Mindfulness meditation is as much as four times more effective than group support in relieving the severity of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) symptoms, according to research presented at the 2011 Digestive Disease Week meeting (abstract 219). Patients with IBS who participated in eight weekly meditation sessions and meditated daily at home experienced residual symptom relief three months after ending treatment.
Lucinda A. Harris, MD, who was not involved in the study, said the research confirms that modalities like mindfulness need to be integrated into a holistic approach to treating IBS, which also includes diet, exercise and sleep modification, in addition to symptom-oriented pharmacotherapy.
“In my opinion, the most significant feature of IBS is that the pain and symptoms can be all-consuming,” said Dr. Harris, associate professor, Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Rochester, Minn. “Mindfulness therapy provides a way to break the cycle. It’s not ‘the answer,’ but it seems like a promising adjunctive therapy that can really benefit IBS patients without side effects.”
The study’s primary investigator Susan Gaylord, PhD, director of the Program on Integrative Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, described mindfulness meditation as a behavioral technique that teaches patients to “attend to present-moment experience and nonjudgmental awareness of sensations and emotions, as well as to let go of fixations on thoughts of past and future.” A growing body of evidence shows the approach reduces symptom severity and improves the quality of life in patients with a spectrum of conditions and diseases, ranging from fibromyalgia to anxiety.
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Source: gastroendonews.com
1 comment:
I am really in the need for some new holiday travel strategies! I always get so stressed out whenever I have to travel during busy times.
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