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Impact of Heartfulness meditation practice on anxiety, perceived stress, well-being, and telomere length.

Mansee Thakur, Yogesh Patil, Sanjana T Philip, Tahreem Hamdule, Jayaram Thimmapuram, Nishant Vyas, Kapil Thakur

Frontiers in Psychology 2023 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1158760 (opens in new tab)

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Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Randomized controlled trial Peer reviewed
Sample size 100
Population Healthy individuals aged 18-24
Intervention Heartfulness meditation
Duration 03 months
Topics Anxiety Meditation
Keywords Heartfulness meditation Rt-pcr Cortisol Stress Telomere
Citations 27
Key findings Heartfulness meditation practice significantly reduced cortisol levels and anxiety, increased well-being and mindfulness, and was associated with longer telomere length.

Abstract

Exhaustion, stress, and burnout have all been found to be reduced using techniques like yoga and meditation. This study was carried out to check the effectiveness of Heartfulness practice (a form of meditation) on certain psychological and genetic variables. A total of 100 healthy individuals (aged 18-24) were recruited and randomized into two groups-Heartfulness intervention and control group. The intervention was carried out for 03 months. Participants from both groups were analysed for their cortisol levels and telomere length before and after the intervention. Psychometric measures of anxiety, perceived stress, well-being and mindfulness were carried out using Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), WHO-Well-being Index (WHO-WBI) and Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ). The cortisol levels in the meditators group significantly decreased (p 0.05). Anxiety and perceived stress also decreased post intervention, and well-being as well as mindfulness increased, as assessed by the questionnaire tools, although the decrease in perceived stress was statistically insignificant (p > 0.05). A negative correlation was observed between telomere length and cortisol (stress biomarker), whereas a positive correlation was found between telomere length and well-being. Our data provide evidence that Heartfulness meditation practice can improve our mental health. Additionally, telomere length is shown to be affected by cortisol levels, and this meditation practice can also help to increase telomere length, and thereby slow down cellular aging. However, future studies with larger sample size are required to confirm our observations.

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Pilot Study of Psilocybin Treatment for Anxiety in Patients With Advanced-Stage Cancer Adults with advanced-stage cancer and anxiety 2010 Double-blind, placebo-controlled study n = 12

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