Psychiatric inpatients with major depressive disorder or generalized anxiety disorder completed VR meditation exercises three times weekly for ten weeks. Physiological coherence, an indicator of regulated emotional state, increased significantly, while depression and anxiety scores decreased. The findings suggest that VR is a feasible technology for meditation exercises and is associated with more stable emotional states and reduced symptoms.
A single 10-minute session of meditation, either alone or combined with a 10-minute walk, reduces state anxiety in young adults, while a 10-minute walk alone does not. In a randomized trial with 110 participants (average age 21.4 years), those who meditated, meditated then walked, or walked then meditation showed significant decreases in anxiety scores on the State Trait Anxiety Inventory. Walking alone and sitting (inactive control) produced no significant change. The findings suggest meditation may be a preferred method for attenuating anxiety, and that adding a brief meditation before or after exercise may provide additional anxiolytic benefits.
A 14-year study in Quebec compared high-cost health insurance enrollees who practiced the Transcendental Meditation (TM) technique with a matched no-treatment group. Before starting meditation, both groups had similar yearly increases in physician payments. After starting, the TM group's average annual payments decreased by $44.93, while the comparison group showed no significant change. The TM group's payments dropped 11% after one year and 28% after five years. The results suggest the TM technique may reduce physician costs, but randomized studies are needed to confirm.