Global Courant 2023-04-27 13:00:27
Over 15 years of working in mindfulness training have humbled me to understand that it is not a super powerful tool. That it is not the panacea for our health. That, unlike how some authors present it, it is not a method to apply to any symptom we want to attend to.
This has to do with the specificity of an intervention: each neurocognitive training (and mindfulness is in this line, outside of pharmacological administration or the use of some technology on the body) impacts certain aspects of us, but perhaps not others.
In this sense, more and more we know that Mindfulness influences two key aspects: in the care and cultivation of an adequate quality of life and, closely associated with this, well-being.
Let’s take chronic insomnia for example: clearly mindfulness is not a first line (main) intervention for its treatment, and we will surely require medication and cognitive behavioral therapy for it.
But without a doubt, maintaining a regular practice of mindfulness decreases rumination and worry, relieves mental and physical tension, and allows us to live more kindly with chronic insomnia. And since insomnia prevails a continuous struggle to want to sleep, not resisting is not a small thing. (Read here how to apply the technique of letting go to sleep better)
In its beginnings in medicine, mindfulness was applied to clinical conditions such as chronic pain, psoriasis, anxiety, and cancer patients, among others. Then its use was extended to many other symptoms.
Recently, the hypothesis has been strengthened that it can be very valuable in helping to control arterial hypertension, a serious health problem that a large part of the adult population suffers in silence (almost 40% of hypertensives do not know they are) and it is a predisposing condition for severe cardiac events.
Studies seek to generate evidence on the benefits of mindfulness in hypertension. Photo Shutterstock.
Why are there so many people with hypertension?
Hypertension is an epidemic. It is estimated that there are 1.28 billion adults aged 30 to 79 years with hypertension in the world and that the majority of them (close to two-thirds) live in low- and middle-income countries.
As we said, it is strongly associated with the occurrence of various pathologies such as cerebrovascular disease, coronary disease, heart failure, atrial fibrillation, diseases of the aorta and peripheral arteries, dementia, kidney failure, and retinopathy. Its prevalence has a negative impact on total mortality, disability and socio-sanitary costs.
In terms of attributable deaths, hypertension is responsible for 19% of all deaths worldwide.
Although age is the main condition associated with the development of arterial hypertension, risk factors such as overweight/obesity, smoking and, fundamentally, a high sodium intake in the diet, increase the probability of developing it and pose the challenge of combating the aforementioned risk factors through public policies that regulate environments and promote healthy habits.
In this way, the development of high blood pressure could be prevented or delayed, while also improving control in those individuals who already suffer from it. About 9 out of 10 people diagnosed with hypertension will need drug therapy to control their blood pressure numbers.
Data from the latest National Survey of Risk Factors show that the prevalence reached at least a third of the adult population of Argentina in 2019.
I have been surprised in recent times by the large number of people close to me who suffer from it. Sometimes, and following a familiar pattern, the majority of the members of a human group experience it. In many cases it has dangerous oscillations (ups and downs) that can be very harmful to the person.
As a psychologist, I cannot help noticing some factors that affect stress and predispose to the appearance or aggravation of hypertension.
Improve Life Quality
My dear colleague Cecilia Bahit, Head of Cardiology at Ineco Neurociencias in Rosario, Santa Fe, collaborator with international organizations and researcher, a study tells us that sheds some light on the subject from the practice of mindfulness.
“In this study carried out in the United States -he says-, the effects of an 8-week mindfulness-based program were compared with optimized usual care in patients with high blood pressure. Approximately 200 adults were included, with half of the patients assigned to a mindfulness-based program and the other half to optimized usual care.”
The mindfulness-based program focused on attention control, diet changes, physical activity, decreased alcohol consumption, and stress management, and included weekly group sessions as well as daily individual sessions with mindfulness exercises, Cecilia continues. .
Optimized usual care consisted of home blood pressure monitoring, blood pressure educational material, and facilitated access to a physician (if needed). The population studied was majority white (8 out of 10), almost 60% women, with an average age of 59 years.
The practice of mindfulness is associated with multiple benefits. Photo Shutterstock.
What results were observed in these groups?
“Participants in the mindfulness-based program had an average drop in systolic blood pressure of 5.9 mm Hg, compared with 1.4 mm Hg in the usual care group. A significant difference, although no change in pressure was observed diastolic blood pressure in neither of the two groups,” the doctor reported.
In addition, participants assigned to the mindfulness-based program saw a reduction in sedentary time (mainly sitting) by an average of 351 minutes each week compared to participants in the optimized usual care group, he added.
“Also those assigned to the mindfulness-based program showed benefits not only in the perception of stress and level of mindfulness but also in relation to the change in diet (eating healthier foods).”
Discussing this with the professional, we can say that an adapted mindfulness-based program was beneficial and invites us to carry out further research to confirm these results, which are promising and would improve blood pressure control, a modifiable risk factor that has such an impact. in cardiovascular and cerebrovascular health.
Perhaps in reality, mindfulness training has an impact on the levels of consciousness that help us perceive, with more depth and at the same time subtlety, the need to take care of ourselves and attend to the harmful factors that cause hypertension.
Let’s keep digging then!
*Martín Reynoso is a psychologist, director of Train Your Brain Argentina and author of “Mindfulness, scientific meditation” and “Train your emotional brain.”
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Do you want to continue reading about mindfulness and full attention?
We suggest these notes:
➪Three minutes of mindfulness that can change your day (with video)
➪To sleep better: how to apply the technique of “letting go” and a step-by-step guided meditation (with video)
➪”Mindful walking”: the walk to go through moments of anxiety: how to do it (with video)
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➪ Do you have any questions about health and well-being that you would like us to address in section notes? Enter the Clarín Help Center by clicking here, enter Message to the newsroom and then Questions to Buena Vida. Write us your query and send. Done!
