Meditation News and Research

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The term meditation refers to a variety of techniques or practices intended to focus or control attention. Most of them are rooted in Eastern religious or spiritual traditions. These techniques have been used by many different cultures throughout the world for thousands of years.

Today, many people use meditation outside of its traditional religious or cultural settings as a form of mind-body medicine. Many claims have been made about its value in promoting or improving health and wellness.

Tai Chi can effectively alleviate persistent neck pain, study finds

Tai Chi, a low-impact mind-body exercise, can be as effective as neck exercises in relieving persistent neck pain, according to results of randomized controlled trial reported in The Journal of Pain, the peer-reviewed publication of the American Pain Society, www.americanpainsociety.org.

13 Oct 2016

New research shows oxytocin may increase sense of spirituality

Oxytocin has been dubbed the "love hormone" for its role promoting social bonding, altruism and more. Now new research from Duke University suggests the hormone may also support spirituality.

4 Oct 2016

Weeklong residential Ayurvedic program yields lasting increases in perceived well-being

Participants in the weeklong residential "Perfect Health Program," developed by author and researcher Deepak Chopra, MD, had significant and lasting increases in perceived well-being and reductions in anxiety compared to a control group that experienced relaxation alone.

14 Sep 2016

Learning to downregulate amygdala activity could help gain control of emotional responses

Training the brain to treat itself is a promising therapy for traumatic stress. The training uses an auditory or visual signal that corresponds to the activity of a particular brain region, called neurofeedback, which can guide people to regulate their own brain activity.

12 Sep 2016

Novel controlled clinical trial finds Ayurvedic-based well-being program can alter blood-based metabolites

In a novel controlled clinical trial, participants in a six-day Ayurvedic-based well-being program that featured a vegetarian diet, meditation, yoga and massages experienced measurable decreases in a set of blood-based metabolites associated with inflammation, cardiovascular disease risk and cholesterol regulation.

9 Sep 2016

Medical industry employees experience severe stress leading to negative health behaviors

Several national surveys have found that approximately 15 to 20 percent of adults in the U.S. will report high levels of stress.

9 Sep 2016

Study examines effectiveness of spiritual meditation plus medication intervention for migraines

"Effect of Different Meditation Types on Migraine Headache Medication Use," an article recently published in Behavioral Medicine, examines whether or not, and to what extent, a combination of spiritual meditation and migraine medication affects analgesic medication usage.

2 Sep 2016

New study assesses biological impact of meditation and vacation

Scientists from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, the University of California, San Francisco, and Harvard Medical School used a rigorous study design to assess the biological impact of meditation compared to vacation.

30 Aug 2016

UW-Madison joins with Madison Police Department to study impact of mindfulness practices on officers' well-being

The Center for Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Madison Police Department are launching a pilot study to better understand the impact of mindfulness-based practices on police officers' physical and mental well-being.

26 Aug 2016

Mindfulness training helps alleviate depressive symptoms in disadvantaged African-American women

African-American women with lower socio-economic status have an increased risk of depressive disorders, yet they rarely seek out antidepressants or psychotherapy because of negative attitudes and stigma associated with conventional mental health treatments.

16 Aug 2016

Researchers study impact of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy in adolescents with anxiety disorders

Anxiety disorders are among the most common psychiatric conditions affecting children and adolescents. While antidepressants are frequently used to treat youth with anxiety disorders, sometimes, antidepressants may be poorly tolerated in children who are at high risk of developing bipolar disorder.

20 Jul 2016

Novel method of mindfulness meditation can improve emotional and cognitive performance

Meditation has long been promoted as a way to feel more at peace. But research from a Texas Tech University faculty member shows it can significantly improve attention, working memory, creativity, immune function, emotional regulation, self-control, cognitive and school performance and healthy habits while reducing stress.

18 Jul 2016

Research sheds more light on midlife memory decline

The inability to remember details, such as the location of objects, begins in early midlife and may be the result of a change in what information the brain focuses on during memory formation and retrieval, rather than a decline in brain function, according to a study by McGill University researchers.

13 Jul 2016

Diversity of gut bacteria may affect brain health

The surprising and potentially wide-ranging effects that the levels and diversity of bacteria living in the gut have on overall human health, inflammation, and specifically brain health are the focus of a provocative interview with Dr. David Perlmutter in Alternative and Complementary Therapies, a journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers.

11 Jul 2016

Mindfulness intervention provides greater resilience, less anxiety in prostate cancer patients

Men with prostate cancer who are under close medical surveillance reported significantly greater resilience and less anxiety over time after receiving an intervention of mindfulness meditation, according to a recently published pilot study from the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

27 May 2016

UCLA Health's child life experts recognize need for hospital parents’ playroom

Everyone knows that, for kids, being in the hospital is no fun. That's why UCLA Health's child life specialists make sure hospitalized kids still get to be kids. They staff playrooms, orchestrate social events and bring movies and games to kids' bedsides.

18 May 2016

Meditation News and Research

Further Reading

Tai Chi can effectively alleviate persistent neck pain, study finds

New research shows oxytocin may increase sense of spirituality

Weeklong residential Ayurvedic program yields lasting increases in perceived well-being

Learning to downregulate amygdala activity could help gain control of emotional responses

Novel controlled clinical trial finds Ayurvedic-based well-being program can alter blood-based metabolites

Medical industry employees experience severe stress leading to negative health behaviors

Study examines effectiveness of spiritual meditation plus medication intervention for migraines

New study assesses biological impact of meditation and vacation

UW-Madison joins with Madison Police Department to study impact of mindfulness practices on officers' well-being

Mindfulness training helps alleviate depressive symptoms in disadvantaged African-American women

Researchers study impact of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy in adolescents with anxiety disorders

Novel method of mindfulness meditation can improve emotional and cognitive performance

Research sheds more light on midlife memory decline

Diversity of gut bacteria may affect brain health

Mindfulness intervention provides greater resilience, less anxiety in prostate cancer patients

UCLA Health's child life experts recognize need for hospital parents’ playroom

Yoga exercise may reduce impact of asthma on people's quality of life

Pilot study shows mindfulness-based eating awareness training could help adolescents combat obesity

QuietKit unveils new platform to educate users on basics of meditation, mindfulness

Mindfulness training can help manage painful cycles of thoughts in veterans with PTSD

Advancing Neuroscience Research Through Collaboration and Patient-Centered Innovation

The impact of vibration on microscopy

How Omics Technologies Are Transforming Biological Research and Drug Discovery

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