Mind-body exercises (MBEs), including Tai Chi (TC), Qigong (QG), Yoga (YG), and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), show promise in neuropsychiatric rehabilitation by modulating neuroinflammation. This study systematically examines the effects of MBEs on neuroinflammation-related biomarkers in neuropsychiatric disorders, aiming to identify optimal modalities, dosages, and key moderators....
As a major risk factor for mental and physical health disorders, chronic stress presents a critical public health challenge. Over the past decades, mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) have gained empirical support as a promising approach to mitigating its harmful effects. However, important research gaps remain in the psychoneuroimmunology of mindfulness. This article synthesises the current...
The symptom burden for patients with Long COVID-associated dysautonomia is high, yet there are currently no effective treatments. Mindfulness programs reduce psychological and physical symptoms as well as inflammatory gene expression in a variety of medical conditions. The study aim was to evaluate the effect of a six-week mindfulness program in women with Long COVID dysautonomia symptoms....
The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in significant morbidity and mortality worldwide. Management of the pandemic has relied mainly on SARS-CoV-2 vaccines, while alternative approaches such as meditation, shown to improve immunity, have been largely unexplored. Here, we probe the relationship between meditation and COVID-19 disease and directly test the impact of meditation on the induction of a...
A recent exploratory study of transcriptional effects of long-term practice of Transcendental Meditation (TM) technologies found evidence for altered expression of genes associated with health and disease. In the present secondary analysis of those data, we test the more specific hypothesis that this sample of long-term practitioners shows a significant reduction in markers of the "Conserved...
Prior studies of mindfulness meditation have demonstrated anti-inflammatory and immunoregulatory effects but whether meditation courses delivered online can exert similar effects is poorly understood. Barriers to large scale implementation of traditional mindfulness meditation programs has created an increased interest in the effect of less time- and resource-intensive online meditation...
Given that available antidepressant pharmacotherapies are not optimally effective, there is a need for alternative treatment options that are rooted in a comprehensive understanding of the illness's pathophysiology. Major depressive disorder (MDD) has been historically attributed to monoamine, i.e., serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine, 5-HT) imbalance and some brain morphological pathologies that...
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a devastating disorder that involves maladaptive changes in immune status. Using the stress-enhanced fear learning (SEFL) paradigm, an animal model of PTSD, our laboratory has demonstrated increased pro-inflammatory cytokine immunoreactivity in the hippocampus following severe stress. Recent clinical trials have demonstrated...
Background: Psychological distress and comorbid psychopathology contribute to exacerbation risk in patients with asthma. Thus, interventions designed to reduce stress and improve emotion regulation, such as Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), may augment standard care. Few studies have addressed this question and a paucity of data exists to determine the ability of MBSR to impact...
Yoga is an ancient system for integrating the mind, body, and spirit. In the hatha yoga ashtanga tradition (the eight limb Patanjali Yoga), three of the limbs are meditation, breathwork (pranayama) and physical postures (asana), which are widely practised in yoga classes. The benefits of yoga for mental and physical health are rooted in the practice's origins: in yoga, stress is said to be the...
The COVID-19 pandemic caused by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) has negatively impacted the global healthcare and economic systems worldwide. The COVID-19 pandemic has also created an emotional and psychological pandemic among people of all ages irrespective of economic status and physical wellbeing. As a consequence of prolonged lockdowns, one of the most...
Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a common psychiatric disorder with multifactorial aetiology and complex pathophysiology. Despite availability of various pharmacological and non-pharmacological therapeutic strategies, treatment resistant depression (TRD) remains a significant challenge with specific concern for those patients with severe depressive symptoms in particular suicidal ideations...
Background: Despite the crucial role of educators in encourage students' academic learning, addressing educator stress inside the classroom remains a significant challenge in the educational context. Mindfulness Meditation training (MM) has been recommended as an environmental enrichment strategy in schools to help teachers cope with stress and cultivating a state of awareness in daily life....
Early life stress (ELS), common to childhood maltreatment, socioeconomic disadvantage, and racial discrimination, is thought to create a proinflammatory phenotype that increases risk for poor health in adulthood. Systemic change is needed to address the root causes of ELS, but a substantial number of adults are already at increased health risk by virtue of ELS exposure. Interventions that...