Stress and MeditationBy J. Seppala, C. Adams, J.

Knudson

The Problem• Research1 has shown that stress is associated

with • Muscle soreness • Depression• Negative mood• Fatigue• Lowered immune response• Leaky Gut Syndrome

• When looking at this evidence it is important to look at different ways that can help lower stress and improve overall health.

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The Effects of Brief and Sham Mindfulness Meditation on Mood and

Cardiovascular Variables2

• The method of this study took 82 undergraduates and divided them into 3 groups; Mindful meditation, Sham meditation, and a control group

• The experiment took place over 3 sessions of meditation

• Results showed the mindful meditation group had a bigger decrease in negative mood, depression, fatigue, confusion, and heart rate compared to the other groups

• The reduction in heart rate suggests that the mindful meditation does show cardiovascular improvement.

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Breathing-control lowers blood

pressure3• The side effects and costs of anti-

hypertensive drugs has prompted a search for a natural, non pharmacological approach to controlling blood pressure1

• This study shows that doing simple breathing exercises at home for 10 minutes daily had significant blood pressure reductions

• This study was done over a 2 month period

• Results show that this method of non drug therapy as well as it’s home monitoring can be maintained for at least 2 months

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The Experiment

• Purpose Statement ~ The purpose of this study is to assess the relationship between meditation and stress

• Hypothesis ~ We hypothesize that practicing meditation for 10 minutes will reduce stress.

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• Dependent Variable ~ stress

• Independent Variable ~ meditation

Participants • Inclusion: People who do not meditate and

are full time students at Bastyr University

• Exclusion: People who already regularly meditate, People with kids

• Instruments:• Survey/questionnaire • BP using digital scale

• Participants• Gender: Male and Female Age: 18-35

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Methods ~ Meditating Group

• Came to room 284 at 12 pm on 2/15/2011 and 2/22/2011

• They filled out a survey

• They took their blood pressure and heart rate using a digital wrist cuff

• They recorded all results

• Participated in a guided meditation for 10 minutes

• Filled out the same survey

• Took blood pressure and heart rate again interactioninstitute.org

Methods ~ Non-Meditating Group

• Came to room 184 at 12 pm on 2/15/2011 and 2/22/2011

• They filled out a survey

• They took their blood pressure and heart rate using a digital wrist cuff

• They recorded all results

• Participants were restricted from doing anything school related but were allowed to talk and eat

• Filled out the same survey

• Took blood pressure and heart rate again

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Results

•Compared• Perceived Stress• Blood Pressure• Heart Rate

•7 Participants• Group of 4• Group of 3

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Meditating Group

1 2 3 4 *5 *6 *7

41

83

4227

81

125

4732

92

238

73 70

48

Perceived Stress Level

BEFORE AFTER

Non-Meditating Group

1 2 3 4 *5 *6 *7

6672

66

90 85

125116

5868

5852

75

119107

BEFORE AFTER

Perceived Stress Level

Blood Pressure Comparison

Meditating Non-MeditatingParticipants

Before BP

After BP

1 104/62

110/65

2 113/68

103/63

3 97/61 102/63

4 90/53 93/50

5 119/86

123/80

6 100/52

117/56

7 110/68

111/60

Participants

Before BP

After BP

1 127/80

112/74

2 110/70

109/69

3 106/61

106/63

4 99/45 95/57

5 114/79

115/77

6 93/57 93/51

7 102/72

95/66

Heart Rate Comparison

Meditating

1 2 3 4 *5 *6 *70

20

40

60

80

100

Before HR After HR

Non-Meditating

1 2 3 4 *5 *6 *70

20

40

60

80

100

120

Before HR After HR

Mean ± Standard Deviation

BEFOREMean ±

Standard Deviation

AFTERMean ±

Standard Deviation

Meditating Stress Level

63.7 ± 34.4

49.4 ± 30.3

Non-Meditating Stress Level

88.6 ± 23.8

76.7 ± 26.1

Meditating Heart Rate

73.1 ± 13.0

72.3 ± 13.7

Non-Meditating Heart Rate

72.4 ± 19.3

72.6 ± 15.3

Conclusions• Overall blood pressure of the meditating group

decreased, while the majority of the non-meditators’ blood pressure increased.

• The stress level of the meditating group decreased overall but stress level of non-meditating group also decreased.

• Heart rate went down in a small amount on average in the meditating group, while heart rate stayed the same in non-meditating group.

• The results were inconclusive, because of all of the limitations such as self reporting data and the electric blood pressure cuff.

DiscussionLIMITATIONS

- Amount of participants- Participant compliance- Blood pressure and heart

rate cuff possible error- Human Error- Survey- Time frame- Meditation time

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What We Learned?• Research is hard :/

• The process was lengthy

and a lot of work

• Very difficult controlling

participants & all variables

• Self reporting data allows for large margin or error

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Sources• 1. Grossman P, Neimann L, Schmidt S, Walach H.

Mindfulness-based stress reduction and health benefits. J Psychosom Res. 2004; 57: 35-43.

• 2. Zieden, Fadel, Susan Johnson, Nakia Gordon, and Paula Goolkasian. Effects of Brief and Sham Mindfulness Meditation on Mood and Cardiovascular Variables. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine 16 (2010): 867-73.

• 3. Grossman, E., A. Grossman, R. Zimlichman, and B. Gavish. Breathing-control lowers blood pressure. Journal of Human Hypertension 15 (2001): 263-69.