Meditation, melatonin and breast/prostate cancer: Hypothesis and preliminary data

Massion, Ann O.; Teas, Jane; Hébert, James R.; Wertheimer, Michael; Kabat-Zinn, Jon

doi:10.1016/0306-9877(95)90299-6

Cited by 101 publications

(59 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…23 This sleepenhancing effect may be partly attributable to increased night-time melatonin levels, which have been found among practitioners of another stress reduction procedure, meditation. 24 Melatonin is thought to play an important role in regulating sleep-wake cycles, 25 and as noted earlier, NES subjects have been shown to have an attenuated nocturnal rise in melatonin. 6 Third, dysphoric mood has been reported among NES subjects, 1,6 and those in the present study who practiced APRT for 1 week showed significant drops in selfrated depression, anger, and fatigue.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 84%

Night eating syndrome: effects of brief relaxation training on stress, mood, hunger, and eating patterns

2003

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BACKGROUND: Night eating syndrome (NES) is characterized by a lack of appetite in the morning, consumption of 50% or more of daily food intake after 6:00 p.m., and difficulty falling and/or staying asleep. It has been associated with stress and with poor results at attempts to lose weight. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to determine whether a relaxation intervention (Abbreviated Progressive Muscle Relaxation Therapy, APRT) that has been shown to significantly reduce stress levels in normal, healthy adults would also benefit an NES sample. RESEARCH METHODS AND PROCEDURES: A total of 20 adults with NES were randomly assigned to either a relaxation training (APRT) or a Control (quietly sitting for the same amount of time) group, and all subjects attended two laboratory sessions 1 week apart. Pre-and postsession indices of stress, anxiety, relaxation, and salivary cortisol were obtained, as well as Day 1 and Day 8 indices of mood. Food diaries and hunger ratings were also obtained. RESULTS:The results indicated that 20 min of a muscle relaxation exercise significantly reduced stress, anxiety, and salivary cortisol immediately postsession. After practicing these exercises daily for a week, subjects exhibited lowered stress, anxiety, fatigue, anger, and depression on Day 8. APRT was also associated with significantly higher a.m. and lower p.m. ratings of hunger, and a trend of both more breakfast and less night-time eating. DISCUSSION: These data support the role of stress and anxiety in NES and suggest that practicing relaxation may be an important component of treatment for this condition.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 84%

Night eating syndrome: effects of brief relaxation training on stress, mood, hunger, and eating patterns

2003

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“…Some clinical studies of Transcendental Meditation demonstrate benefits [8][9][10] but the certification process has limited widespread clinical use. Brain changes during meditation have been observed in numerous EEG and neuroimaging studies 11 and there is some evidence for meditation effects on endocrine, 12 neurotransmitter, 13 and immune system 14 measures.…”

Section: Mind-body Interventions Meditationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mind–body interventions

Wahbeh

Elsas

Oken³

2008

Neurology

288

127

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Objective-Half of the adults in the United States use complementary and alternative medicine with mind-body therapy being the most commonly used form. Neurology patients often turn to their physicians for insight into the effectiveness of the therapies and resources to integrate them into their care. The objective of this article is to give a clinical overview of mind-body interventions and their applications in neurology.Methods-Medline and PsychInfo were searched on mind-body therapies and neurologic disease search terms for clinical trials and reviews and published evidence was graded.Results-Meditation, relaxation, and breathing techniques, yoga, tai chi, and qigong, hypnosis, and biofeedback are described. Mind-body therapy application to general pain, back and neck pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, headaches, fibromyalgia, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, muscular dysfunction, stroke, aging, Parkinson disease, stroke, and attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder are reviewed.Conclusions-There are several conditions where the evidence for mind-body therapies is quite strong such as migraine headache. Mind-body therapies for other neurology applications have limited evidence due mostly to small clinical trials and inadequate control groups.

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“…10,11 Taken together, this raises the possibility that as vision loss progresses, reductions in retinally mediated light signals affect the release of melatonin leading to the observed sleep disturbances. Studies with normally sighted individuals practicing yoga have revealed positive results on subjective sleep measures [15][16][17] and increased physiological measures of melatonin, [18][19][20] although these studies are potentially confounded by the lack of control for nighttime light exposure. Melatonin contributes to sleep onset and sleep onset latency or SOL, a measure 21 that can be reliably detected by sleep questionnaires, 16 is considered an indicator of the duration it takes to fall asleep.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Yoga for persons with severe visual impairment: a feasibility study

et al. 2012

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This exploratory study aims to establish the feasibility of an Ashtanga-based Yoga Therapy (AYT) program for improving sleep disturbances, balance, and negative psychosocial states, which are prevalent issues for visually impaired (VI) individuals. Ten legally blind adult participants were randomized to an 8-week AYT program. Four subjects in the 1 st cohort and three in the 2 nd cohort successfully completed the AYT program. They convened for one session per week with an instructor and performed two home-based sessions per week using an audio CD. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) were administered at baseline and post-intervention. A Timed One-Leg balance measure, respiratory rate (RR), and the Philadelphia Mindfulness Scale (PHLMS) were assessed in the 2 nd cohort. Both groups completed a qualitative exit survey. Positive exit survey responses (all subjects were extremely or mostly satisfied, and wanted to continue AYT) and good participation rates (7 subjects attended at least 7 of the 8 weekly sessions) support the feasibility of the AYT. PSQI, PSS, BAI and BDI scores changed in the direction of reduced negative symptoms after AYT for the 1 st cohort. Changes in PSQI and PSS for the 2 nd cohort were varied. Balance, RR and PHLMS awareness trended toward improvement for each individual. This preliminary study provides proof of concept for potential benefits of AYT that may be observed in VI subjects. Larger studies and an active control group are needed to determine efficacy.

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Meditation, melatonin and breast/prostate cancer: Hypothesis and preliminary data

Cited by 101 publications

References 51 publications

Night eating syndrome: effects of brief relaxation training on stress, mood, hunger, and eating patterns

Night eating syndrome: effects of brief relaxation training on stress, mood, hunger, and eating patterns

Mind–body interventions

Yoga for persons with severe visual impairment: a feasibility study

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