In A New Study, Mindfulness Meditation Prevents Pneumonia

A new study that illustrates meditation's apparent ability to help prevent chest infections is a Godsend at this time of year. A small epidemic of non-flu acute respiratory infections--otherwise known as wicked coughs--has cropped up to make this flu season more miserable than usual. Until now, preventive strategies have been limited to not smoking, washing hands, avoiding sick people and staying well nourished. Now you can add meditation, and light exercise, to that list.

In a clever study--published this past summer in the Annals of Family Medicine by researchers at the University of Wisconsin--scientists found that people who participated in a mindfulness meditation program based on the work of Jon Kabat-Zinn missed an impressive 76% fewer days of work for acute respiratory infections (such as pneumonia) than people who did not meditate.

Another experimental group, who exercised lightly (mostly brisk walking or jogging for 45 minutes a day), missed 48% fewer days than the control group, who neither exercised or meditated.

In as much as exercise also reduces stress, it's possible the same mechanisms were at play for both groups. A series of previous studies demonstrated that perceived stress, negative emotion, and lack of social support predicted not only self-reported acute respiratory infection, but also its biomarkers such as viral shedding and inflammatory cytokine activity.

For this study, the meditators learned a form of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction based on Kabat-Zinn's work showing that increased awareness of physical, emotional and cognitive manifestations of stress may lead to a healthier mind-body response to stress. "Mindfulness" was defined as "a state of non-judgmental awareness, a heightened sensitivity to bodily sensation, and attention to one's own thoughts and emotions." Taught by Kabat-Zinn-trained practitioners, the course required two and a half hours of group instruction and 45 minutes of daily at-home practice. It was a commitment, but one that paid-off with increased productivity and better health.

Researchers did not create an uber-group that both exercised and meditated...but imagine the possibilities!

View "Guided Mindfulness Meditation", an audio CD from Jon Kabat-Zinn.

Get Mindfulness for Beginners by Jon Kabat-Zinn.

Listening May Bring More Power Than Talking

from scientificamerican.com

We tend to think of smooth talkers as having the most influence on others. Although the gift of gab is indeed important, being a good listener provides even more of an advantage, according to new research.

In a study from the June Journal of Research in Personality, former work colleagues rated participants on measures of influence, verbal expression and listening behavior. Results indicate that good listening skills had a stronger effect on the ratings of influence than talking did.

read  the rest of the story at scientificamerican.com

New Study: Letting Go of Regrets Key to Happy Old Age

Happy Aging; No RegretsIn a new paper published in Science, researchers from the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf in Hamburg, Germany, report evidence from two experiments which suggest that one key to aging well might involve learning to let go of regrets about missed opportunities. Stafanie Brassen and her colleagues looked at how healthy young participants (mean age: 25.4 years), healthy older participants (65.8 years), and older participants who had developed depression for the first time later in life (65.6 years) dealt with regret, and found that the young and older depressed patients seemed to hold on to regrets about missed opportunities while the healthy older participants seemed to let them go.

Read more about regrets and healthy aging at scientificamerican.com

Bacteria in the Gut Influences Thoughts and Moods

from Scientific American Mind

The thought of parasites preying on your body or brain very likely sends shivers down your spine. Perhaps you imagine insectoid creatures bursting from stomachs or a malevolent force controlling your actions. These visions are not just the night terrors of science-fiction writers—the natural world is replete with such examples.

Take Toxoplasma gondii, the single-celled parasite. When mice are infected by it, they suffer the grave misfortune of becoming attracted to cats. Once a cat inevitably consumes the doomed creature, the parasite can complete its life cycle inside its new host. Or consider Cordyceps, the parasitic fungus that can grow into the brain of an insect. The fungus can force an ant to climb a plant before consuming its brain entirely. After the insect dies, a mushroom sprouts from its head, allowing the fungus to disperse its spores as widely as possible.

Medical Hypnosis: You Are Getting Very Healthy

from wsj.com

On the mornings she undergoes chemotherapy, Jeanne Safer hypnotizes herself en route in the taxi.

She starts by closing her eyes, then rolling them up to the top of her head and down, all the while breathing deeply. "As I'm doing that, I'm saying to myself, 'This is a procedure that will save my life. I'm not going to fight it. I'm going to make it as easy on my body as possible,' " she says.

Dr. Safer, a New York psychologist who has a rare but curable form of leukemia, started out as a skeptic, but found that hypnosis helped put her at ease before biopsies, MRIs and several surgeries. She now uses it with some of her patients as well. "It's an excellent self-management technique," she says. "It gives me a feeling of mastery, a sense that I am participating in my own care rather than just being passive."

Hypnosis has been the subject of fascination, intrigue and ridicule for centuries. Now, researchers are getting closer to understanding why and how it can work. The mechanism may be similar to the placebo effect—in which patients' expectations play a major role in how they feel. Hypnosis, in turn, can help patients adjust those expectations to minimize pain, fear and disability.

The image of a stage hypnotist swinging a stopwatch and commanding a volunteer to squawk like a chicken has led to misunderstandings, experts say. Real hypnosis for therapeutic purposes gives subjects more control over their minds and bodies, not less.

"We can teach people how to manage pain and anxiety, " says David Spiegel, a psychiatrist and director of the Center for Health and Stress at Stanford University who has studied hypnosis for 40 years. "There's been this mistake in medicine that if you have a certain amount of tissue damage, you should feel this amount of pain. But many things can alter how much pain you feel."

Indeed, scientific evidence is mounting that hypnosis can be effective in a variety of medical situations, from easing migraine headaches to lowering blood pressure, controlling asthma attacks, minimizing hot flashes and diminishing side effects from chemotherapy.

read the rest of the story at wsj.com