Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction May Reduce Inflammation

A new study suggests that mindfulness-based stress reduction may reduce inflammation.

Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) is a standardized approach for teaching stress reduction through mindfulness meditation, yoga and body-awareness techniques. MBSR teaches the use of focused attention on only one target at a time. MBSR also encourages focusing on the present moment, rather than the future or the past. This practice has been shown to be effective in certain clinical applications, such as chronic pain.

The recent study included 49 healthy individuals. Participants were randomly assigned to the MBSR or a Health Enhancement Program (HEP) that included exercise, education on nutrition and music therapy. A licensed professional taught MBSR and HEP weekly for two and a half hours, and participants were instructed to practice MBSR and HEP daily at home.

To cause psychological stress, participants gave an impromptu speech and performed mental math. Then, researchers then used a cream to provoke inflammation in the skin of the forearm. These procedures were repeated both before and after the study.

Eight weeks into the study, the MBSR group and the HEP group had a similar reduction in stress hormones after giving the speech and performing mental math. However, the MBSR individuals had a significantly lower inflammatory response from the cream.

The authors concluded that MBSR may be beneficial to individuals with inflammatory conditions. Further research on this topic is warranted.

For more information about mindfulness-based stress reduction, please visit Natural Standard's Health & Wellness Database.

Comments

[SS]

I thought this article was interesting and a great idea if something like MBSR could reduce inflammation. I just thought it was weird how they set up the trial. Why would they use a cream to induce inflammation instead of just using participants with inflammatory conditions? It just seems to me the trial was not set up the best way possible to truly measure this response.

[MS]

This is very interesting. According to the study the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) consisted of activities focused on breath, mental content, and bodily sensations, while the individuals were seated, walking, or in a yoga posture. The Health Enhancement Program (HEP) was a good choice for the control since it can isolate the changes. The HEP took into consideration the components that may result from MBSR that are not unique to mindfulness. This article shows how important the mental state is in improving health outcomes. This is huge in terms of cutting down costs spent on drugs.

[ML]

I have never heard of this term. It reminds me of meditation. I like how it focuses on the present. I think that people have a lot of stress due to things that have happened in the past or they worry about the future. It is kind of humorous that the study used math and public speaking to cause stress. I am curious to know what the inflammatory conditions were. I wonder if it can help arthritis or Crohn’s disease.

[Sara Berg]

I think the benefits of MBSR on our health is astounding. However, is this a typical way to measure a bodies inflammatory response? It seems like there should be a better way.

[NL]

MBSR sounds like a great activity to incorporate into one's life. It seems to have various benefits including helping with inflammation that will be desirable for many people. These kinds of activities could be a great alternative for patients seeking natural treatment alternatives.

[pc]

I found this article incredibly interesting, as I would never have thought that mental relaxation could decrease inflammation. I suppose it makes sense, as the markers of inflammation are often increased in stress, and purposely decreasing stress should help to decrease these markers. I do wonder about the design of this study; it seems mean to induce stress by making participants give an oral speech and induce inflammation with cream. I can't imagine that being the most accurate method of standardizing stress.

[km]

Stress reduction has also been the main focus on treatment regime of physicians for decades. It benefits patient in many different ways by preventing unnecessary medications. This article is very helpful. It confirms the excellent outcome of a healthy, balanced lifestyle. Physicians tend to treat the disease at hand but overlook the important of promote a healthy mental and psychological state for the patients. We need more research like this one.

[kl]

This is such an interesting finding! Even as a future pharmacist, I am all about avoiding the use of medications when possible. I knew people could reduce stress or anxiety with therapies such as yoga and meditation, but I have never heard of reducing inflammation with the mind. I think people in general should practice MBSR and HEP activities regularly, and it's great to see scientific evidence supporting these alternative forms of medicine!

[JS]

I would’ve never guessed that MBSR could change physical symptoms such as inflammation. I think this could show how powerful your mind is in controlling your health and wellbeing. I do think the authors made a pretty big jump from saying that MBSR can decrease external inflammation from a cream to it could help with inflammatory conditions (implying it could be used for anything from rheumatoid arthritis to inflammatory bowel disease). I definitely think that more studies need to be done in people diagnosed with inflammatory conditions.

[AM]

In the field of pharmacy it's easy to think, "I can always just pop a pill to treat this." In reality, avoiding drugs is always ideal. Being stress free and happy is the best way to be healthy and live a meaningful life. It's always great to keep things in perspective.

[sc]

I thought that it was interesting that they used a cream to induce inflammation to see if MBSR reduced inflammation. I would like to have seen them do a study on people who frequently workout and are constantly tearing and building new muscle to see if pain and inflammation was reduced. Inflammation and muscle soreness form working out is something a lot of people can relate to and it would be nice to know if something like MBSR could help with that so that people could incorporate it into their workout routines.

[ac]

I would be interested to know what the investigators thought was the mechanism behind mindfulness-based stress reduction possibly leading to decreased inflammatory response. I think that, ideally, people should incorporate both mindfulness-based stress reduction techniques such as yoga or mindful meditation and health enhancement techniques such as regular exercise and a healthy diet into their lifestyle.

[af]

Reading things like this makes me think that we may not truly understand the human body. In school, when we learn about how inflammation occurs and how to treat it, we learn about things like leukocytes, cytokines, and prostaglandins. So, we’ve learned about pharmacological means of targeting these inflammatory mediators in order to treat this condition. If MBSR may be able to help individuals with inflammatory problems, maybe we don’t fully understand the inflammatory process. Maybe there is more to it if using our bodies for mindfulness purposes may be able to help treat it.

[af]

I found this to be particularly interesting because I have never thought of activities like yoga as having the ability to adjust one’s focus. I have always just thought of it as being stress-reducing through helping the body to relax. I think it’s so cool how activities like this are able to affect the mind in unique ways, whether it be aiding one in focusing on the here and now to reduce anxiety, or to possibly reduce pain and/or inflammation. Crazy!