How Mindfulness Meditation Can Help People With Rheumatoid Arthritis
Content
How Mindfulness Meditation Can Help People With
Rheumatoid Arthritis
Research has shown that the benefits of mindfulness meditation are far-reaching, from minimizing
pain sensitivity to helping us regulate our emotions. The newest study suggests it could also have
benefits specifically for people with rheumatoid arthritis.
The small study, conducted by researchers from Oslo's Diakonhjemmet Hospital, shows that people
who partake in mindfulness exercises had less fatigue and lower levels of stress than people who
just receive standard treatment for the condition.
The research was published in the journal Annals of Rheumatic Diseases, and included 73 people
with rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis or psoriatic arthritis between ages 20 and 70. Half
of the people were chosen to do mindfulness exercises that were done in 10 group sessions for 15
weeks, as well as one more session six months after the 10 sessions were completed. The other half
of the people were just given regular care for the condition, as well as a CD that taught them how to
do mindfulness exercises.
In this particular study, mindfulness meditation aimed to help people concentrate on their own
thoughts, experiences and pain in the moment, without actively trying to avoid them or judge them,
researchers said.
At the end of the study, both groups of people had the same pain levels, ability to talk about how
they were feeling and disease activity. However, the people who had the group mindfulness training
scored significantly lower in measurements of stress and fatigue, compared with people who didn't
have the training.
Even though this study didn't show that mindfulness had any effect on reducing pain levels, past
research suggests it can help to ease pain. A study in the Journal of Neuroscience showed that
mindfulness meditation can lower pain levels by 57 percent, USA Today reported.
A separate study, in the journal Cerebral Cortex, suggests that meditation has this pain-relieving
effect by increasing brain activity in regions associated with sensory information processing,
according to USA Today.
For more on the health benefits of meditation, click through this slideshow:
7 Fascinating Facts About Meditation
It Makes Your Brain Plastic
Quite literally, sustained meditation leads to something called neuroplasticity, which is defined as
the brain's ability to change, structurally and functionally, on the basis of environmental input. For
much of the last century, scientists believed that the brain essentially stopped changing after
adulthood. But research by University of Wisconsin neuroscientist Richard Davidson has shown that
experienced meditators exhibit high levels of gamma wave activity and display an ability -continuing after the meditation session has attended -- to not get stuck on a particular stimulus. That
is, they're automatically able to control their thoughts and reactiveness.
It Makes Your Brain Plastic
Quite literally, sustained meditation leads to something called neuroplasticity, which is defined as
the brain's ability to change, structurally and functionally, on the basis of environmental input. For
much of the last http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Psoriasis+vulgaris century,
scientists believed that the brain essentially stopped changing after adulthood. But research by
University of Wisconsin neuroscientist Richard Davidson has shown that experienced meditators
exhibit high levels of gamma wave activity and display an ability -- continuing after the meditation
session has attended -- to not get stuck on a particular stimulus. That is, they're automatically able
to control their thoughts and reactiveness.
image
It Increases Gray Matter
image
It Can Be Better Than Sleeping
In a 2006 study, college students were asked to either sleep, meditate or watch TV. They were then
tested on their alertness by being asked to hit a button every time a light flashed on a screen. The
meditators did better than the nappers and TV watchers -- by a whole 10 percent.
image
It's Better Than Blood Pressure Medication
In 2008, Dr. Randy Zusman, a doctor at the Massachusetts General Hospital, asked patients
suffering from high blood pressure to try a meditation-based relaxation program for three months.
These were patients whose blood pressure had not been controlled with medication. After
meditating regularly for three months, 40 of the 60 patients showed significant drops in blood
pressure levels and were able to reduce some of their medication. The reason? Relaxation results in
the formation of nitric oxide which opens up your blood vessels.
image
It Can Protect Your Telomeres
Telomeres -- the protective caps at the end of our chromosomes -- are the new frontier of anti-aging
science. Longer telomeres mean that you're also likely to live longer. Research done by the
University of California, Davis' Shamatha Project has shown that meditators have significantly
higher telomerase activity that non-meditators. Telomerase is the enzyme that helps build telomeres,
and greater telomerase activity can possibly translate into stronger and longer telomeres .
image
It Can Slow The Progression Of HIV
A 2008 study on HIV positive patients found that, after an eight-week meditation course, patients
who'd meditated showed no decline in lymphocyte content compared with non-meditators who
showed significant reduction in lymphocytes. Lymphocytes or white blood cells are the "brain" of the
body's immune system, and are particularly important for HIV positive people. The study also found
that lymphocyte homeopathy treatment psoriasis levels actually went up with each meditation
session. However, due to the small sample size -- only 48 volunteers -- it's harder to draw definitive
conclusions.
image
Its Pain Relieving Properties Beat MorphIne
Earlier this year, a study conducted by Wake Forest Baptist University found that meditation could
reduce pain intensity by 40 percent and pain unpleasantness by 57 percent. Morphine and other
pain-relieving drugs typically show a pain reduction of 25 percent. Meditation works by reducing
activity in the somatosensory cortex and increasing activity in other areas of the brain. This study
also had a small sample size, making it harder to draw definite conclusions.
image
Related Video
The Positive Benefits of Meditation
video
Rheumatoid Arthritis
Research has shown that the benefits of mindfulness meditation are far-reaching, from minimizing
pain sensitivity to helping us regulate our emotions. The newest study suggests it could also have
benefits specifically for people with rheumatoid arthritis.
