Meditation aims to guide individuals into a state of deep calm and focused attention, and in recent years, it has shown promising potential in the field of medical treatment. Numerous studies have demonstrated that electroencephalogram (EEG) patterns change during meditation, suggesting the feasibility of using deep learning techniques to monitor meditation states. However, significant inter-subject differences in EEG signals poses challenges to the performance of such monitoring systems. To address this issue, this study proposed a novel model-calibrated multi-source adversarial adaptation network (CMAAN). The model first trained multiple domain-adversarial neural networks in a pairwise manner between various source-domain individuals and the target-domain individual. These networks were then integrated through a calibration process using a small amount of labeled data from the target domain to enhance performance. We evaluated the proposed model on an EEG dataset collected from 18 subjects undergoing methamphetamine rehabilitation. The model achieved a classification accuracy of 73.09%. Additionally, based on the learned model, we analyzed the key EEG frequency bands and brain regions involved in the meditation process. The proposed multi-source domain adaptation framework improves both the performance and robustness of EEG-based meditation monitoring and holds great promise for applications in biomedical informatics and clinical practice.
Humans ; Electroencephalography/methods* ; Meditation ; Calibration ; Neural Networks, Computer ; Brain/physiology* ; Rest/physiology* ; Deep Learning ; Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the therapeutic effect of Yu Melody relaxation training (YMRT) combined with Jianpi Jieyu Decoction (JJD) in treating patients with insomnia disorders (ID). METHODS: In this randomized controlled study, 94 ID patients were included from Xiyuan Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences from September 2022 to January 2024. They were randomly assigned to the YMRT group (47 cases, YMRT plus JJD) and the control group (47 cases, oral JJD) using a random number table. Both treatment administrations lasted for 4 weeks, with a 2-week follow-up. The primary outcome was change in Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) scores from baseline to 4 weeks of intervention. Secondary outcomes included ISI response at week 4, as well as ISI, Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), and Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item (GAD-7) scores at baseline and weeks 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6. Additionally, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) scores were evaluated at baseline and weeks 4 and 6. Adverse events (AEs) were recorded and compared between groups. RESULTS: Five patients in each group did not complete the protocol requirements. The overall dropout rate was 10.64%. The full analysis set included all 47 cases in each group. The ISI score decreased significantly at week 4 from baseline in the YMRT group compared with the control group, with a between-group difference of -3.2 points [95% confidence interval (CI): -5.08 to -1.34; P<0.05]. The ISI response at week 4 in the YMRT group was significantly higher than that in the control group (85.11% vs. 51.06%), with a between-group difference of 34.05% (95% CI: 13.77% to 50.97%; P<0.05). At week 6, the YMRT group demonstrated greater reductions from baseline than the control group, with between-group differences of -2.1 points (-95% CI: -3.49 to -0.64; P<0.05) for PHQ-9 scores, -3.5 points (95% CI: -5.21 to -1.85; P<0.05) for PSQI scores, and -1.9 points (95% CI: -3.47 to -0.28; P<0.05) for GAD-7 scores. Moreover, at weeks 4 and 6, the ISI and PSQI scores in the YMRT group were significantly lower than those in the control group (P<0.05); and at week 6, the PHQ-9 score in the YMRT group was significantly lower (P<0.05). There was no significant difference in the incidence rates of AEs between the two groups (8.51% vs. 4.26%, P>0.05). CONCLUSIONS YMRT combined with oral JJD could improve sleep quality and alleviate depressive and anxiety symptoms in patients with ID. This combined therapy was effective and safe, and its effect was superior to oral JJD alone. (Registration No. ChiCTR2200063884).
Humans ; Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders/drug therapy* ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/therapeutic use* ; Male ; Female ; Relaxation Therapy/methods* ; Middle Aged ; Adult ; Treatment Outcome ; Combined Modality Therapy

Yoga is a therapeutic practice renowned for its multifaceted benefits across the body's systems. Its positive impact spans the physical, mental and emotional realms, fostering harmony and well-being. Through a combination of postures, breathing techniques and meditation, yoga offers profound effects, enhancing flexibility, strength and balance while simultaneously promoting relaxation and reducing stress. This integrative approach not only cultivates physical resilience but also supports mental clarity, emotional balance and overall vitality, showcasing yoga as a comprehensive and impactful system for holistic health. The review delved into the multifaceted ways in which yoga exerts a positive influence on the body's various systems. It highlights how yoga serves as a beneficial tool in addressing and counteracting the underlying factors associated with different diseases. By examining yoga's effects on these systems and its potential in combating illness, the paper sheds light on the comprehensive therapeutic benefits that yoga offers. Please cite this article as: Pandey S, Pandey AC, Kotecha VR. Yoga-A complementary and traditional medicine for human health. J Integr Med. 2025; 23(2): 93-105.
Yoga ; Humans ; Meditation ; Complementary Therapies ; Medicine, Traditional ; Holistic Health

INTRODUCTION

Burnout is becoming more common among healthcare professionals, notably during the COVID-19 pandemic. It can result in lower performance and effectiveness at work as well as employment withdrawal, all of which affects the standard of healthcare services provided.

