As we enter a more stressful time of the semester, students must find a way to cope with the stress. Some people exercise, others watch tv, but there has been an increasing amount of research that suggests mindfulness and meditation may be the best way to combat stress.
When researchers want to study stress they tend to turn to those who have the most severe symptoms and are easily coaxed into an anxious state. Among these are those who suffer from anxiety disorders, PTSD, and especially Gulf War Illness. It is estimated about 175,000 veterans who participated in the Gulf War have developed persistent health problems, such as musculoskeletal pain, fatigue, and cognitive difficulties, which lead to the diagnosis of Gulf War Illness.
There are conventional treatments which have had some success in treated the symptoms of Gulf War Illness, however none have been able to completely eradicate the pain, tiredness, and mental problems. A recent study was published in The American Journal of Medicine (link below), which looked at the effects of using Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) in addition to conventional treatments to increase the effectiveness.The veterans in the study where required to practice the MBSR for 8 weeks which included a weekly practices and homework, and the practices involved different forms of meditation and light yoga in an effort to make the patient focus on their his/her self and the surroundings. Immediately after the 8 week MBSR treatment and 6 months after the treatment had ended, the veterans self reported lower levels of pain, fatigue, cognitive failure, and depression (if the veteran also suffered from PTSD).
Mindfulness and meditation has been indicated as a way to lower a person's current stress levels, however this study indicates it can also be used to effectively treat stress related disorders for at least up to 6 months after treatment. This information may be a good alternative to medications, would be cost effective, and have less side effects than any pharmaceutical treatment for those who suffer from stress and anxiety disorders. However it can also be indicated to help anyone who experiences stress and needs a way to cope with it.
"Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction in Addition to Usual Care is Associated with Improvements in Pain, Fatigue and Cognitive Failures Among Veterans with Gulf War Illness"
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0002934315009985
I found this post interesting, especially because I am all for trying new methods that do not revolve around prescribing pill after pill in search of the solution. I also agree that this is an easy alliterative that is extremely cost effective. I think that a society we are over prescribed and this can lead to the opposite of mindfulness and awareness overall. Promoting these healthy thoughts and relaxing techniques can really have an impact as your post explains. I think we should look to explore more solutions like this and maybe take a step away from the miracle pill that scientists are always striving to find. I think maybe the biggest obstacle with this technique is getting the patients to comply and feel that it could be effective, however I think that once this obstacle is passed then this could become more widespread.
ReplyDeleteI love that these alternative kinds of treatments are gaining scientific backing, as I agree with Dani, the solution to helping many people is not to prescribe pill on top of pill and add complications. Recently I have seen growing popularity in the media for adult coloring books to relieve stress. For the average Joe who suffers from daily stress, this article (http://www.medicaldaily.com/therapeutic-science-adult-coloring-books-how-childhood-pastime-helps-adults-relieve-356280 suggests that coloring is like meditation in that it allows someone to focus on the present and creates a calming effect which has impacts on heart rate and even changes in brainwaves. For people suffering from PTSD or Gulf War Illness, maybe adult coloring could be added to their therapy as another calming activity. Or even adding more intensive art therapy could be an additional tool to therapists with these patients, as art therapy has shown significant improvement in cancer patient’s perceptions of pain and stress.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16488349/