A 6-week mindfulness meditation program improved sleep quality more than sleep hygiene education in older adults with moderate sleep disturbances. Participants in the mindfulness group saw their sleep quality scores drop from 10.2 to 7.4 on the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, while the education group's scores fell from 10.2 to 9.1, a between-group difference of 1.8 points. The mindfulness group also showed greater reductions in insomnia symptoms, depression symptoms, and fatigue. No significant differences were found for anxiety, stress, or a marker of inflammation, though the inflammation marker declined over time in both groups. The findings suggest that community-accessible mindfulness programs can improve sleep and related daytime impairment in older adults.
Lower baseline levels of the inflammatory marker interleukin-8 (IL-8) in females, but not males, trended toward predicting a better response to ketamine for depression. In 46 depressed patients receiving a single ketamine infusion, changes in IL-8 over time also differed by sex and treatment response: increasing IL-8 was associated with decreasing depression scores in females, while the opposite pattern appeared in males. Other inflammatory markers showed no significant relationships. These preliminary findings suggest that sex differences in IL-8 may help explain how ketamine works and could guide personalized depression treatment.
A comparison of mindful awareness practices (MAPs) meditation versus Korean-style Tai Chi for home care aides found that both groups improved in depression, insomnia, and negative affect over six weeks. Only the MAPs group showed sustained improvement in negative affect at three-month follow-up. At that point, 75% of MAPs participants continued practicing, compared to 55% of Tai Chi participants. MAPs were deemed more practical and easier to integrate into daily life, leading to their selection for scaling as a benefit for home care aides.
A randomized clinical trial compared a standardized mindfulness meditation program (MAPs) with health education (HE) among 76 Latino adults in Los Angeles, half Spanish-speaking and half English-speaking, who had moderate perceived stress. Depressive symptoms, measured by the Beck Depression Inventory, improved more in the MAPs group than in the HE group, with a mean difference of -2.2 points and a small effect size of 0.28. Similar benefits appeared in both language groups. Mindfulness also improved more with MAPs, but perceived stress did not differ between groups. The comparable efficacy in Spanish and English suggests that this community-based mindfulness intervention may help reduce depression risk in Latino adults facing social adversity.