from that can cause other, more dangerous health problems such as rupture of blood vessels in the brain and heart, resulting in death. According to WHO data, the coverage of hypertension reaches 1.13 billion. The management of hypertension is still dominated by pharmacological therapy. As for reducing this complexity, experts apply complementary therapies. Complementary therapy is a complementary therapy of conventional therapy for healing. One of the complementary nursing therapies that is easy to do to lower blood pressure is through meditation. Of the several types of meditation, there is one type of meditation that is closely related to human psychology, namely Mindfulness Meditation. So this study aims to prove the effect of Mindfulness Meditation on Blood Pressure in Elderly With Hypertension (In the Elderly Posyandu, Dukuh Village, Gondang District, Tulungagung Regency). The research design used was One Group Pre Test-Post Test with a cross sectional approach where the research subjects were only observed once and measurements were made on the subject variables at the time of examination.

Exposure to body odours combined with the effect of mindfulness treatment in patients with depressive and social anxiety symptoms - A preliminary study

IntroductionTo understand the way chemistry influences human communication is important since the reaction to chemosignals has many implications for science and society. For instance, previous research showed a connection between olfaction and affective psychiatric disorders. Olfactory processing may be impaired in subject presenting depression symptoms (DEP). Furthermore, a heightened sensitivity to social odours has been shown in subject with social anxiety symptoms (SAD). This may be due to the partial overlap of brain areas which are involved in olfactory processing and the pathophysiology of these disorders. Yet, more detailed research on the olfactory processing is required.ObjectivesPOTION is an EU funded project within the Horizon2020 initiative that aims to understand the nature of chemosignals in humans and their sphere of influence on social interaction. Within this project, we conducted a preliminary exploratory study examining whether the odours may be utilized to support positive outcomes of psychological therapy. It evaluates the catalyst effect of the odour conditions on the effectiveness of mindfulness meditation for SAD and DEP.MethodsThirty subjects per patient group (total=60) are randomly allocated to one exposure group (happy or fearful human body odour or clean air) and follow the intervention while being exposed to the odour. Psychological outcome is measured before and after the intervention through the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and the Profile of Mood State questionnaires. Analysis of variance is performed to assess outcome differences between groups.ResultsPreliminary results on a subsample of 32 patients show a trend of deeper reduction of anxiety symptoms at post-treatment among odour-exposed groups compared to clean air (F(1,17)=11.08, p=0.004).ConclusionsFinal results on the complete sample will be available and presented at the time of the congress.DisclosureNo significant relationships.

A single-arm open-label pilot study of brief mindfulness meditation to control impulsivity in Parkinson's disease.

BackgroundImpulse control disorders are detrimental neuropsychiatric symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. Increased impulsivity is a predisposing factor for impulse control disorders and should therefore be controlled. Recently, mindfulness meditation as a non-drug therapy has been reported to be useful in improving neuropsychiatric symptoms, such as impulsivity.MethodsWe performed a prospective single-arm, open-label pilot trial to investigate the effectiveness of mindfulness meditation to control impulsivity in patients with Parkinson’s disease (UMIN clinical trials registry: UMIN000037779).ResultsTwenty patients with Parkinson’s disease were enrolled in an 8-week mindfulness meditation program. As a primary outcome, we investigated whether the score of the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS-11) was significantly reduced after the intervention. As an exploratory examination, functional connectivity changes were also assessed by resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging. After the intervention, the BIS-11 score was decreased from 59.5 [55.6, 63.3] (mean [95% confidence interval]) to 55.2 [50.3, 60.1] (ΔBIS-11: -4.2, [-7.5, -0.9]). Functional connectivity was increased in the default mode network (DMN) at a cluster including the precuneus, posterior cingulate gyrus, and left posterior lobe (false discovery rate-adjusted p [FDR-p] = 0.046) and in the right frontoparietal network (FPN) at the medial frontal lobe (FDR-p = 0.039).ConclusionsThis open-label, single-arm pilot study provided preliminary data for mindfulness meditation to control the impulsivity of patients with PD. A brief mindfulness meditation program may be effective in controlling impulsivity in PD and may change the functional connectivity of the DMN and right FPN.

