RSS Feeds

Email a Friend Printer Friendly

Yogic meditation may improve asthma symptoms, but little evidence for other relaxation therapies

January 25, 2002

A form of meditation based on yoga may help ease the symptoms of moderate to severe asthma, but there is little evidence that relaxation techniques help, overall. Research reported in Thorax shows that the evidence is not conclusive, largely because the research is flawed, but what positive effects there are seem to be short-lived.

Twenty one people were randomly assigned to Sahaja meditation, which aims for a state of full or heightened mental alertness, but with a complete absence of mental "busyness". Twenty six other people in a comparison group used different forms of relaxation, including positive affirmation, visualisations, and progressive muscle relaxation.

The programmes ran over four months, requiring a two hour session every week, and 10 to 20 minutes practice twice a day. All the participants had moderate to severe asthma which drug treatment had failed to improve. Drug treatment was continued throughout the four months of the study.

The airway responsiveness to drug treatment was significantly greater in the asthmatics who had meditated, equivalent to that achieved with a higher treatment dose. Quality of life measures did not differ between the two groups, but mood did improve more in the meditating asthmatics.

But there was no improvement in use of inhalers, reported symptoms, or breath strength (PEV). And two months after completing their respective programmes, there was no difference between the two groups on any count.

In a second study, the authors from the Department of Complementary Medicine at the University of Exeter reviewed published trial results into the effects on asthma of several relaxation therapies, including progressive muscular relaxation, hypnotherapy, autogenic training, biofeedback, and transcendental meditation.

Of 15 trials, five looked at progressive muscle relaxation or muscular and mental relaxation. Two showed significant improvements in lung function. But there was no evidence from the remaining trials that the other techniques were effective for asthma symptoms.

But the authors point out that the poor quality of the research seriously hindered an effective appraisal of the evidence. And they suggest that muscular relaxation may warrant further investigation.

British Medical Journal (BMJ)