Below. ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <noozguru@...> wrote :
Nobody is saying that, emily. I have found that the health food/supplement "industry" (and I'm talking about the industry, not specific practitioners or branches) is mostly about scamming consumers and particularly those that are fear-based. They create, contribute to, and move from fad to fad, they have an agenda, they capitalize on consumer naivete....my point was that one shouldn't throw the baby out with the bath water (i.e., never read anything the AMA puts out because they don't think GMO labeling is a good bang for the buck or valid for some other reason) or assume that the alternative "industry" is telling the truth either. In fact naturopathic medicine may actually pay more attention to medical research than practicing MDs. I don't disagree. I see one. What is interesting about the research was that it apparently used "mindfulness meditation" not TM. The outcome would not be unusual to any of us who have taught TM or other meditations. There was always varying results with meditation. Some folks just enjoy the relaxation while some may experience heightened spiritual growth and others nothing at all. At $75 in 1973, TM was worth a try but I wouldn't have paid $2000+ for it. Of course JAMA stands for Journal of the American Medical Association. They will even post articles that contradict outcomes so it is more of an journal for posting research. The AMA itself, however is an elitist organization championing for profit medicine. There is also Lancet, which is a British journal of medical research. Some of the latest research validates things known by alternative practitioners for years. Yes, it was Share that assumed JAMA was equivalent with the AMA, not I - she commented on that assumption and stated her blanket prejudice, which is what I replied to. That's all. I always love it when the latest "medical research" confirms what is commonplace understanding in other fields. The line that big pharma is going to love is "we found no evidence that meditation programs were better than any active treatment (ie, drugs, exercise, and other behavioral therapies)." Yup, gotta love those (expensive) drugs. Of course, even opium will decrease anxiety though that not an accepted method of treating it. For me, I have to get exercise - it is as critical as food for my well-being. I swim mostly. I can also meditate, but if I am not exercising aerobically at least twice a week, at bare minimum, to keep my brain and body relaxed, I will get no benefit from meditating. Know thyself. Regarding meditation, years ago I read a book by a chiropractor who found that some of his patients did well with meditation while others were better off going for a run or a walk during the time they could have been meditating. Some folks need to speed up their metabolism while other need to slow it down. Different strokes for different folks. On 03/20/2014 09:50 AM, emilymaenot@... mailto:emilymaenot@... wrote: Yes, best to read only what is marketed from the health food industry. ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com mailto:FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <sharelong60@...> mailto:sharelong60@... wrote : good point, noozguru, but now I will need an even bigger crowbar for the door of my mind when reading something from AMA! On Thursday, March 20, 2014 11:02 AM, Bhairitu <noozguru@...> mailto:noozguru@... wrote: Let's not forget that the AMA stands in the way of the US having Single Payer Healthcare, the kind you tout so much about being available in Europe. They stand in the way of training more doctors. One thing we can say about the AMA: it's all about money. Maybe they're really the American Money Association. :-D On 03/20/2014 07:49 AM, TurquoiseBee wrote: From: e Long <sharelong60@...> mailto:sharelong60@... To: "FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com" mailto:FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com <FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com> mailto:FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Thursday, March 20, 2014 3:32 PM Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] JAMA on meditation Michael, the AMA also says that GMO labeling is not necessary. Thus I will look askance at anything they publish, no matter how scientific and objective it appears to be. In other words, you reserve the right to disregard anything said by an individual or group of individuals if they say something you disagree with, because this disagreement indicates that they are not trustworthy, "no matter how scientific and objective it seems to be." Did I get that right? You realize, do you not, that this is exactly what your stalkers are trying to do with you on this forum. They go out of their way to portray you as stupid and clueless, in the hope that other people will start to write off anything you say as something they should "look askance" on. Especially liking one of the people they dislike. With other people, they try to portray them as liars, with the same intent. Is this really the approach you wish to embrace? It seems to me that a more intelligent approach would be to judge each post or piece of data that appears before you on its own merits, regardless of who said it. The alternative seems to indicate a willingness to revere cult apologetic tactics and adopt them as your own. On Thursday, March 20, 2014 9:24 AM, Michael Jackson <mjackson74@...> mailto:mjackson74@... wrote: Meditation Programs for Psychological Stress and Well-being A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis Madhav Goyal, MD, MPH1; Sonal Singh, MD, MPH1; Erica M. S. Sibinga, MD, MHS2; Neda F. Gould, PhD3; Anastasia Rowland-Seymour, MD1; Ritu Sharma, BSc4; Zackary Berger, MD, PhD1; Dana Sleicher, MS, MPH3; David D. Maron, MHS4; Hasan M. Shihab, MBChB, MPH4; Padmini D. Ranasinghe, MD, MPH1; Shauna Linn, BA4; Shonali Saha, MD2; Eric B. Bass, MD, MPH1,4; Jennifer A. Haythornthwaite, PhD3 JAMA Intern Med. 2014;174(3):357-368. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2013.13018. ABSTRACT Importance Many people meditate to reduce psychological stress and stress-related health problems. To counsel people appropriately, clinicians need to know what the evidence says about the health benefits of meditation. Objective To determine the efficacy of meditation programs in improving stress-related outcomes (anxiety, depression, stress/distress, positive mood, mental health–related quality of life, attention, substance use, eating habits, sleep, pain, and weight) in diverse adult clinical populations. Evidence Review We identified randomized clinical trials with active controls for placebo effects through November 2012 from MEDLINE, PsycINFO, EMBASE, PsycArticles, Scopus, CINAHL, AMED, the Cochrane Library, and hand searches. Two independent reviewers screened citations and extracted data. We graded the strength of evidence using 4 domains (risk of bias, precision, directness, and consistency) and determined the magnitude and direction of effect by calculating the relative difference between groups in change from baseline. When possible, we conducted meta-analyses using standardized mean differences to obtain aggregate estimates of effect size with 95% confidence intervals. Findings After reviewing 18 753 citations, we included 47 trials with 3515 participants. Mindfulness meditation programs had moderate evidence of improved anxiety (effect size, 0.38 [95% CI, 0.12-0.64] at 8 weeks and 0.22 [0.02-0.43] at 3-6 months), depression (0.30 [0.00-0.59] at 8 weeks and 0.23 [0.05-0.42] at 3-6 months), and pain (0.33 [0.03- 0.62]) and low evidence of improved stress/distress and mental health–related quality of life. We found low evidence of no effect or insufficient evidence of any effect of meditation programs on positive mood, attention, substance use, eating habits, sleep, and weight. We found no evidence that meditation programs were better than any active treatment (ie, drugs, exercise, and other behavioral therapies). Conclusions and Relevance Clinicians should be aware that meditation programs can result in small to moderate reductions of multiple negative dimensions of psychological stress. Thus, clinicians should be prepared to talk with their patients about the role that a meditation program could have in addressing psychological stress. Stronger study designs are needed to determine the effects of meditation programs in improving the positive dimensions of mental health and stress-related behavior.
