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PloS One 2024The objectives of this study were to examine the prevalence and associations of mindfulness meditation use and also its perceived mental health effects during the...
OBJECTIVES
The objectives of this study were to examine the prevalence and associations of mindfulness meditation use and also its perceived mental health effects during the COVID-19 pandemic.
METHODS
Using repeated cross-sectional data from broad online samples weighted to be representative of the adult population in Britain, we estimated the prevalence of mindfulness meditation use and employed logistic regression models to investigate sociodemographic and political associations of mindfulness meditation use and also its perceived mental health effects during the COVID-19 pandemic.
RESULTS
The findings suggest that 16 percent of adults in Britain had learnt to practice mindfulness in 2021. In covariate-adjusted regression models, having learnt to practice mindfulness was more common among young and middle-aged adults, residents in London, and respondents who voted for the Liberal Democrats. Among mindfulness meditation users who reported having practiced mindfulness during the COVID-19 pandemic, 60 percent reported that it positively affected their mental health and 24 percent reported that it negatively affected their mental health. Notably, 41 percent of respondents with children under 18 (versus 13 percent of those without minors) reported negative mental health effects. In covariate-adjusted regression models, negative mental health effects from mindfulness practice during the COVID-19 pandemic were not concentrated in any particular groups, except for respondents with children under 18.
CONCLUSIONS
Mindfulness meditation has become widespread in Britain, but the results in this study suggest that mindfulness meditation use may be concentrated in certain sociodemographic and political groups. The results also suggest that practicing mindfulness during the COVID-19 pandemic had positive mental health effects for a majority of users, but approximately one-quarter of users reported negative mental health effects. It is therefore important for future research to continue monitoring the prevalence of mindfulness meditation use in society and to investigate under what circumstances, for whom, and in what ways mindfulness-based practices may have negative effects on mental health.
Topics: Humans; COVID-19; Mindfulness; Meditation; United Kingdom; Male; Female; Adult; Middle Aged; Cross-Sectional Studies; Mental Health; Young Adult; Adolescent; Pandemics; Aged; SARS-CoV-2
PubMed: 38739574
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0303349 -
General Psychiatry 2024Growing evidence attests to the efficacy of mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs), but their effectiveness for healthcare workers remains uncertain.
BACKGROUND
Growing evidence attests to the efficacy of mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs), but their effectiveness for healthcare workers remains uncertain.
AIMS
To evaluate the evidence for MBIs in improving healthcare workers' psychological well-being.
METHODS
A systematic literature search was conducted on Medline, Embase, Cumulative Index for Nursing and Allied Health Literature, PsycINFO and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials up to 31 August 2022 using the keywords 'healthcare worker', 'doctor', 'nurse', 'allied health', 'mindfulness', 'wellness', 'workshop' and 'program'. Randomised controlled trials with a defined MBI focusing on healthcare workers and quantitative outcome measures related to subjective or psychological well-being were eligible for inclusion. R V.4.0.3 was used for data analysis, with the standardised mean difference as the primary outcome, employing DerSimonian and Laird's random effects model. Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation framework was used to evaluate the quality of evidence. Cochrane's Risk of Bias 2 tool was used to assess the risk of bias in the included studies.
RESULTS
A total of 27 studies with 2506 participants were included, mostly from the USA, involving various healthcare professions. MBIs such as stress reduction programmes, apps, meditation and training showed small to large effects on anxiety, burnout, stress, depression, psychological distress and job strain outcomes of the participants. Positive effects were also seen in self-compassion, empathy, mindfulness and well-being. However, long-term outcomes (1 month or longer postintervention) varied, and the effects were not consistently sustained.
CONCLUSIONS
MBIs offer short-term benefits in reducing stress-related symptoms in healthcare workers. The review also highlights limitations such as intervention heterogeneity, reduced power in specific subgroup analyses and variable study quality.
PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER
CRD42022353340.
PubMed: 38737894
DOI: 10.1136/gpsych-2023-101115 -
Journal of Affective Disorders Reports Apr 2024Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE) has detrimental impacts on neural development, especially hippocampal morphometry. Mindfulness-Based Interventions (MBI) has been...
