Can Mindfulness Meditation Lower Your Risk of Heart Disease?

Dr. Kumar’s Take:

This study offers a fascinating look at how mindfulness meditation might protect your heart by helping your body respond better to stress. Chronic stress harms the body by overstimulating systems that control blood pressure, inflammation, and hormones. This paper suggests that even just 8 weeks of daily mindfulness practice could reduce that damage. While more research is needed, it makes a strong case for adding mindfulness to your daily routine—especially if you have high stress or risk for heart disease.

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A Randomized Controlled Trial of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Major Depressive Disorder in Undergraduate Students: Dose-Response Effect, Inflammatory Markers and BDNF

Introduction

This randomized controlled trial examined the dose-response effect of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) for college students with major depressive disorder (MDD), investigating both clinical outcomes and biological markers including inflammatory cytokines and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF).

Study Design and Participants

This was a 2-month double-arm randomized controlled trial (RCT) with registration number ChiCTR2100044309. The study recruited 60 undergraduate students with first episode and untreated MDD meeting DSM-5 diagnostic criteria from universities in Kunming, Yunnan, China.

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