Quality of Life and Functional Health Status of Long-Term Meditators
Joint Authors
Manocha, R.
Wilson, Leigh
Black, D.
Source
Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Issue
Vol. 2012, Issue 2012 (31 Dec. 2012), pp.1-9, 9 p.
Publisher
Hindawi Publishing Corporation
Publication Date
2012-05-07
Country of Publication
Egypt
No. of Pages
9
Main Subjects
Abstract EN
Background.
There is very little data describing the long-term health impacts of meditation.
Aim.
To compare the quality of life and functional health of long-term meditators to that of the normative population in Australia.
Method.
Using the SF-36 questionnaire and a Meditation Lifestyle Survey, we sampled 343 long-term Australian Sahaja Yoga meditation practitioners and compared their scores to those of the normative Australian population.
Results.
Six SF-36 subscales (bodily pain, general health, mental health, role limitation—emotional, social functioning, and vitality) were significantly better in meditators compared to the national norms whereas two of the subscales (role limitation—physical, physical functioning) were not significantly different.
A substantial correlation between frequency of mental silence experience and the vitality, general health, and especially mental health subscales (P<0.005) was found.
Conclusion.
Long-term practitioners of Sahaja yoga meditation experience better functional health, especially mental health, compared to the general population.
A relationship between functional health, especially mental health, and the frequency of meditative experience (mental silence) exists that may be causal.
Evidence for the potential role of this definition of meditation in enhancing quality of life, functional health and wellbeing is growing.
Implications for primary mental health prevention are discussed.
American Psychological Association (APA)
Manocha, R.& Black, D.& Wilson, Leigh. 2012. Quality of Life and Functional Health Status of Long-Term Meditators. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine،Vol. 2012, no. 2012, pp.1-9.
https://search.emarefa.net/detail/BIM-1028265
Modern Language Association (MLA)
Manocha, R.…[et al.]. Quality of Life and Functional Health Status of Long-Term Meditators. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine No. 2012 (2012), pp.1-9.
https://search.emarefa.net/detail/BIM-1028265
American Medical Association (AMA)
Manocha, R.& Black, D.& Wilson, Leigh. Quality of Life and Functional Health Status of Long-Term Meditators. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine. 2012. Vol. 2012, no. 2012, pp.1-9.
https://search.emarefa.net/detail/BIM-1028265
Data Type
Journal Articles
Language
English
Notes
Includes bibliographical references
Record ID
BIM-1028265