BACKGROUND
Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE) has detrimental impacts on neural development, especially hippocampal morphometry. Mindfulness-Based Interventions (MBI) has been shown to induce adaptive hippocampal changes especially at the subiculum. The present study aims to investigate the effects of MBI on subiculum volumes among ACE survivors, as well as the effects on episodic memory as a probe into hippocampal functionality.
METHODS
We analyzed anatomical MRI data and performance indices from an episodic memory task called the Mnemonic Similarity Task (MST) collected from a randomized controlled longitudinal study that compared an 8-week MBI ( = 20) to an active control condition of Stress Management Education (SME) ( = 19). FreeSurfer 6.0 was used for automated hippocampal subfield segmentation and volumetric estimation.
RESULTS
Significant group differences were observed with the volumetric changes of the right whole hippocampus and right subiculum. Only the MBI group showed improved pattern separation capability from MST, which was associated with stress reduction and right subiculum volumetric changes.
LIMITATIONS
Modest sample size. MST task was performed outside of MRI.
CONCLUSIONS
These findings suggest beneficial effects of MBI for hippocampal volumes and episodic memory, while highlighting the importance of the subiculum for MBI-induced neural and cognitive changes. The subiculum's known role in inhibitory control was interpreted as a potential mechanism for it to exhibit MBI-induced volumetric changes, which sheds light on the potential neural underpinnings of mindfulness meditation for reducing stress reactivity among ACE survivors.
PubMed: 38737193
DOI: 10.1016/j.jadr.2024.100769 -
Journal of Clinical Medicine Apr 2024Depression is a prevalent and debilitating illness that significantly affects psychological and physical well-being. Apart from conventional therapies such as...
BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES
Depression is a prevalent and debilitating illness that significantly affects psychological and physical well-being. Apart from conventional therapies such as psychotherapy and medication, individuals with depression often lack opportunities for activities that are generally perceived as enjoyable, such as music, meditation, and arts, which have demonstrated therapeutic effectiveness. TaKeTiNa music therapy has been employed as a therapeutic intervention for more than two decades. However, there is a notable absence of well-designed clinical trials investigating its antidepressant effects, a gap we aim to address in our current study. Furthermore, shifts in the progression of depression may manifest both psychologically, by influencing emotional states, and physiologically, by leading to alterations in lipid and sphingolipid metabolism, cortisol levels, and immune system function. Our study seeks to analyze the impact of TaKeTiNa music therapy on both levels.
METHODS
This is a prospective monocentric randomized waitlist-controlled clinical trial. It investigates the influence of TaKeTiNa music therapy on patients with major depression in an outpatient setting. Therefore, interested persons are randomly assigned to two groups, an intervention group or a control group, after completing a screening procedure. The intervention group starts with an eight-week TaKeTiNa music therapy intervention. The waiting group receives the same therapy program after completing the follow-up period. Blood and saliva sampling as well as responses to questionnaires are obtained at specific time points.
DISCUSSION
Our study investigates the effects of TaKeTiNa music therapy, a non-pharmacological antidepressant treatment option, on depressive symptoms. We also address functional and causal immunological changes; hormonal changes, such as changes in cortisol levels; and metabolic changes, such as changes in serum lipids and sphingolipids, during the course of depression. We expect that this study will provide evidence to expand the range of treatment options available for depression.
PubMed: 38731019
DOI: 10.3390/jcm13092494 -
BioPsychoSocial Medicine May 2024The study investigated the effects of loving-kindness meditation (LKM) on doctors' communication anxiety, trust, calling, and defensive medicine practice.
OBJECTIVE
The study investigated the effects of loving-kindness meditation (LKM) on doctors' communication anxiety, trust, calling, and defensive medicine practice.
METHODS
This study recruited 94 doctors from a hospital in China, randomized them to an LKM group (n = 47), and waited for the control group (n = 47). The experimental group accepted an 8-week LKM interference while the waiting for the control group underwent no interference. Researchers measured four major variable factors (communication anxiety, trust, calling, and defensive medicine practice) before and after the LKM intervention.
RESULTS
In the experimental group, trust, and calling were significantly higher, and communication anxiety, and defensive medicine practice were significantly lower than in the control group. In the control group, there were no noticeable differences in any of the four variables between the pre-test and post-test.
