Meditation
Meditation
What is meditation?
Meditation is an ancient practice that may support relaxation, improvements in focus, and overall well-being. There are many different styles of meditation.
Types of meditation may include focused attention on sensations (for example: breath, sound, or mantra) or mindfulness-based practices, which emphasize present-moment awareness without judgment.
How do I get started?
Ask your health care provider if meditation is right for you.
You can also reach out to your local Whole Health Point of Contact to learn more about complementary and integrative health care options availability.
How can meditation help you?
Meditation can be useful for managing stress, anxiety, and depression. It can also help people who have long-term pain by making it feel less intense, increasing pain tolerance, and improving overall well-being.
It is important to keep an open mind and try different styles of meditation and find what works best for you.
What can I expect during a session?
Meditation can be done in a group or one-on-one with an instructor. Often, meditation is done in a seated position on a cushion or in a chair. It can also be done standing or lying down.
Is meditation safe and effective?
An evidence map for meditation and mindfulness was developed by the U.S Department of Veteran’s Affairs Health Services Research & Development. This systematic review provides a visual map of the evidence of Meditation. Conditions with evidence of potentially positive effect include anxiety, depression, psychological distress, pain, quality of life.
HRSD Research-Evidence Map of Meditation and Mindfulness
Policy and Research
Background and Policy on in VA
Meditation is one of the complementary and integrative health (CIH) approaches within the VHA Whole Health System of care included in the Veteran’s medical benefits package when deemed clinically necessary by their care team per VA Directive 1137 — Provision of Complementary and Integrative Health (recertified December 2022). Based on literature review these approaches were found to be safe and have sufficient evidence of benefit to be recommended as appropriate components of care for the Veteran population.
Highlighted Publications
Citation: Schlechta Portella, C. F., Ghelman, R., Abdala, V., Schveitzer, M. C., & Afonso, R. F. (2021). Meditation: Evidence Map of Systematic Reviews. Frontiers in public health, 9, 742715.
Summary: The "Meditation: Evidence Map of Systematic Reviews" explores how meditation impacts health. The study analyzed data from 191 reviews conducted between 1994 and 2019. The main focus was on mindfulness, a type of meditation that helps improve living in the moment. Results show that meditation can benefit health, especially in mental wellness and quality of life. It can help reduce symptoms of anxiety, depression, and stress. Most studies showed positive outcomes, with moderate confidence in the results. This review helps understand how meditation can be a useful tool for improving mental and physical health and well-being.
Citation: Galante, J., Friedrich, C., Collaboration of Mindfulness Trials (CoMinT). et al. Systematic review and individual participant data meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials assessing mindfulness-based programs for mental health promotion. Nat. Mental Health 1, 462–476 (2023).
Summary: This study looks at mindfulness-based programs (MBPs) and how they can help reduce mental health issues like anxiety and depression among adults who are not already diagnosed with these problems. They combined data from 13 studies involving 2,371 participants. Results showed that MBPs led to a small to moderate decrease in psychological distress within 1 to 6 months after finishing the program. The improvements were not tied to factors like age, gender, initial distress levels, education, or how mindful participants were before starting. Overall, MBPs can be beneficial for mental health, but more research is needed to understand why some people benefit more than others.
Citation: Zhang, D., Lee, E. K. P., Mak, E. C. W., Ho, C. Y., & Wong, S. Y. S. (2021). Mindfulness-based interventions: an overall review. British medical bulletin, 138(1), 41–57.
Summary: The study on "Mindfulness-Based Interventions (MBIs)" reviews various ways mindfulness can help improve health. Mindfulness is about being aware and present in the moment. Practices like meditation can help reduce stress, anxiety, and depression. The research shows benefits for physical health issues such as pain and high blood pressure, as well as mental health conditions like insomnia and addiction. However, evidence is still emerging for its effects on PTSD, ADHD, and some physical diseases. MBIs are generally safe and can be cost-effective. More high-quality studies are needed to fully understand how mindfulness works and to confirm its benefits across different populations.
Citation: Burgess, D. J., Calvert, C., Hagel Campbell, E. M., Allen, K. D., Bangerter, A., Behrens, K., Branson, M., Bronfort, G., Cross, L. J. S., Evans, R., Ferguson, J. E., Friedman, J. K., Haley, A. C., Leininger, B., Mahaffey, M., Matthias, M. S., Meis, L. A., Polusny, M. A., Serpa, J. G., Taylor, S. L., & Taylor, B. C. (2024). Telehealth Mindfulness-Based Interventions for Chronic Pain: The LAMP Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Internal Medicine.
Summary: This randomized clinical trial assessed the effectiveness of two scalable telehealth mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) (group and self-paced) for veterans with chronic pain, comparing them to usual care. Both MBI formats significantly improved pain-related function and various biopsychosocial outcomes such as pain intensity, fatigue, depression, and PTSD over a 1-year period. The study concluded that these relatively low-resource telehealth MBIs are clinically important and could enhance the delivery of nonpharmacological pain treatment within healthcare systems, even for a population with high psychiatric comorbidities.
Learn more
Learn more about other complementary and integrative health care options by visiting the Complementary and Integrative Health overview page or clicking the links below.
