Heartfulness meditation improves loneliness and sleep in physicians and advance practice providers during COVID-19 pandemic.
Hosp Pract (1995)
; 49(3): 194-202, 2021 Aug.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1121091
ABSTRACT
Objective:
Unprecedented work pressures and social isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic may worsen loneliness and sleep problems in health-care professionals. Heartfulness meditation has been shown to improve burnout and sleep. In the current study, the effects of remote Heartfulness meditation in improving loneliness and sleep quality were measured.Methods:
Physicians and advance practice providers were randomly assigned to receive either daily Heartfulness Meditation program or no intervention (control group) in a prospective four-week randomized control study design. UCLA loneliness and PSQI scores were collected at baseline and after the program duration of 4 weeks. The study was retrospectively registered with trial Number, ISRCTN85787008 (8 January 2021).Results:
Of the 155 subjects enrolled in the study, 50% were lonely and 97% had sleep problems. Attrition rate was 36%. Among those who completed the study, the mean UCLA loneliness scores decreased from 42.1 to 39.4 in the Heartfulness group (N = 40, p = 0.009) and 42.2 to 41.15 in the control group (N = 57, p = 0.254). The mean PSQI scores decreased from 10.75 to 9.14 in the Heartfulness group (N = 41, p = 0.001) and 9.41 to 8.87 in the control group (N = 58, p = 0.122). Younger participants aged 30 and under had higher loneliness and sleep problems.Conclusions:
The current study is one of the first attempts to assess loneliness and sleep problems among physicians and advance practice providers during COVID-19 pandemic in the US. A significant burden of loneliness and sleep problems was identified. An improvement of sleep and loneliness was noted with the practice of Heartfulness meditation. This remote intervention might be a useful tool to be explored in larger studies.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Health Personnel
/
Meditation
/
Occupational Stress
/
COVID-19
/
Loneliness
Type of study:
Cohort study
/
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
/
Qualitative research
/
Randomized controlled trials
Topics:
Traditional medicine
Limits:
Adult
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Language:
English
Journal:
Hosp Pract (1995)
Journal subject:
Hospitals
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
21548331.2021.1896858
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