In order to ascertain the effectiveness of mindfulness meditation-based interventions (MMBIs) in reducing burnout among healthcare workers, a systematic review and meta-analysis was done.

Two investigators searched records in CENTRAL, PubMed/MEDLINE, Google Scholar, Preprints, Grey Literature, and cross-referencing to acquire articles using search terms related to “mindfulness meditation”, “healthcare workers”, and “burnout”. Inclusion criteria included randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and nonrandomized controlled trials (NRTs) that assessed the effectiveness of MMBIs on burnout as measured by the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) among healthcare workers in the hospital setting. Study selection, data extraction, risk of bias assessment were done by the investigators independently. Analysis was done using RevMan 5 software, forest plots were generated, and subgroup analyses were done.

Of 25,453 identified records, 28 studies were included. The studies were rated with low to unclear selection bias and high risk of performance bias. MMBIs were associated with significant reduction on the emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and personal accomplishment subscales with pooled mean differences of -2.60 (95% CI = -3.64, -1.55), -0.51 (95% CI = -0.77, -0.26), and 0.82 (95% CI = 0.24, 1.39), respectively. On subgroup analyses, the types of MMBI implemented had no influence in the intervention effect noted on all subscales among RCTs but had significant influence among NRTs. Reduction of burnout was noted to be higher in nurses compared with physicians and mixed healthcare workers. Overall quality of evidence for RCTs was low to moderate and very low to low for NRTs.

The results suggest that MMBIs can reduce the burnout symptoms of healthcare workers. To address the high risk of bias of included studies and improve quality of evidence, future research should be done with high-quality RCTs.

Background: Heartfulness meditation aims to help individuals connect to their inner self to attain peace and a balanced state of mind. Previous studies have been conducted to gain mechanistic insights into the effects of Heartfulness meditation on bodily and cellular functioning as well as in enhancing one’s psychological, emotional and social well-being. However, most of the research is quantitative in approach, and has not been able to capture the intricacies of human lived experiences involved during the process of meditation. This qualitative study aims to understand the lived experiences of Heartfulness practitioners. Method: A thematic analysis strategy was utilized to discover the themes which represented the meaning behind the reported narrative experiences of Heartfulness practitioners. Twenty-five Heartfulness meditation practitioners were recruited at a Heartfulness retreat at the International Heartfulness Centre in Hyderabad, India to gain their insights. Result: The current study found that for Heartfulness practitioners, positive changes become gradually visible with regular practice. The process of Heartfulness meditation was found to directly influence physical, psychological, social, cognitive, as well as spiritual benefits. Conclusion In-depth lived experiences were explored which add personalized human elements to the field of Heartfulness meditative practice. Implications and limitations of the current study were also addressed and suggestions for future research were discussed.
Qualitative Research ; Models, Biopsychosocial ; Meditation

The aim in this literature review was (1) to explore the physiologically and psychologically therapeutic benefits of forest bathing on adults suffering from pre-hypertension or hypertension, and (2) to identify the type, duration, and frequency of an effective forest bathing intervention in the management of pre-hypertension and hypertension, so as to provide directions for future interventions or research. The electronic databases PubMed, Cochrane Library, CINAHL, PsyINFO, and the China Academic Journals (CAJ) offered through the Full-text Database (CNKI) were searched for relevant studies published from the inception of the databases to April 2019. Of the 364 articles that were identified, 14 met the criteria for inclusion in this review. The synthesis of the findings in the included studies revealed that forest bathing interventions were effective at reducing blood pressure, lowering pulse rate, increasing the power of heart rate variability (HRV), improving cardiac-pulmonary parameters, and metabolic function, inducing a positive mood, reducing anxiety levels, and improving the quality of life of pre-hypertensive or hypertensive participants. Forest walking and forest therapy programs were the two most effective forest bathing interventions. Studies reported that practicing a single forest walking or forest therapy program can produce short-term physiological and psychological benefits. It is concluded that forest bathing, particularly forest walking and therapy, has physiologically and psychologically relaxing effects on middle-aged and elderly people with pre-hypertension and hypertension.
Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Female ; Forests ; Humans ; Hypertension ; prevention & control ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Prehypertension ; prevention & control ; Relaxation Therapy ; statistics & numerical data ; Young Adult

