Om

Posted by Liz on Jun 15, 2008 in hot flash, Meditation/mindfulness therapy | 0 comments

Can meditation ease hot flashes? Dr. James Carmody, an assistant professor in the Division of Preventive and Behaviorial Medicine at the University of Massachusetts School of Medicine, has conducted research that suggests it can.

This small study enrolled 15 women experiencing at least 7 moderate to severe hot flashes daily to test the hypothesis that stress and hot flashes are linked. For 7 weeks, study participants attended mindfulness-based stress reduction classes that included meditation and kept a daily hot flash log during and 4 weeks after classes ended. Participants were also evaluated for menopause-related quality of life before the start and after the conclusion of mindfulness classes. The results? There was a 40% decline in weekly average hot flash severity and quality of life increased significantly.

Dr. Carmody evidently believes in these findings so much that he is currently recruiting hot flashers for a larger clinical study.

Meanwhile, I ran across this guided meditation for hot flashers on the web.