Stress and stress‐related mental health problems are major causes of illness and disability. Mindfulness‐based stress reduction (‘MBSR’) is a group‐based health promotion intervention to improve health and the way people deal with stress and life?s challenges. The core ingredient is mindfulness training through physical and mental exercises practiced daily for eight weeks. The mindful non‐judgmental attitude of being present with what arises is practiced in the formal exercises and in everyday situations. This review assesses the effect of MBSR programs on outcome measures of mental and physical health, quality of life and social functioning in adults. MBSR has a moderately large effect on outcome measures of mental health, somatic health, and quality of life including social function at post‐intervention when compared to an inactive control. If 100 people go through the MBSR program, 21 more people will have a favourable mental health outcome compared to if they had been put on a wait‐list or gotten only the usual treatment. These results may be inflated by underreporting of negative trials and moderate heterogeneity (indicating differences between the trials). MBSR has a small but significant effect on improving mental health at post‐intervention compared to other active treatments. MBSR has the same effect as other active interventions on somatic health, and quality of life (including social function). There was no underreporting of negative trials, and heterogeneity (differences between trials) were small for mental health, moderate for quality of life and large for somatic health. The effects were similar across all target groups and were generally maintained at follow‐up (1?34 months). The effects were largely independent of gender and study sample. The effects seemed also largely independent of duration and compliance with the MBSR intervention. No studies report results regarding side‐effects or costs. Effects were strongly correlated to the effects on measures of mindfulness, indicating that the effects may be related to the increase in self‐reported mindfulness. Two thirds of the included studies showed a considerable risk of bias, which was higher among studies with inactive than active control groups. Studies of higher quality reported lower effects than studies with low quality. The overall quality of the evidence was moderate, indicating moderate confidence in the reported effect sizes. Further research may change the estimate of effect. Plain language summary Mindfulness training improves health and quality of life for adultsMindfulness‐based stress reduction (MBSR) is used to improve health, quality of life and social functioning. MBSR has a positive effect on mental health outcomes measured right after the intervention and at follow up. It also improves personal development, quality of life, and self‐reported mindfulness. What is this review about?Stress and stress‐related mental health problems are major causes of illness and disability. MBSR is a group‐based health promotion intervention to imp...

The association between overall life satisfaction (LS) and relationship satisfaction (RS) was investigated longitudinally among mothers (N=67,355), using data from the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa), conducted by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health. Data were collected twice during pregnancy, and at 6 and 36 months postpartum. Satisfaction increased during pregnancy, with RS decreasing immediately following birth and LS showing an initial increase followed by a decrease postpartum. The results showed that LS and RS levels were quite stable over time (.46-.75), as was their cross-sectional associations (.42-.59). Structural equation modeling using a cross-lagged longitudinal model evidenced cross-concept cross-time effects for both LS and RS. The strengths of the cross-effects were asymmetrical and life-phase specific, with RS predicting change in LS more than LS predicted changes in RS during pregnancy and infancy. Having a satisfying romantic relationship is important for retaining and increasing future life satisfaction.

The present study explored how life satisfaction changes before and after childbirth among first-time parents from a nationally representative, longitudinal study of Germans. Life satisfaction increased before pregnancy to a peak just after birth and then returned to the baseline level within 2 years postpartum. The 2 members of the same couple reacted and adapted to childbirth in similar ways, suggesting that something about the event itself (rather than the individuals' personality) affects individual differences in these responses. However, some personality characteristics (including neuroticism and openness) did moderate reaction and adaptation effects.

Measuring lexical knowledge poses a challenge to the study of the influence of preexisting knowledge on the retrieval of new memories. Many tasks focus on word pairs, but words are embedded in associative networks, so how should preexisting pair strength be measured? It has been measured by free association, similarity ratings, and co-occurrence statistics. Researchers interpret free association response probabilities as unbiased estimates of forward cue-to-target strength. In Study 1, analyses of large free association and extralist cued recall databases indicate that this interpretation is incorrect. Competitor and backward strengths bias free association probabilities, and as with other recall tasks, preexisting strength is described by a ratio rule. In Study 2, associative similarity ratings are predicted by forward and backward, but not by competitor, strength. Preexisting strength is not a unitary construct, because its measurement varies with method. Furthermore, free association probabilities predict extralist cued recall better than do ratings and co-occurrence statistics. The measure that most closely matches the criterion task may provide the best estimate of the identity of preexisting strength.

Background Universities around the world are facing an epidemic of mental distress among their students. The problem is truly a public health issue, affecting many and with serious consequences. The global burden of disease-agenda calls for effective interventions with lasting effects that have the potential to improve the mental health of young adults. In this study we aimed to determine whether yoga, a popular and widely available mind-body practice, can improve student mental health. Methods We performed a randomised controlled trial with 202 healthy university students in the Oslo area. The participants were assigned to a yoga group or waitlist control group in a 1:1 ratio by a simple online randomisation program. The intervention group was offered 24 yoga sessions over 12 weeks. Measurements were taken at week 0 (baseline), week 12 (post-intervention), and week 24 (follow-up). The primary outcome was psychological distress assessed by the HSCL-25 questionnaire. Analysis was performed based on the intention to treat-principle. Results Between 24 January 2017, and 27 August 2017, we randomly assigned 202 students to a yoga intervention group ( n = 100), or waitlist control group ( n = 102). Compared with the control group, the yoga participants demonstrated a significant reduction in distress symptoms both at post-intervention (adjusted difference in the mean change −0.15, 95% CI −0.26 to −0.03, p = 0.0110) and follow-up (adjusted difference in the mean change −0.18, 95% CI −0.29 to −0.06, p = 0.0025). Sleep quality also improved at post-intervention and follow-up. No adverse events were reported. Conclusions Our findings suggest that yoga has a moderately large and lasting effect, at least for some months, reducing symptoms of distress and improving sleep quality among students. Further research should seek ways to enhance the effect, assess an even longer follow-up period, include active control groups, and consider performing similar studies in other cultural settings. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT04258540.