A new study from researchers at the University of Montreal suggests mindfulness-based meditation can improve sleep and help with depression in teenagers with cancer.
From the news post on the University of Montreal website:
Adolescents living with cancer face not only the physical symptoms of their condition, but also the anxiety and uncertainty related to the progression of the disease, the anticipation of physical and emotional pain related to illness and treatment, the significant changes implied in living with cancer, as well as the fear of recurrence after remission.
The study consisted of two groups of teenage cancer patients: an experimental group who took part in eight 90-minute mindfulness-based meditation sessions, and a control group who were placed on a waiting list.
Both groups filled out a questionnaire asking about mood, sleep, and quality of life prior to the study. Following the meditation sessions, both groups filled out the same questionnaire again.
Researchers found the group who had taken part in the sessions reported lower states of depression in the second questionnaire, and the female participants in that group reported improved sleep. Catherine Malboeuf-Hurtubise is the study’s head author and she’s a researcher with the university’s psychology department.…