Effectiveness of mindfulness meditation on bio-psychological parameters among adolescence in selected nursing colleges at Madurai

Background: There is a correlation between self-esteem in adolescents and depression, Anxiety and stress and Mindfulness meditation is effective to reduce these factors and gives relaxation among adolescents. The study was conducted to determine the effectiveness of mindfulness meditation on low self-esteem, depression, anxiety and stress among Students from selected Nursing colleges at Madurai, Tamilnadu, India. Methods: An Experimental design was employed for this study with participation of 300 students in Madurai in Tamilnadu. A structured DASS scale applied to ask about depression, anxiety and stress, and Rosenberg scale was administer to find the level of Self-esteem before and after Administration mindfulness meditation. Results: Students with low self-esteem were revealed that there is significance different in mean score of depression among experimental group that 15.2 in pre test and post test 8.6 where as in control group there is no significance difference subsequently Anxiety, stress, self esteem pre test score was 15.0, 17.8, 22.1 and post test score was 9.9, 12.7, 28.3. This shows significant change after administration of mindfulness meditation. Conclusions: Self-esteem is associated with anxiety, depression, and stress, which significantly affect students’ quality of life.

Effects of Mindfulness Meditation on Doctors' Mindfulness, Patient Safety Culture, Patient Safety Competency and Adverse Event.

Objective: This study investigated the effects of mindfulness meditation on doctors’ mindfulness, patient safety culture, patient safety competency, and adverse events. Methods: We recruited 91 doctors from a hospital in China and randomized them to mindfulness meditation group (n = 46) and a waiting control group (n = 45). The mindfulness meditation group underwent an 8-week mindfulness meditation intervention, while the control group underwent no intervention. We measured four main variables (mindfulness, patient safety culture, patient safety competency, and adverse event) before and after the mindfulness meditation intervention. Results: In the experimental group, mindfulness, patient safety culture and patient safety competency were significantly higher compared with those of the control group. In the control group, there were no significant differences in any of the three variables between the pre-test and post-test. Adverse events in the experimental group were significantly lower than in the control group. Conclusions: The intervention of mindfulness meditation significantly improved the level of mindfulness, patient safety culture and patient safety competency. During the mindfulness meditation intervention, the rate of adverse events in the meditation group was also significantly lower than in the control group. As a simple and effective intervention, mindfulness meditation plays a positive role in improving patient safety and has certain promotional value.

Effects of mindfulness meditation on trait mindfulness, perceived stress, emotion regulation, and quality of life in hemodialysis patients: A randomized controlled trial

ObjectiveThis study aimed to examine the effects of mindfulness meditation on trait mindfulness, perceived stress, emotion regulation, and quality of life in end-stage renal disease patients undergoing hemodialysis. MethodsAn experimental study with repeated measures design was conducted among a sample of 74 end-stage renal disease patients undergoing hemodialysis between January and May 2021 in the dialysis center at Jahra hospital, Kuwait. The patients were randomly assigned to the experimental (n = 37) and control groups (n = 37). The experimental group participated in 30-min mindfulness meditation sessions (three sessions a week for five weeks) held during their hemodialysis sessions; the participants in the control group were instructed to sit with their eyes closed and relaxed for 30 min three times a week for five weeks during hemodialysis sessions. The dependent variables of both groups were measured at baseline (T0), middle of intervention (T1), and end of intervention (T2) using the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS), Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ), and Kidney Disease Quality of Life (KDQOL-36) questionnaire. The study was registered in the ClinicalTrial.gov (Identifier: NCT05176730). ResultsThe repeated measures ANOVA (within-subject) results for the experimental group showed that mindfulness meditation had significantly decreased perceived stress by the end of the intervention. Also, mindfulness meditation improved mindfulness, emotion regulation, and kidney disease-related quality of life in the experimental group, and this improvement occurred significantly at both T1 and T2. The repeated measures ANOVA (within and between-subject) results showed that the experimental group, as compared to the control group, had lower perceived stress, higher trait mindfulness, higher emotional regulation, and higher kidney disease-related quality of life over time. ConclusionsThe positive findings of this study offer health policy-makers and hospital administrators a promising tool to use with patients undergoing hemodialysis as a way to manage stress and improve quality of life. However, this study should be replicated in multiple settings with follow-up assessments.

