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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| A pilot study of the effects of meditation on regional brain metabolism in distressed dementia caregivers | | Author(s) | Kelsey L Pomykala, Daniel H S Silverman, Cheri L Geist |
| Journal title | Aging Health, vol 8, no 5, October 2012 |
| Pages | pp 509-516 |
| Source | http://www.futuremedicine.com/loi/ahe |
| Keywords | Dementia ; Family care ; Stress ; Yoga ; Therapy ; Pilot ; Evaluation. |
| Annotation | Caregiver distress can affect mood and cognition, however meditation can be used to reduce stress. This pilot study explored whether yogic meditation could change regional cerebral metabolism in distressed caregivers. Nine dementia caregivers were randomised to undergo meditation training compared with relaxation for 12 minutes per day for eight weeks. Caregivers received neuropsychiatric assessments and brain FDG-PET scans at baseline and postintervention. Results showed that the groups did not differ on measures of mood, mental and physical health, and burden at baseline and follow-up. When comparing the regional cerebral metabolism between groups, significant differences over time were found in the bilateral cerebellum, right inferior lateral anterior temporal, right inferior frontal, left superior frontal, left associative visual and right posterior cingulate cortices. The authors conclude that meditation practice in distressed caregivers results in different patterns of regional cerebral metabolism from relaxation. These pilot results should be replicated in a larger study. (JL). |
| Accession Number | CPA-121102218 A |
| Classmark | EA: P6:SJ: QNH: HTY: LO: 4UC: 4C |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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