Meditation Slows AIDS Progression

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[newsmax.com]

 

Meditation Slows AIDS Progression

 

Meditation may slow the worsening of AIDS in just a few weeks, perhaps

by affecting the immune system, U.S. researchers reported on Thursday.

 

If the findings are borne out in larger studies, it could offer a cheap

and pleasant way to help people battle the incurable and often fatal

condition, the team at the University of California Los Angeles said.

 

They tested a stress-lowering program called mindfulness meditation,

defined as practicing an open and receptive awareness of the present

moment, avoiding thinking of the past or worrying about the future.

 

The more often the volunteers meditated, the higher their CD4 T-cell

counts — a standard measure of how well the immune system is fighting

the AIDS virus.

The CD4 counts were measured before and after the two-month program.

" This study provides the first indication that mindfulness meditation

stress-management training can have a direct impact on slowing HIV

disease progression, " David Creswell, who led the study, said in a

statement.

 

His team tested 67 HIV-positive adults from the Los Angeles area, 48 of

whom did some or all of the meditation. Most were likely to have highly

stressful lives, Creswell said.

 

" The average participant in the study was male, African American,

homosexual, unemployed and not on ARV (antiretroviral) medication, " they

wrote in the journal Brain, Behavior, and Immunity.

The meditation classes included eight weekly two-hour sessions, a

day-long retreat and daily home practice. " The people that were in this

class really responded and just really enjoyed the program, " Creswell

said.

 

" The mindfulness program is a group-based and low-cost treatment, and if

this initial finding is replicated in larger samples, it's possible that

such training can be used as a powerful complementary treatment for HIV

disease, alongside medications, " he added.

 

" One of the main side-effects of this particular treatment was an

increase in their quality of life, " Creswell said.

 

Copyright Reuters