The journal of alternative and complementary medicine : research on paradigm, practice, and policy
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J Altern Complement Med · Oct 2004
Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical TrialA pilot study to examine the effects of a mindfulness-based stress-reduction and relaxation program on levels of stress hormones, physical functioning, and submaximal exercise responses.
Stress has been cited as a causal factor in heart disease. The objective of this study was to examine the effects of an 8-week mindfulness-based stress-reduction program on the resting levels of stress hormones, physical functioning, and submaximal exercise responses in women with heart disease. ⋯ While the 8-week stress reduction program for women with heart disease did not show significant interactions between groups for resting levels of stress hormones, physical functioning, or submaximal exercise responses, there was a significant difference in breathing patterns between the 2 groups during exercise following the mindfulness-based stress-reduction program. There was also a trend for change in the intervention group in the resting levels of cortisol and physical function scores that was not seen in the control group. Future studies could use the effect size generated from this pilot study to calculate the number of subjects needed for adequate power to detect significant differences between groups.