Stress and MeditationBy J. Seppala, C. Adams, J.
Knudson
The Problem• Research1 has shown that stress is associated
with • Muscle soreness • Depression• Negative mood• Fatigue• Lowered immune response• Leaky Gut Syndrome
• When looking at this evidence it is important to look at different ways that can help lower stress and improve overall health.
theproductivitypro.com
The Effects of Brief and Sham Mindfulness Meditation on Mood and
Cardiovascular Variables2
• The method of this study took 82 undergraduates and divided them into 3 groups; Mindful meditation, Sham meditation, and a control group
• The experiment took place over 3 sessions of meditation
• Results showed the mindful meditation group had a bigger decrease in negative mood, depression, fatigue, confusion, and heart rate compared to the other groups
• The reduction in heart rate suggests that the mindful meditation does show cardiovascular improvement.
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Breathing-control lowers blood
pressure3• The side effects and costs of anti-
hypertensive drugs has prompted a search for a natural, non pharmacological approach to controlling blood pressure1
• This study shows that doing simple breathing exercises at home for 10 minutes daily had significant blood pressure reductions
• This study was done over a 2 month period
• Results show that this method of non drug therapy as well as it’s home monitoring can be maintained for at least 2 months
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The Experiment
• Purpose Statement ~ The purpose of this study is to assess the relationship between meditation and stress
• Hypothesis ~ We hypothesize that practicing meditation for 10 minutes will reduce stress.
meditationandpsychotherapy.org
• Dependent Variable ~ stress
• Independent Variable ~ meditation
Participants • Inclusion: People who do not meditate and
are full time students at Bastyr University
• Exclusion: People who already regularly meditate, People with kids
• Instruments:• Survey/questionnaire • BP using digital scale
• Participants• Gender: Male and Female Age: 18-35
yogameditation.com
Methods ~ Meditating Group
• Came to room 284 at 12 pm on 2/15/2011 and 2/22/2011
• They filled out a survey
• They took their blood pressure and heart rate using a digital wrist cuff
• They recorded all results
• Participated in a guided meditation for 10 minutes
• Filled out the same survey
• Took blood pressure and heart rate again interactioninstitute.org
Methods ~ Non-Meditating Group
• Came to room 184 at 12 pm on 2/15/2011 and 2/22/2011
• They filled out a survey
• They took their blood pressure and heart rate using a digital wrist cuff
• They recorded all results
• Participants were restricted from doing anything school related but were allowed to talk and eat
• Filled out the same survey
• Took blood pressure and heart rate again
nataliedee.com
Results
•Compared• Perceived Stress• Blood Pressure• Heart Rate
•7 Participants• Group of 4• Group of 3
Pic.1 yogaearth.com pic. 2 amigosbandb.com
Meditating Group
1 2 3 4 *5 *6 *7
41
83
4227
81
125
4732
92
238
73 70
48
Perceived Stress Level
BEFORE AFTER
Non-Meditating Group
1 2 3 4 *5 *6 *7
6672
66
90 85
125116
5868
5852
75
119107
BEFORE AFTER
Perceived Stress Level
Blood Pressure Comparison
Meditating Non-MeditatingParticipants
Before BP
After BP
1 104/62
110/65
2 113/68
103/63
3 97/61 102/63
4 90/53 93/50
5 119/86
123/80
6 100/52
117/56
7 110/68
111/60
Participants
Before BP
After BP
1 127/80
112/74
2 110/70
109/69
3 106/61
106/63
4 99/45 95/57
5 114/79
115/77
6 93/57 93/51
7 102/72
95/66
Heart Rate Comparison
Meditating
1 2 3 4 *5 *6 *70
20
40
60
80
100
Before HR After HR
Non-Meditating
1 2 3 4 *5 *6 *70
20
40
60
80
100
120
Before HR After HR
Mean ± Standard Deviation
BEFOREMean ±
Standard Deviation
AFTERMean ±
Standard Deviation
Meditating Stress Level
63.7 ± 34.4
49.4 ± 30.3
Non-Meditating Stress Level
88.6 ± 23.8
76.7 ± 26.1
Meditating Heart Rate
73.1 ± 13.0
72.3 ± 13.7
Non-Meditating Heart Rate
72.4 ± 19.3
72.6 ± 15.3
Conclusions• Overall blood pressure of the meditating group
decreased, while the majority of the non-meditators’ blood pressure increased.
• The stress level of the meditating group decreased overall but stress level of non-meditating group also decreased.
• Heart rate went down in a small amount on average in the meditating group, while heart rate stayed the same in non-meditating group.
• The results were inconclusive, because of all of the limitations such as self reporting data and the electric blood pressure cuff.
DiscussionLIMITATIONS
- Amount of participants- Participant compliance- Blood pressure and heart
rate cuff possible error- Human Error- Survey- Time frame- Meditation time
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What We Learned?• Research is hard :/
• The process was lengthy
and a lot of work
• Very difficult controlling
participants & all variables
• Self reporting data allows for large margin or error
notravelmlms.blogspot.com
Sources• 1. Grossman P, Neimann L, Schmidt S, Walach H.
Mindfulness-based stress reduction and health benefits. J Psychosom Res. 2004; 57: 35-43.
• 2. Zieden, Fadel, Susan Johnson, Nakia Gordon, and Paula Goolkasian. Effects of Brief and Sham Mindfulness Meditation on Mood and Cardiovascular Variables. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine 16 (2010): 867-73.
• 3. Grossman, E., A. Grossman, R. Zimlichman, and B. Gavish. Breathing-control lowers blood pressure. Journal of Human Hypertension 15 (2001): 263-69.
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