Mindfulness-based Meditation Helps Teens Battling Cancer, Study

Mindfulness-based meditation is successful in bringing relief to teens battling with cancer, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Montreal.

The study, which had 13 adolescents suffering from cancer, focused on clinical trial interventions based on mood, sleep and quality of life.

 Catherine Malboeuf-Hurtubise of the university's Department of Psychology and colleagues conducted the study.

The mindfulness-based mediation centers on the present moment and the link between mind and body. Adolescents living with cancer along with the physical sufferings also fece anxieties and uncertainties associated with the disease. There is a lot of emotional trauma about the treatment and fear of recurrence.  

In this study the adolescents with cancer were asked to fill in a questionnaire that focused on their  mood like positive/negative emotions, anxiety and depression and sleep and life quality.

The study group was divided into two: one group consisted of eight adolescents and the remaining five were placed in the control group. Every week, the first group of teens attended eight sessions that lasted for 90 minutes. At the end of the last meditation session, the subjects from the two groups were asked to fill questionnaire for a second time.

"We analyzed differences in mood, sleep and quality of life scores for each participant and then between each group to evaluate if mindfulness sessions had a greater impact than the simple passage of time. We found that teenagers that participated in the mindfulness group had lower scores in depression after our 8 sessions. Girls from the mindfulness group reported sleeping better. We also noticed that they developed mindfulness skills to a greater extent than boys during the sessions," Malboeuf-Hurtubise said in a statement.

The study shows that these mindful meditation sessions help in enhancing both mood and sleep in teens living with cancer.

The researchers suggest that the observed benefits on mood and sleep may be due to the social support given to the teens during the mediation session. This new approach is promising as it shows the possibility of lowering the psychological problems that crop up when living with cancer.

The study was presented at the American Psychosomatic Society Meeting in San Francisco.