Mindful Movement As Lifestyle Medicine
Below is the slides of the Mindful Movement for Invigorating Break session at the annual conference of the Institute of Lifestyle Medicine, held on June 20-21, 2014, at the Richard B. Simches Research Center of the Massachusetts General Hospital. This presentation was focused on hands-on practice of MBX-12 (Mindfulness-based Stretching and Deep Breathing Exercises) on both days. After the slides are the summary of the randomized controlled trials in which the MBX-12 was used as the primary exercise protocol.
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Context: Persons with chronic stress symptoms such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have abnormal cortisol levels (generally at lower levels than normal ranges). We hypothesized that endogenous normalization of cortisol concentration through exercise may reduce PTSD symptoms.
Objective: We aimed to determine whether mindfulness-based stretching and deep breathing exercise (MBX) normalizes cortisol levels and reduces PTSD symptom severity among persons with subclinical features of PTSD.
Design and Setting: We conducted a randomized controlled trial at the University of New Mexico Hospital.
Participants: Twenty-nine nurses aged 45–66 years participated in the study.
Intervention: We provided 60-minute MBX sessions semiweekly for 8 weeks.
Main Outcome Measures: We measured serum cortisol and other hormones and the PTSD Checklist–Civilian version (PCL-C) at baseline and weeks 4, 8, and 16.
Results: Twenty-nine participants completed the study procedures, 22 (79%) with PTSD symptoms (MBX, n 11; control, n 11), and 7 (21%) without PTSD (BASE group). Eight-week outcomes for the MBX group were superior to those for the control group (mean difference for PCL-C scores, 13.6; 95% confidence interval [CI], 25.6, 1.6; P .01; mean difference for serum cortisol, 5.8; 95% CI, 0.83, 10.8; P.01). No significant differences were identified between groups in any other items. The changes in theMBXgroup were maintained at the 16-week follow-up (P.85 for PCL-C; P.21 for cortisol). Our data show that improved PTSD scores were associated with normalization of cortisol levels (P .05).
Conclusions: The results suggest that participation in MBX practice is associated with reduction of the prevalence of PTSD-like symptoms
in persons exhibiting subclinical features of PTSD.
Mindful Movement As Lifestyle Medicine Mindful Movement As Lifestyle Medicine Below is the slides of the Mindful Movement for Invigorating Break session at the annual conference of the Institute of Lifestyle Medicine, held on June 20-21, 2014, at the Richard B.