The small study, conducted by researchers from Oslo's Diakonhjemmet Hospital, shows that people
who partake in mindfulness exercises had less fatigue and lower levels of stress than people who
just receive standard treatment for the condition.
The research was published in the journal Annals of Rheumatic Diseases, and included 73 people
with rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis or psoriatic arthritis between ages 20 and 70. Half
of the people were chosen to do mindfulness exercises that were done in 10 group sessions for 15
weeks, as well as one more session six months after the 10 sessions were completed. The other half
of the people were just given regular care for the condition, as well as a CD that taught them how to
do mindfulness exercises.
In this particular study, mindfulness meditation aimed to help people concentrate on their own
thoughts, experiences and pain in the moment, without actively trying to avoid them or judge them,
researchers said.
At the end of the study, both groups of people had the same pain levels, ability to talk about how
they were feeling and disease activity. However, the people who had the group mindfulness training
scored significantly lower in measurements of stress and fatigue, compared with people who didn't
have the training.
Even though this study didn't show that mindfulness had any effect on reducing pain levels, past
research suggests it can help to ease pain. A study in the Journal of Neuroscience showed that
mindfulness meditation can lower pain levels by 57 percent, USA Today reported.
A separate study, in the journal Cerebral Cortex, suggests that meditation has this pain-relieving
effect by increasing brain activity in regions associated with sensory information processing,
according to USA Today.
For more on the health benefits of meditation, click through this slideshow:
7 Fascinating Facts About Meditation
It Makes Your Brain Plastic
Quite literally, sustained meditation leads to something called neuroplasticity, which is defined as
the brain's ability to change, structurally and functionally, on the basis of environmental input. For
much of the last century, scientists believed that the brain essentially stopped changing after
adulthood. But research by University of Wisconsin neuroscientist Richard Davidson has shown that
experienced meditators exhibit high levels of gamma wave activity and display an ability -continuing after the meditation session has attended -- to not get stuck on a particular stimulus. That
is, they're automatically able to control their thoughts and reactiveness.
It Makes Your Brain Plastic
Quite literally, sustained meditation leads to something called neuroplasticity, which is defined as
the brain's ability to change, structurally and functionally, on the basis of environmental input. For
much of the last http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Psoriasis+vulgaris century,
scientists believed that the brain essentially stopped changing after adulthood. But research by
University of Wisconsin neuroscientist Richard Davidson has shown that experienced meditators
exhibit high levels of gamma wave activity and display an ability -- continuing after the meditation
session has attended -- to not get stuck on a particular stimulus. That is, they're automatically able
to control their thoughts and reactiveness.
image
It Increases Gray Matter
image
It Can Be Better Than Sleeping
In a 2006 study, college students were asked to either sleep, meditate or watch TV. They were then
tested on their alertness by being asked to hit a button every time a light flashed on a screen. The
meditators did better than the nappers and TV watchers -- by a whole 10 percent.
image
It's Better Than Blood Pressure Medication
In 2008, Dr. Randy Zusman, a doctor at the Massachusetts General Hospital, asked patients
suffering from high blood pressure to try a meditation-based relaxation program for three months.
These were patients whose blood pressure had not been controlled with medication. After
meditating regularly for three months, 40 of the 60 patients showed significant drops in blood
pressure levels and were able to reduce some of their medication. The reason? Relaxation results in
the formation of nitric oxide which opens up your blood vessels.
image
It Can Protect Your Telomeres
Telomeres -- the protective caps at the end of our chromosomes -- are the new frontier of anti-aging
science. Longer telomeres mean that you're also likely to live longer. Research done by the
University of California, Davis' Shamatha Project has shown that meditators have significantly
higher telomerase activity that non-meditators. Telomerase is the enzyme that helps build telomeres,
and greater telomerase activity can possibly translate into stronger and longer telomeres .
image
It Can Slow The Progression Of HIV
A 2008 study on HIV positive patients found that, after an eight-week meditation course, patients
who'd meditated showed no decline in lymphocyte content compared with non-meditators who
showed significant reduction in lymphocytes. Lymphocytes or white blood cells are the "brain" of the
body's immune system, and are particularly important for HIV positive people. The study also found
that lymphocyte homeopathy treatment psoriasis levels actually went up with each meditation
session. However, due to the small sample size -- only 48 volunteers -- it's harder to draw definitive
conclusions.
image
Its Pain Relieving Properties Beat MorphIne
Earlier this year, a study conducted by Wake Forest Baptist University found that meditation could
reduce pain intensity by 40 percent and pain unpleasantness by 57 percent. Morphine and other
pain-relieving drugs typically show a pain reduction of 25 percent. Meditation works by reducing
activity in the somatosensory cortex and increasing activity in other areas of the brain. This study
also had a small sample size, making it harder to draw definite conclusions.
image
Related Video
The Positive Benefits of Meditation
video