CONCLUSIONS
The results of this study demonstrate that LKM may help to improve trust, and calling, and reduce communication anxiety and defensive medicine practice. The finding of LKM's effect extends the understanding of the integrative effects of positive psychology on the decrease of defensive medicine practice.
TRIAL REGISTRATION
ChiCTR2300074568. Registered in Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (ChiCTR), 9 August, 2023.
PubMed: 38730309
DOI: 10.1186/s13030-024-00307-7 -
Journal of the American Academy of... May 2024This preregistered study compared the effects of the Transdiagnostic Sleep and Circadian Intervention (TranS-C) with psychoeducation (PE) about sleep, health, yoga,...
OBJECTIVE
This preregistered study compared the effects of the Transdiagnostic Sleep and Circadian Intervention (TranS-C) with psychoeducation (PE) about sleep, health, yoga, meditation, and outdoor appreciation activities on sleep and circadian functioning, health risk, and sleep health behaviors at long-term follow-up (LTFU), an average of 8 years following treatment. We also examined if more sleep health behaviors at LTFU were associated with better sleep and circadian functioning at LTFU and if better sleep and circadian functioning were associated with lower health risk at LTFU.
METHOD
At baseline, we randomly assigned adolescents with an eveningness chronotype to TranS-C (n = 89) or PE (n = 87). Of this sample, we assessed 106 young adults (mean age at follow-up = 22.5 years; n = 55 from TranS-C; n = 51 from PE) an average of 8 years following treatment.
RESULTS
Despite TranS-C (vs PE) sustaining improvement in circadian functioning through 12-month follow-up, at LTFU, there were no significant differences between the conditions on any outcome, including sleep and circadian functioning, risks in 5 health domains indexed by self-report and ecological momentary assessment, sleep health behaviors, and physical measurements. Across both conditions, measures indicating poorer sleep and circadian functioning were associated with higher health risk across multiple domains, and more sleep health behaviors were associated with lower levels of eveningness at LTFU.
CONCLUSION
These results provide an important window into the influence of development on long-term outcomes for youth and raise the possibility that interventions for youth could be enhanced with a focus on habit formation.
CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION INFORMATION
Maintaining Behavior Change: A 6-Year Follow-up of Adolescent 'Night-owls'; https://www.
CLINICALTRIALS
gov/; NCT05098782.
STUDY PREREGISTRATION INFORMATION
Long-term Follow-up of Young Adults Who Received TranS-C to Modify Eveningness Chronotype in Adolescence; https://osf.io/; d5a4g.
DIVERSITY & INCLUSION STATEMENT
We worked to ensure race, ethnic, and/or other types of diversity in the recruitment of human participants. We worked to ensure that the study questionnaires were prepared in an inclusive way. We worked to ensure sex and gender balance in the recruitment of human participants. One or more of the authors of this paper self-identifies as a member of one or more historically underrepresented racial and/or ethnic groups in science. One or more of the authors of this paper self-identifies as a member of one or more historically underrepresented sexual and/or gender groups in science. One or more of the authors of this paper self-identifies as living with a disability. One or more of the authors of this paper received support from a program designed to increase minority representation in science.
PubMed: 38729603
DOI: 10.1016/j.jaac.2024.05.001 -
World Psychiatry : Official Journal of... Jun 2024
PubMed: 38727064
DOI: 10.1002/wps.21214 -
Human Brain Mapping May 2024Advanced meditation such as jhana meditation can produce various altered states of consciousness (jhanas) and cultivate rewarding psychological qualities including joy,...
Advanced meditation such as jhana meditation can produce various altered states of consciousness (jhanas) and cultivate rewarding psychological qualities including joy, peace, compassion, and attentional stability. Mapping the neurobiological substrates of jhana meditation can inform the development and application of advanced meditation to enhance well-being. Only two prior studies have attempted to investigate the neural correlates of jhana meditation, and the rarity of adept practitioners has largely restricted the size and extent of these studies. Therefore, examining the consistency and reliability of observed brain responses associated with jhana meditation can be valuable. In this study, we aimed to characterize functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) reliability within a single subject over repeated runs in canonical brain networks during jhana meditation performed by an adept practitioner over 5 days (27 fMRI runs) inside an ultra-high field 7 Tesla MRI scanner. We found that thalamus and several cortical networks, that is, the somatomotor, limbic, default-mode, control, and temporo-parietal, demonstrated good within-subject reliability across all jhanas. Additionally, we found that several other relevant brain networks (e.g., attention, salience) showed noticeable increases in reliability when fMRI measurements were adjusted for variability in self-reported phenomenology related to jhana meditation. Overall, we present a preliminary template of reliable brain areas likely underpinning core neurocognitive elements of jhana meditation, and highlight the utility of neurophenomenological experimental designs for better characterizing neuronal variability associated with advanced meditative states.
