A study performed many years ago by Mindfulness advocate Ellen Langer, and TM advocate Charles Alexander, found that TM was superior on several measures, including longevity and health related, while Mindfulness was better on specific measures having to do with the kind of things that the practitioners had been taught to be mindful OF.
Bensons's Relaxation Response and no-treatment were tied for last place on all measures. L --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, turquoiseb <no_reply@...> wrote: > > A little mindfulness practice, and some could find something more > fulfilling to do with their lives than hold grudges and act them out on > Fairfield Life. > Mindfulness Meditation Could Combat Loneliness In Elderly: Study > Loneliness among the elderly has been linked with a multitude of health > problems -- including heart risks > <http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/18/health/mental-health/loneliness-isolation\ > -health/index.html> and even a higher risk of premature death > <http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2012/07/02/hlsa0702.htm> . But a > small new study is shedding some light on a tool that could hep combat > loneliness among this age demographic: Mindfulness meditation. > The study, published in the journal Brain, Behavior & Immunity > <http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0889159112001894?v=s5\ > > , shows that eight weeks of training in mindfulness meditation is > linked with decreased loneliness. > > The study included 40 participants between ages 55 and 85, some of whom > participated in the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program. People > who participated in the program were also asked to do meditation > exercises at home for a half-hour every day, and to go to a meditation > retreat for one day. > > Plus, the researchers from Carnegie Mellon University found that > mindfulness meditation had positive effects on the study participants' > health, too. > > "Reductions in the expression of inflammation-related genes were > particularly significant because inflammation contributes to a wide > variety of the health threats including cancer, cardiovascular diseases > and neurodegenerative diseases," study researcher Steven Cole, a > professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, School of > Medicine, said in a statement > <http://www.cmu.edu/news/stories/archives/2012/july/july24_meditationstu\ > dy.html> . > > Aside from alleviating loneliness, mindfulness meditation has also been > shown in past research to have positive effects on the brain -- linked > with brain changes that may even have effects against mental illness > <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/15/mindfulness-meditation-brain-i\ > ntegrative-body-mind-training_n_1594803.html> , according to a recent > Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences study. >
