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Is a meditation retreat the better vacation? effect of retreats and vacations on fatigue, emotional well-being, and acting with awareness.

ABSTRACT: It is well established that leisure vacations markedly improve well-being, but that these effects are only of short duration. The present study aimed to investigate whether vacation effects would be more lasting if individuals practiced meditation during the leisure episode. Meditation is known to improve well-being durably, among others, by enhancing the mental faculty of mindfulness. In this aim, leisure vacations during which individuals practiced meditation to some extent were compared with holidays not including any formal meditation practice as well as with meditation retreats (characterized by intense meditation practice) utilizing a naturalistic observational design. Fatigue, well-being, and mindfulness were assessed ten days before, ten days after, and ten weeks after the stays in a sample of 120 individuals accustomed to meditation practices. To account for differences in the experience of these stays, recovery experiences were additionally assessed. Ten days after the stay, there were no differences except for an increase in mindfulness for those practicing meditation. Ten weeks after the stay, meditation retreats and vacations including meditation were associated with greater increases in mindfulness, lower levels of fatigue, and higher levels of well-being than an "ordinary" vacation during which meditation was not practiced. The finding suggests that the inclusion of meditation practice during vacation could help alleviate vacations' greatest pitfall, namely the rapid decline of its positive effects.

SUBMITTER: Blasche G

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7869997 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Is a meditation retreat the better vacation? effect of retreats and vacations on fatigue, emotional well-being, and acting with awareness.

Blasche Gerhard G deBloom Jessica J Chang Adrienne A Pichlhoefer Otto O

PloS one 20210208 2

It is well established that leisure vacations markedly improve well-being, but that these effects are only of short duration. The present study aimed to investigate whether vacation effects would be more lasting if individuals practiced meditation during the leisure episode. Meditation is known to improve well-being durably, among others, by enhancing the mental faculty of mindfulness. In this aim, leisure vacations during which individuals practiced meditation to some extent were compared with ...[more]

PMID: 33556137

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Project description:Depressive symptoms have been associated with myocardial ischemia induced by mental (MSIMI) and exercise (ESIMI) stress in clinically stable ischemic heart disease (IHD) patients, but the association between positive emotions and inducible ischemia is less well characterized. The objective of this study was to examine the associations between ratings of well-being and stress-induced ischemia.Subjects were adult patients with documented IHD underwent mental and exercise stress testing for the Responses of Myocardial Ischemia to Escitalopram Treatment (REMIT) trial. The General Well-Being Schedule (GWBS), with higher scores reflecting greater subjective well-being, and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) were obtained from the REMIT participants. Echocardiography was used to measure ischemic responses to mental stress and Bruce protocol treadmill exercise testing. Data were analyzed using logistic regression adjusting for age, sex, resting left-ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), and resting wall motion score index, as well as health-related behaviors.GWBS scores were obtained for 210 individuals, with MSIMI present in 92 (43.8%) and ESIMI present in 64 (30.5%). There was a significant inverse correlation between GWBS-PE (Positive Emotion subscale) scores and probability of ESIMI (OR=0.55 (95%CI 0.36-0.83), p=0.005). This association persisted after additional control for CESD subscales measuring negative and positive emotions and for variables reflecting health-related behaviors. A similar inverse correlation between GWBS-PE and MSIMI was observed, but did not reach statistical significance (OR=0.81 (95%CI 0.54-1.20), p=0.28).This is, to our knowledge, the first study demonstrating that greater levels of self-reported positive emotions are associated with a lower likelihood of ESIMI among patients with known IHD. Our results highlight the important interface functions of the central nervous and cardiovascular systems and underscore areas for future investigation.

Dataset Information

Is a meditation retreat the better vacation? effect of retreats and vacations on fatigue, emotional well-being, and acting with awareness.

Publications

Is a meditation retreat the better vacation? effect of retreats and vacations on fatigue, emotional well-being, and acting with awareness.

Similar Datasets

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