Public health crises, such as the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) since Dec. 2019, are widely acknowledged as severe traumatic events that impose threats not only because of physical concerns but also because of the psychological distress of infected patients. We designed an internet-based integrated intervention and evaluated its efficacy on depression and anxiety symptoms in patients infected by SARS-CoV-2.
Adult ; Anxiety ; therapy ; Betacoronavirus ; Cell Phone ; China ; Coronavirus Infections ; psychology ; Depression ; therapy ; Female ; Humans ; Internet ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Mindfulness ; Pandemics ; Pneumonia, Viral ; psychology ; Prospective Studies ; Psychological Distress ; Relaxation Therapy ; Self Care ; methods

PURPOSE: This study evaluates the effect of behavioral relaxation training on distress and cancer screening intention of patients with upper gastrointestinal endoscopy.METHODS: The research was conducted in a non-equivalent control group posttest design. Data were collected from endoscopy subjects in B city from October to November of 2018. Fifteen minutes of behavioral relaxation training were provided to the experimental group (n=40) and traditional relaxation therapy methods were provided to the control group (n=40). Outcome measures were distress and cancer screening intention of patients with upper gastrointestinal endoscopy. Data were analyzed with a χ²-test, independent t-test, Fisher's exact test with SPSS/PC version 23.0.RESULTS: The objective discomfort (t=8.81, p<.001) of the experimental group was lower than that of the control group; there were no significant differences in the subjective discomfort (t=1.73, p=.088). The cancer screening intention (t=−5.85, p<.001) of the experimental group was significantly higher than that of the control group.CONCLUSION: Behavioral relaxation training was effective in heightening cancer screening intention. Therefore it can be usefully applied to increase cancer screening intention.
Early Detection of Cancer ; Education ; Endoscopy ; Endoscopy, Gastrointestinal ; Humans ; Intention ; Outcome Assessment (Health Care) ; Relaxation Therapy ; Relaxation

Mindfulness is a process in which all thoughts, feelings, sensations, and all phenomena that happen to me are uncritically recognized as they are, so that they are eventually accepted and released without identifying or automatically responding to them. The clinical effects of mindfulness-based therapy have already been demonstrated in several studies. However, consistent results have not been reported for the mechanism of mindfulness-based treatment. Thus, this review aimed to describe a systematic review of the literature and research on the mechanisms of mindfulness-based interventions. Experienced meditators showed a physiological change in a ‘wakeful hypometabolic state’ during mindfulness meditation. In mindfulness meditation, it is known that certain areas other than brain activation during relaxation are additionally activated, particularly activation of fronto-limbic and fronto-parietal neural networks. The psychological mechanisms include meta-cognitive awareness, emotion regulation, reduction of automatic and self-referential thinking, concentration control, self-compassion, improvement of value clarification and self-regulation, exposure, extinction, and reconsolidation. Of the brain regions with changes in activity associated with mindfulness meditation, prefrontal cortex, the default mode network including cortical midline structures were associated with emotion regulation, concentration control, and reduction of automatic and self-referential thinking. In addition, brain regions associated with mindfulness meditation have been reported in the hippocampus, amygdala, and medical frontal cortices associated with memory reconsolidation and fear extinction. Thus, mindfulness-based interventions have a psychological and neurobiological effect with a special mechanism different from other psychological interventions, so that mindfulness based intervention can be an effective therapeutic intervention with a different mechanism from other psychological techniques.
Amygdala ; Brain ; Frontal Lobe ; Hippocampus ; Meditation ; Memory ; Mindfulness ; Prefrontal Cortex ; Psychological Techniques ; Relaxation ; Self-Control ; Sensation ; Thinking

BACKGROUND: The government staffs studied in this research has been easily exposed to excessive job stress, which can lead to a variety of psychosocial problems and poor quality of life. In this study, we examined the effect of the self reflection meditation program on the psychosocial health and stress responses of government staffs, to suggest the intervention program improving psychosocial health and quality of life in government staffs.METHODS: In this study, we measured the conditions of 36 local government staffs based on self reflection scale, psychosocial health and stress score before and after implementing the short-term intensive meditation program.RESULTS: The results showed that there were significant increase in social role performance and self confidence(p=.003), general health and vitality(p=.019) and significant decrease in stress(p=.010). This change was prominently showed in administrative officer and depression and anxiety(p=.034) also significantly decreased after program.CONCLUSION: Self reflection meditation program was effective in improving the psychosocial health and physical health of government staffs. Therefore, self reflection meditation program could be proposed as program for stress management and promotion of quality of life in government staff.
Depression ; Local Government ; Meditation ; Quality of Life