The Benefits of Mindfulness Meditation on Trait Mindfulness, Perceived Stress, Cortisol, and C-Reactive Protein in Nursing Students: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

PurposeMindfulness meditation was used to reduce stress and its responses such as cortisol and C-reactive protein (CRP) among healthy and ill individuals in various cultures, but its effect has not yet been studied among nursing students, experiencing tremendous stress. The objective of this study was to examine the effects of mindfulness meditation on trait mindfulness, perceived stress, serum cortisol, and serum C-reactive proteins (CRP) in nursing students.Patients and MethodsUsing a two-arm, randomized, parallel study (conducted in a large university in Jordan, 108 nursing students were randomly assigned to experimental group receiving five 30-minute weekly sessions of mindfulness meditation and control group sitting quiet during the experimental sessions. Trait mindfulness, perceived stress, serum cortisol, and CRP were measured at baseline and end of the intervention.ResultsUsing one-way MANOVA and post-hoc comparisons, the results showed that mindfulness meditation was significantly effective in decreasing serum cortisol levels and perceived stress. The mindfulness meditation also decreased CRP and increased trait mindfulness although the results did not reach statistically significant levels.ConclusionThese findings underscore the need for serious consideration of mindfulness meditation in nursing colleges to improve stress and raise immunity in this vulnerable population.Trial RegistrationMindfulness Meditation for Nursing Students: clinicaltrials.gov, identifier: NCT05099224.

The effect of mindfulness meditation on the vocal proficiencies of music education students

Mindfulness meditation (MM) has been found to positively affect various aspects related to music performance, yet very few studies have investigated its impact on music performance quality. This study examined whether short-term MM activity would improve vocal skills in regard to pitch intonation, dynamics transmission, and vocal resonation. Experiment and control groups comprising music education students ( N = 55) made pre- and post-intervention recordings of a specially designed solo vocal music excerpt. Intervention consisted of a short-term online MM course covering the main elements exercised in mindfulness practice. Performance evaluation employed novel methods based on both automatic assessment strategies and expert judgments. Statistical analysis failed to indicate a significant effect. However, trends were detected for improvement in dynamics transmission and vocal resonation. Results might attest to MM praxis’ limited influence on music performance quality. The observed trends could, however, evince to the shortcomings of the treatment design. The implications regarding MM’s effect on music performance quality are discussed.

Effect of Mindfulness Meditation and Aerobic Exercise on Serum Cortisol Levels in Type 2 Diabetic Patients

Effect of Mindfulness Meditation and Aerobic Exercise on Serum Cortisol Levels in Type 2 Diabetic Patients

Individual Differences in the Change of Attentional Functions With Brief One-Time Focused Attention and Open Monitoring Meditations.

