The Effects of 8-weeks Jeol Meditation Program on Stress, Depression and Cardiovascular Risk Factors in Women / 農村醫學 地域保健

OBJECTIVES: There has been an increase in the use of mind-body therapies to control cardiovascular risk factors recently. This trial was designed to determine whether the 'jeol'(Korean Buddhists' prostration) meditation program, as a new mind-body intervention, was effective in managing stress, depression and controlling cardiovascular risk factors in women working at a geriatric hospital. METHODS: We conducted a randomized controlled trial to determine whether the 'jeol' meditation program could improve stress, anxiety, depression, and cardiovascular risk factors in women. We randomly assigned 57 participants to the intervention(29 participants) or control(28 participants) group. The subjects in the intervention group participated in a group Jeol meditation program once weekly, and practiced at home. The following variables were assessed: stress(Psychosocial Wellbeing Index), depression(Beck's Depression Inventory), body mass index(BMI), waist circumference, hemoglobin A1c(HbA1c), homeostasis model assessment(HOMA), low-density lipoprotein(LDL) cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein(HDL) cholesterol, and triglyceride were assessed. RESULTS: After the 8-week program, 2 participants from the intervention group and 1 from the control group dropped out. The subjects in the intervention group exhibited decreased scores for stress(t=5.102, p<0.01), depression(t=5.259, p<0.01), BMI(t=2.942, p=0.007), and waist circumference(t=2.582, p=0.016); however these scores did not demonstrate a significant decrease in participants of the control group. The other variables showed no significant difference between the groups. CONCLUSION: The 'jeol' meditation program evidently reduced stress, anxiety, depression, body weight, and waist circumference in women, which suggests that this program could be employed as a mind-body therapies.

Mind-Body Approach in the Area of Preventive Medicine: Focusing on Relaxation and Meditation for Stress Management / 예방의학회지

OBJECTIVES: Emotional support and a stress management program should be simultaneously provided to clients as effective preventive services for healthy behavioral change. This study was conducted to review various relaxation and meditation intervention methods and their applicability for a preventive service program. METHODS AND RESULTS: The author of this paper tried to find various relaxation and meditation programs through a literature review and program searching and to introduce them. The 'Relaxation Response' and 'Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)' are the most the widely used meditative programs in mainstream medical systems. Abdominal breathing, Progressive Musclular Relaxation (PMR), Relaxative Imagery, Autogenic Training (AT) and Biofeedback are other well-known techniques for relaxation and stress management. I have developed and implemented some programs using these methods. Relaxation and meditation classes for cancer patients and a meditation based stress coping workshop are examples of this program. CONCLUSIONS: Relaxation and meditation seem to be good and effective methods for primary, secondary and tertiary preventive service programs. Program development and standardization and further study are needed for more and wider use of the mind-body approach in the preventive service area of medicine.