Benefits of meditation on health and for health professionals – A narrative review
P. Kayalini
Batticaloa Medical Journal September 25, 2024 DOI: 10.4038/bmj.v18i1.37 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Review Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Intervention | Meditation |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Key findings | The review reports that meditation is associated with benefits in preventive medicine, control of non-communicable diseases, slowing cellular aging, and academic performance, and that it is effective as an adjunct in anxiety management. The authors aim to enable health professionals to use and recommend meditation. |
Abstract
Meditation has been shown to be associated with better mental health, improved attention, greater emotional regulation, slower cellular aging and better academic performance. The aim of this review was to provide insight into benefit of meditation on health as an adjuvant therapy, thus enabling health professionals to use this technique in their daily life and promote appropriate patients to practice meditation to experience its benefits. A literature search was done with inclusion criteria of journals, searched on PubMed, Google scholar and books relating both meditation and health, published up to 28/04/2024. Fifty-three articles matching the search were identified and studied. The review showed the benefit of meditation in preventive medicine activities, control of non-communicable diseases, slowing cellular aging and improving academic performance. Meditation was also found to be effective as an adjuvant in management of anxiety.
Comparable studies
Other narrative reviews on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mindfulness training as a clinical intervention: A conceptual and empirical review. Clinical populations | 2003 | Review | |
| Mindfulness: Theoretical Foundations and Evidence for its Salutary Effects | 2007 | Review | |
| Mindfulness Interventions | 2016 | Review | |
| Mind the Hype: A Critical Evaluation and Prescriptive Agenda for Research on Mindfulness and Meditation | 2017 | Review | |
| Mindfulness and acceptance: expanding the cognitive-behavioral tradition | 2005 | Review |