Meditation to Reduce Stress and Improve Quality of Life

Meditation to Reduce Stress and Improve Quality of Life: A Feasibility Study

The purpose of this study is to test a simple meditation program that is easy to learn; inexpensive; easy to practice; non-religion based; and has wide applicability to multiple medical conditions. This program has been developed by the Complementary and Integrative Medicine Program at the Mayo Clinic.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Stress
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Meditation DVD

Detailed Description

Stress is a ubiquitous problem and a mediator of symptoms for a variety of medical conditions. Most medical diagnoses, procedures, and physician visits are associated with considerable stress. Excessive stress is associated with adverse medical outcomes, unhealthy coping mechanisms, symptoms of anxiety and depression, and overall a poor quality of life. No specific pharmacologic treatment is available for treating stress. Further, it is often difficult or impossible to change the reality of circumstances causing stress in an individual. Thus increasing individual coping mechanisms and ability of a person to handle stress, rather than changing the stressors itself, might be a more feasible approach towards reducing stress.

Meditation is a widely used and increasingly popular intervention that positively affects the individual at cognitive, physical, emotional, behavioral, and spiritual levels. A practice of meditation has been shown to reduce symptoms of stress and improve overall quality of life. Several meditation programs exist, however most are limited by considerable expense, need for elaborate training, lack of widespread availability, or incorporation of ideas and practices unique to a particular culture.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 17
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Minnesota
    • Rochester, Minnesota, United States, 55905
      • Mayo Clinic

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• At least 18 years of age
• Good general health
• Access to a DVD player
• Provided with, understand, and have signed the informed consent

Exclusion Criteria:

• Are currently using (at the time of enrollment) antipsychotics or recently (< 3 months) started on antidepressants. Patients on stable dose of antidepressant (for ≥ 3 months) will be allowed.
• Have a lifetime history of schizophrenia

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Meditation DVD; All participants will receive a Meditation DVD to practice at home daily for a total of 4 weeks.	Behavioral: Meditation DVD; Participants will undergo a one-hour group instruction session in meditation held by Dr. Amit Sood. Participants will then receive a DVD to practice the intervention at home daily for a total of 4 weeks. The DVD will have 3 different programs of 5, 15, and 30 minutes each loaded on it with a menu option to choose one of the programs.; Other Names: Meditation

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Time Frame
To assess the feasibility of incorporating a 4-week innovative meditation program into the daily activities of healthy Mayo Clinic employees for improving stress.	4 Weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Time Frame
To assess the effect of a 4-week program of meditation on perceived stress and overall quality of life compared to baseline.	4 Weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Mayo Clinic

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Prasad K, Wahner-Roedler DL, Cha SS, Sood A. Effect of a single-session meditation training to reduce stress and improve quality of life among health care professionals: a "dose-ranging" feasibility study. Altern Ther Health Med. 2011 May-Jun;17(3):46-9.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: March 1, 2008
• Primary Completion (Actual): April 1, 2008
• Study Completion (Actual): April 1, 2008

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: January 11, 2010
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 12, 2010
• First Posted (Estimate): January 13, 2010

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimate): January 6, 2012
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 4, 2012
• Last Verified: January 1, 2012

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Quality of Life; Meditation; Relaxation Therapy
• Other Study ID Numbers: 07-006601