Effectiveness of Meditation-based Interventions on Health Problems Caused by COVID-19 Pandemic: Narrative Review.
International Journal of Yoga 2023 DOI: 10.4103/ijoy.ijoy_112_23 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Systematic review Randomized Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Intervention | meditation-based interventions |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Keywords | Covid-19 pandemic Disorders Intervention effectiveness Meditation-based interventions |
| Citations | 4 |
| Key findings | Meditation-based interventions significantly reduce overall distress by 20.5% to 68.8% and moderately improve insomnia by 5.2% to 38.5%, with mixed effectiveness for long COVID symptoms. |
Abstract
This article provides a quantitative review of the potential applications of meditation-based interventions (MBIs) in addressing the major health issues arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. The review assesses the effectiveness of MBIs on five prevalent disorders during the pandemic, namely depression, anxiety, stress, insomnia, and long COVID. This is achieved by selecting and scrutinizing seven studies that involve various types of online randomized controlled trials and utilize control group outcomes for effectiveness evaluation. The findings reveal a significant impact of MBIs on overall distress disorder, encompassing symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress, with effectiveness ranging from 20.5% to 68.8%. The interventions also show moderate effectiveness on insomnia disorder with improvements between 5.2% and 38.5%. However, the effectiveness on long COVID disorder presents a mixed picture, with improvements varying from 0.0% to 71.2% across 13 related symptoms or qualities examined. This review offers compelling evidence supporting the effectiveness of MBIs in alleviating these five prevalent disorders resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Comparable studies
Other systematic reviews and meta-analyses on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meditation Programs for Psychological Stress and Well-being Diverse adult clinical populations | 2014 | Meta-analysis | n = 3,515 |
| Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction for Stress Management in Healthy People: A Review and Meta-Analysis Healthy subjects | 2009 | Systematic review and meta-analysis | |
| The psychological effects of meditation: A meta-analysis. Nonclinical groups of adult meditators | 2012 | Meta-analysis | n = 163 |
| Efficacy of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy in Prevention of Depressive Relapse Adults with recurrent depression in full or partial remission | 2016 | Meta-analysis of individual patient data from randomized controlled trials | n = 1,258 |
| Mindfulness‐Based Stress Reduction and Mindfulness‐Based Cognitive Therapy – a systematic review of randomized controlled trials | 2011 | Systematic review |
Citations in the library
Cites 10
- The meeting of meditative disciplines and western psychology: A mutually enriching dialogue. American Psychologist 2006
- The effect of mindfulness meditation on sleep quality: a systematic review and meta‐analysis of randomized controlled trials Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences December 21, 2018
- Effect of Mindfulness Breathing Meditation on Depression, Anxiety, and Stress: A Randomized Controlled Trial among University Students Healthcare December 22, 2022
- Positive Impacts of a Four-Week Neuro-Meditation Program on Cognitive Function in Post-Acute Sequelae of COVID-19 Patients: A Randomized Controlled Trial International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 2023
- Buddhist Meditation and Generosity to Chinese Buddhists during the COVID-19 Pandemic Review of Religion and Chinese Society October 24, 2022
and 5 more in the library