Topics: Humans; Meditation; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Reproducibility of Results; Nerve Net; Adult; Male; Female; Brain; Cerebral Cortex
PubMed: 38726831
DOI: 10.1002/hbm.26666 -
Frontiers in Nutrition 2024Recent studies have indicated considerable health risks associated with the consumption of artificial sweeteners. Neotame is a relatively new sweetener in the global...
The artificial sweetener neotame negatively regulates the intestinal epithelium directly through T1R3-signaling and indirectly through pathogenic changes to model gut bacteria.
INTRODUCTION
Recent studies have indicated considerable health risks associated with the consumption of artificial sweeteners. Neotame is a relatively new sweetener in the global market however there is still limited data on the impact of neotame on the intestinal epithelium or the commensal microbiota.
METHODS
In the present study, we use a model of the intestinal epithelium (Caco-2) and microbiota ( and ) to investigate how physiologically-relevant exposure of neotame impacts intestinal epithelial cell function, gut bacterial metabolism and pathogenicity, and gut epithelium-microbiota interactions.
RESULTS
Our findings show that neotame causes intestinal epithelial cell apoptosis and death with siRNA knockdown of T1R3 expression significantly attenuating the neotame-induced loss to cell viability. Similarly, neotame exposure results in barrier disruption with enhanced monolayer leak and reduced claudin-3 cell surface expression through a T1R3-dependent pathway. Using the gut bacteria models, and , neotame significantly increased biofilm formation and metabolites of , but not , reduced Caco-2 cell viability. In co-culture studies, neotame exposure increased adhesion capacity of and onto Caco-2 cells and invasion capacity of . Neotame-induced biofilm formation, -specific Caco-2 cell death, adhesion and invasion was identified to be meditated through a taste-dependent pathway.
DISCUSSION
Our study identifies novel pathogenic effects of neotame on the intestinal epithelium or bacteria alone, and in co-cultures to mimic the gut microbiome. These findings demonstrate the need to better understand food additives common in the global market and the molecular mechanisms underlying potential negative health impacts.
PubMed: 38721028
DOI: 10.3389/fnut.2024.1366409 -
BioRxiv : the Preprint Server For... Apr 2024Early efforts to understand the human cerebral cortex focused on localization of function, assigning functional roles to specific brain regions. More recent evidence...
Early efforts to understand the human cerebral cortex focused on localization of function, assigning functional roles to specific brain regions. More recent evidence depicts the cortex as a dynamic system, organized into flexible networks with patterns of spatiotemporal activity corresponding to attentional demands. In functional MRI (fMRI), dynamic analysis of such spatiotemporal patterns is highly promising for providing non-invasive biomarkers of neurodegenerative diseases and neural disorders. However, there is no established neurotypical spectrum to interpret the burgeoning literature of dynamic functional connectivity from fMRI across attentional states. In the present study, we apply dynamic analysis of network-scale spatiotemporal patterns in a range of fMRI datasets across numerous tasks including a left-right moving dot task, visual working memory tasks, congruence tasks, multiple resting state datasets, mindfulness meditators, and subjects watching TV. We find that cortical networks show shifts in dynamic functional connectivity across a spectrum that tracks the level of external to internal attention demanded by these tasks. Dynamics of networks often grouped into a single task positive network show divergent responses along this axis of attention, consistent with evidence that definitions of a single task positive network are misleading. Additionally, somatosensory and visual networks exhibit strong phase shifting along this spectrum of attention. Results were robust on a group and individual level, further establishing network dynamics as a potential individual biomarker. To our knowledge, this represents the first study of its kind to generate a spectrum of dynamic network relationships across such an axis of attention.
PubMed: 38712098
DOI: 10.1101/2024.04.22.590625