Mindfulness meditation is increasingly used for clinical treatment and to improve well-being. One of the most fundamental benefits of mindfulness meditation is now considered as enhanced attentional control. Mindfulness meditation is a complex technique but most of its variants consist of a combination of two types of basic meditation practice: focused attention meditation (FAM) and open monitoring meditation (OMM). Although many studies have examined the effect of relatively long-term meditation on attention, some recent studies have focused on the effect of a brief one-time meditation on cognitive processing, including attentional functions. Furthermore, it is necessary to discuss the relationship between the effect of mindfulness meditation on attentional functions and personality traits (especially traits related to mindfulness). This study investigated whether attentional control is improved by a single 30-min FAM or OMM and whether the degree of improvement in attentional functions – alerting, orienting, and conflict monitoring – induced by the meditation varies according to the participant’s trait scores related to mindfulness measured by the Five Facets Mindfulness Questionnaire. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups, i.e., FAM, OMM, and no-meditation (noM) groups, and given an Attentional Network Test before and after each 30-min meditation session. Compared with the noM group, there was no overall improvement in attentional functions with either type of meditation. However, there were associations between the change of the alerting function’s score and the personality traits: in the FAM group, alerting scores were negatively associated with the nonreactivity facet of the FFMQ, and in the OMM group, alerting scores were positively associated with describing facet scores of the FFMQ. The results indicate that the effects of meditation methods on attentional functions could depend on the individual’s traits related to mindfulness and that mindfulness meditation could sometimes appear to have no impact on attentional functions.

Mindfulness Meditation: Impact on Attentional Control and Emotion Dysregulation.

Theoretical models of mindfulness meditation conceptualize the cultivation of focused attention and regulation of emotional states, with the attitudinal foundations that promote nonjudgment and acceptance, to facilitate cognitive and affective processing resulting in improved brain health. Within the scientific study of mindfulness meditation, outcomes assessing behavioral and neural correlates of attentional control and emotion regulation have been examined for their malleability as a function of engagement in mindfulness practices. This review synthesizes the results of our pilot trials examining the preliminary effects of mindfulness meditation on metrics of cognitive, affective, and brain health in older adults and in individuals with multiple sclerosis. There is promising support for mindfulness meditation to enhance attentional control, reduce mind-wandering, and reduce emotion dysregulation. However, well-powered efficacy trials, with an objective assessment of mindfulness practice data are needed to further provide causal and comprehensive evidence supporting the efficacy of mindfulness meditation for brain health. Inclusion of independently derived and validated brain-based signatures of cognitive and affective functioning can additionally enable a parsimonious understanding of how mindfulness meditation can causally impact metrics of functional and structural integrity of the human brain.

21.6 The Effectiveness of Mindfulness Meditation and Nursing Education in Decreasing the Events of Insomnia, Emotional, and Behavioral Disturbances in an Adolescent Inpatient Psychiatric Unit

Mindfulness meditation practices have become increasingly popular in schools and medical settings. Meditation practices for insomnia is a safe, relatively inexpensive, low-risk, and easy-to-implement option for people who have difficulty accessing other types of therapy or medication. These interventions are relatively safer than pharmacological interventions and can have potential long-term benefits. This poster will analyze the reduction in the number of medications used to treat insomnia and affective disturbances in an inpatient adolescent psychiatric unit. Ten-minute mindfulness meditation groups were conducted on the unit as a part of a quality improvement project. This intervention was carried out 5 days a week for a total period of 3 months. Handouts were given to nursing staff on how to manage insomnia and agitation on the unit. Data were collected on the number of as-needed or emergent medications used to treat insomnia or agitation 3 months prior to the intervention and 3 months during the period of the study and then compared. A total of 51 adolescents admitted to the unit during the 3-month period of the study participated in the meditation groups. When compared to the baseline data of 42 adolescents in the 3 months prior to the initiation of the intervention, mean events of oral, as-needed, or emergent medications for agitation or insomnia decreased from 6.3 to 4.1 per adolescent (p > 0.05), and mean events of any medication, oral or intramuscular, prescribed for insomnia or agitation decreased from 6.8 to 4.6 per adolescent (p > 0.05). After comparing the 2 groups, there was a decrease in the number of episodes of agitation and insomnia on the unit; however, the difference did not reach statistical significance. Mindfulness meditation can be an effective strategy to reduce events of insomnia or agitation on the unit, and further studies may help in determining the effectiveness of this modality.