The effects of meditation on length of telomeres in healthy individuals: a systematic review

Dasanayaka, Nirodhi Namika; Sirisena, Nirmala Dushyanthi; Samaranayake, Nilakshi

doi:10.1186/s13643-021-01699-1

Cited by 10 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…To identify relevant studies, we used five electronic databases (PsychINFO, Pubmed, Clinical Key, CINHAL Complete, and Google Scholar) as well as the reference lists of the three previously published reviews (Dasanayaka et al, 2021;Dunn & Dimolareva, 2022;Schutte & Malouff, 2014;Schutte et al, 2020). For the electronic database search, we employed a multi-tiered search strategy.…”

Section: Search Strategy and Study Selectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Risk of bias assessments was adopted from prior reviews (Dasanayaka et al, 2021;Dunn & Dimolareva, 2022) for studies, which had been included in these reviews. Independent assessments were conducted for studies, which had not been rated before.…”

Section: Quality Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Information about the risk of bias in individual studies was missing in Schutte et al (2020) and Schutte and Malouff (2014). The systematic review by Dasanayaka et al (2021) focused only on healthy subjects, while the systematic review of Black and Slavich (2016) focused more on immune-related biomarkers and only included few studies assessing telomere length or telomerase activity. Both did not provide any statistical synthesis.…”

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confidence: 99%

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The Effects of Mindfulness-Based Interventions on Telomere Length and Telomerase Activity: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

et al. 2023

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Objectives Previous meta-analyses suggested that mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) may have beneficial effects on telomere length (TL) and telomerase activity (TA), two biological markers of cellular aging and cell stress. The present review aimed to provide the most comprehensive synthesis of the available evidence to date and tested a number of important effect moderators. Method Twenty-five studies (18 RCTs, 1 RCT and cohort study, 6 non-randomized studies) with 2099 participants in total were obtained with a systematic literature search, 10 studies had not been included in any previous meta-analysis. Effect sizes were aggregated with random-effects models, the risk of bias was evaluated with standardized checklists, and the most influential moderators were identified with a machine-learning approach. Results On average, MBIs had small-to-medium effects on TL (g = 0.23, 95% CI = [0.07, 0.39], p = 0.006) and TA (g = 0.37 [0.01, 0.73], p = 0.046), which, however, were driven by retrospective case–control studies with experienced meditators (TL) and by studies without control interventions and studies from Asia (TA). Most studies had an unclear risk of bias and low analytic power, and there was an indication of publication bias among the TL studies. Conclusions TL may not be a useful outcome to assess the efficacy of common MBIs. Effects on TA were smaller than previously assumed and may not be specific for MBIs; TA likely is increased by other active interventions as well. More high-quality and high-powered studies, which also apply open-science practices, are needed to move the field forward.

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Section: Search Strategy and Study Selectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Quality Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Effects of Mindfulness-Based Interventions on Telomere Length and Telomerase Activity: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

et al. 2023

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“…If we consider several recent publications within the field of meditation research, we can start to articulate the confusion that surrounds the definition of meditation. Many investigators state that they study meditation only involving a specific techniques, such as FA (Dasanayaka et al, 2021;Zhang et al, 2021). In other studies different forms of meditation have been lumped together without any justification of the implicit claim that they have something essential in common (Haider et al, 2021;Sumantry and Stewart, 2021).…”

Section: Challenges For Defining Meditationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Defining Meditation: Foundations for an Activity-Based Phenomenological Classification System

Sparby

Sacchet

2022

Front. Psychol.

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Classifying different meditation techniques is essential for the progress of meditation research, as this will enable discerning which effects are associated with which techniques, in addition to supporting the development of increasingly effective and efficient meditation-based training programs and clinical interventions. However, both the task of defining meditation itself, as well as defining specific techniques, faces many fundamental challenges. Here we describe problems involved in this endeavor and suggest an integrated model for defining meditation. For classifying different meditation techniques, we draw on classical, contemporary, and holistic systems of classification. We analyze different techniques and propose that all meditation techniques are based on a specific set of activities, that is: focusing, releasing, imagining, and moving in relation to an object of meditation, including fields of experience. Meditative activities can be combined and unified in the activities of observing, producing, and being aware. All meditative activities are unified in awareness of awareness. Defining specific meditation techniques may be done by specifying which activities and objects are involved. The advantage of our approach is that it can potentially account for the inner workings of all current systems of classification and hence it lays the foundation for formulating an overarching system of meditation that can guide future research and practice.

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“…A systematic review, which investigated the effects of meditation on telomere length, found positive effects on telomere length of two randomized controlled trials and three case control studies of high and moderate quality, although only one randomized trial and one case control study obtained statistical significance [108].…”

Section: Stress Management and Psychological Interventionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nutrition, Exercise, and Stress Management for Treatment and Prevention of Psychiatric Disorders. A Narrative Review Psychoneuroendocrineimmunology-Based

Bottaccioli

Marzola

et al. 2021

Endocrines

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Psychoneuroendocrineimmunology (PNEI) brings together knowledge acquired since the 1930s from endocrinology, immunology, neuroscience, and psychology. With PNEI, a model of research and interpretation of health and disease is emerging, which sees the human body as a structured and interconnected unit, where the psychological and biological systems are mutually coordinated. In the PNEI view, many factors could influence mental health, with the endocrine system involved in mediating the effects of environmental stress on mental health and inflammation in the onset and course of psychiatric disorders as a result of individual and collective conditions and behaviors. Among these, nutrition is one way by which the environment impacts physiology: indeed, many pieces of research showed that several elements (e.g., probiotics, fish oil, zinc) have a positive effect on mental disorders thus being potentially augmentation agents in treatment. Still, physical activity can moderate depressive symptoms, while prolonged stress increases the risk of psychopathology. Taken together, the PNEI-based approach may inform prevention and treatment strategies, also in the field of mental health care.

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The effects of meditation on length of telomeres in healthy individuals: a systematic review

Cited by 10 publications

References 23 publications

The Effects of Mindfulness-Based Interventions on Telomere Length and Telomerase Activity: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

The Effects of Mindfulness-Based Interventions on Telomere Length and Telomerase Activity: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Defining Meditation: Foundations for an Activity-Based Phenomenological Classification System

Nutrition, Exercise, and Stress Management for Treatment and Prevention of Psychiatric Disorders. A Narrative Review Psychoneuroendocrineimmunology-Based

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