Effect of Healing Meditation on stress and eating behavior in overweight and obese women: A randomized clinical trial.

BACKGROUND: A randomized, parallel-controlled, blinded clinical trial was conducted to evaluate the effect of Healing Meditation on stress and eating behavior of women undergoing standard weight-loss treatment. MATERIALS AND METHODS: An outpatient clinic in Brazil, 55 women with overweight and obesity were included and randomized: 27 for the Meditation Group, and 28 for the Control Group. Randomization was stratified by body mass index category and based on blocks of four. For eight weeks, in addition to the standard weight loss treatment, the Intervention Group underwent a Healing Meditation program, and the Control Group participated in a round table to observe compliance. Reduction in stress and changes in eating behavior were assessed at baseline, and in the 8th, and 16th week using the Perceived Stress Scale, the Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire, and Binge Eating Scale. RESULTS: The sample mean age was 49 ± 11 years, 72.7% were obese, with a predominance of mixed (49.1%) and black (41.8%) ethnicity. After eight weeks, the Meditation Group showed a mean reduction in total stress of -17.4 (IC 95% -19.5 to -15.3 p < 0.001). In eating behavior, a mean reduction of -7.9 (p < 0.001) in external eating, of -11.4 (p < 0.0001) in emotional eating, and a rise of 9.6 (p < 0.0001) in restrained eating were found. Score levels remained stable between the 8th and 16th week. Binge eating had a mean variation of -22.2%(p = 0.011). CONCLUSION: The addition of Healing Meditation to the standard weight-loss treatment may significantly reduce stress and produce positive changes in the eating behavior of overweight and obese women. TRIAL REGISTRATION: RBR-7564FD.

Meditation, Health and Scientific Investigations: Review of the Literature.

A growing number of people are seeking health recovery treatments with a holistic approach to the human being. Meditation is a mental training capable of producing connection between the mind, body and spirit. Its practice helps people to achieve balance, relaxation and self-control, in addition to the development of consciousness. At present, meditation is classified as a complementary and integrative technique in the area of health. The purpose of this review of the literature was to describe what meditation is, its practices and effects on health, demonstrated by consistent scientific investigations. Recently, the advances in researches with meditation, the discovery of its potential as an instrument of self-regulation of the human body and its benefits to health have shown that it is a consistent alternative therapy when associated with conventional medical treatments.

Efficacy of Healing meditation in reducing anxiety of individuals at the phase of weight loss maintenance: A randomized blinded clinical trial.

OBJECTIVE: To verify the efficacy of Healing Meditation in reducing anxiety levels in individuals on a weight loss maintenance program. DESIGN: A randomized, controlled, evaluator-blinded clinical trial, conducted between January and October 2014, with a follow-up of 12 weeks. SETTING: A weight loss secondary care facility in Salvador, Brazil., of 41 patients at the weight maintenance phase (Mean initial BMI 33.6±4.7kg/m2, who had attained a mean BMI of 24.5±1.6kg/m2 in a median period of 7 months). INTERVENTION: An 8-week Healing Meditation program (n=20), consisting of a 1h weekly meeting, or for a control group on the waiting list (n=21), in addition to the standard clinical program. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Total anxiety was measured by the Hamilton Anxiety Scale (HAM-A), before and after the intervention. Secondary analyses included comparison of the effect of meditation on the somatic and psychic components of the scale. RESULTS: Through an intention to treat analysis, we detected a difference in the mean variation between the intervention and control groups in the total anxiety scores of 7.7 (95% CI 6.3-9.2; Cohen's d=3.41). Means and standard deviations for pre and post intervention anxiety scores were 15.5 (3.4) and 7.8 (2.0) for the intervention group and 14.8 (3.4) and 14.9 (3.4) for the control. CONCLUSION: Healing meditation significantly reduced the anxiety of obese individuals, in the phase of weight maintenance, suggesting this to be an effective auxiliary resource for weight loss maintenance.