Meditation practice improves body balance compared to stability exercises alone
Davide Anchisi, Brenno Ros, Luigino Sepulcri
Research Square July 24, 2023 preprint DOI: 10.21203/rs.3.rs-2941993/v1 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Controlled training intervention study (non-randomized comparison of meditation vs. no meditation) |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 81 |
| Population | High school students |
| Interventions | Balance and stabilization exercises Meditation |
| Duration | Six weeks |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Key points | Six weeks of balance training improved core stability similarly with or without meditation, but meditation was associated with a 67% lower hazard rate of falling on the fit-ball task. The authors suggest meditation can increase learning and execution of a more difficult balance task and may be valuable in athletes' training routines. |
Abstract
Sport and competitions stress athletes both physically and mentally. Physical training strengthens muscular and metabolic capabilities, while mental training reduces psychological load and negative emotions. Meditation practice helps athletes to reach better results in many sports, but evaluating only sport results makes it difficult to disentangle the specific effects of meditation contributing to performance. Our aim was to evaluate if meditation practice may benefit body balance, a basic skill relevant for action execution and performance. 81 high school students were trained in body balance for six weeks through balance and stabilization exercises and to stand on a fit-ball. 42 of them were trained in meditation, which practiced during the same six weeks (meditation group), the remaining 39 did not (control group). Core stability, tested before and after the training period, improved in both groups to a similar extent. On the other hand, the meditation group developed a much greater skill on fit-ball than the control group: the hazard rate of falling was reduced by 67 %. Our results suggest that for a more difficult task, meditation can increase learning and execution, and that introducing meditation in athletes' training routine may be of value for balance control and performance.
Comparable studies
Other non-randomized and open-label trials on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction in Relation to Quality of Life, Mood, Symptoms of Stress, and Immune Parameters in Breast and Prostate Cancer Outpatients Early-stage breast and prostate cancer patients | 2003 | Pre-post intervention study | n = 59 |
| Exploring self‐compassion and empathy in the context of mindfulness‐based stress reduction (MBSR) Community sample | 2010 | Pre-post intervention study | |
| Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Lowers Psychological Distress In Medical Students Second-year medical students | 2003 | Prospective nonrandomized cohort-controlled study | n = 302 |
| Intensive meditation training, immune cell telomerase activity, and psychological mediators. Retreat participants and matched controls | 2011 | Controlled trial with wait-list control group | n = 60 |
| The Effectiveness of Mindfulness Training for Children with ADHD and Mindful Parenting for their Parents Children aged 8-12 with ADHD and their parents | 2011 | Within-group waitlist controlled trial | n = 22 |
Citations in the library
Cites 7
- How Does Mindfulness Meditation Work? Proposing Mechanisms of Action From a Conceptual and Neural Perspective Perspectives on Psychological Science October 14, 2011
- Mental Training Affects Distribution of Limited Brain Resources PLoS Biology May 4, 2007
- Mental Training Enhances Attentional Stability: Neural and Behavioral Evidence Journal of Neuroscience October 21, 2009
- Mindfulness meditation–based pain relief: a mechanistic account Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences June 1, 2016
- The contemplative exercise through the lenses of predictive processing: A promising approach. Progress in Brain Research 2019
and 2 more in the library