What is it about?
Healthcare providers especially in hospital settings traditionally have a high incidence of burnout, which is associated with anxiety, depression, sleep disturbances, and emotional exhaustion. The incidence of burnout and the associated symptoms was dramatically heightened during the COVID epidemic and hospitals have struggled to provide assistance. Healthcare providers, and their associated hospitals have increasingly looked towards non-pharmacologic means to improve provider wellness and one method, the Transcendental Meditation technique (TM), has shown significant effectiveness in reducing psychological distress and promoting well-being. This study looked at the benefits of the TM versus normal lifestyle as usual at three hospitals in South Florida at the height of the COVID pandemic. The results showed a significant reduction in anxiety, depression, sleep, disturbances, emotional exhaustion, as well as an improvement in well-being in the TM group in his early as two weeks. At three months, burnout symptoms were dramatically reduced in the TM group, including a 62% reduction in anxiety, 58%, depression, 50%, insomnia, and there was a significant improvement in well-being. There were virtually no significant changes in the lifestyle as usual group.
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Why is it important?
The COVID pandemic not only dramatically increased stress related symptoms and burnout for healthcare providers, but also for virtually every other part of our society. Many individuals are looking to find healthy changes in their lifestyles, as well as non-pharmacologic means to reduce their anxiety, depression, and sleep problems and improve their overall well-being. This study has shown that even in the most significant stress associated professions at the height of a global pandemic, TM can dramatically and rapidly (within two weeks) decrease stress related, anxiety and other negative symptoms and significantly improve well-being. It stands to reason that TM can also give similar benefits to the population at large.
Perspectives
There are numerous studies on the benefits of Transcendental Meditation on both health and well-being. I believe the study is unique in that it not only shows the dramatic effectiveness in a setting that is traditionally extremely stressful but shows significant benefits in his little as two weeks. The benefits to both mental and well-being using this simple nonpharmacologic method thus occur more rapidly than many pharmacologic treatments.
Mark Nestor
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Improving the mental health and well-being of healthcare providers using the transcendental meditation technique during the COVID-19 pandemic: A parallel population study, PLoS ONE, March 2023, PLOS,
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0265046.
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