Heart Survivors Regain Their Quality Of Life Via Meditation

Quality of life can be improved in heart attack patients along with the reduction in fear of activity with the aid of an eight-week program of mindfulness meditation, as per research at ESC Acute Cardiovascular Care 2021, an online scientific congress of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).1

"A heart attack is a serious life-threatening event and survivors can suffer from low quality of life. One reason is a fear of movement, called kinesiophobia, which limits daily activity due to concerns of another heart attack." "Mindfulness refers to the mental state achieved by focusing awareness on the present moment, including thoughts, feelings, and physical sensations. It has drawn increasing attention to treating chronic conditions such as high blood pressure. Our study examined its effect on fatigue, kinesiophobia, and quality of life after an acute myocardial infarction", says study author Dr. Canan Karadas of Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey.

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‘Quality of life can be improved in heart attack patients along with the reduction in fear of activity with the aid of an eight-week program of mindfulness meditation. This revealed that the patients in the mindfulness group experienced overall better quality of life as compared to the control group with better improvement in emotional function.’

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The study team randomly enrolled 56 patients with an average age of 55 years and a history of heart attack for a mindfulness or control group for eight weeks. One 15-minute individual education session on the structure and function of the heart, the coronary arteries, and diseases of the heart was attended by the control group.

Whereas patients assigned to the mindfulness intervention underwent a 15-minute individual session on the description of the technique followed by 15 minutes of supervised practice. During the session the patients were asked to sit comfortably on a chair with their backs straight and eyes closed. They were then instructed to breathe deeply - inhaling through the nose and exhaling through the mouth using the diaphragm - and focus on their breathing and the present moment.

Meditation for Heart Attack Survivors

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Heart attack is the death of the heart muscle due to loss of blood supply. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. Other names for heart attack include acute myocardial infarction, coronary thrombosis, and coronary occlusion.

To evaluate compliance with the study protocol and promote motivation for meditation, the participants received a recording of the instructions via WhatsApp along with daily reminders (text messages or phone calls) to repeat the 15-minute session every day at home in a quiet room.

Assessment tools such as the Piper Fatigue Scale for fatigue measurement, Tampa Scale for Kinesiophobia Heart questionnaire, and MacNew Heart Disease Health-Related Quality of Life questionnaire were utilized to evaluate daily function overall physically, emotionally, and socially at baseline and weeks - four, eight, and twelve.

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No differences were reported at the baseline in the three variables between the intervention and control groups. However patients in the mindfulness group had less fear of movement compared to the control group four weeks and it was sustained at 8th and 12th week too.

This revealed that the patients in the mindfulness group experienced overall better quality of life as compared to the control group. The changes seemed to improve better in emotional function in the 12th week. Measurements of fatigue did not vary between the two groups at any time point.

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"Our study shows that mindfulness can reduce the fear of movement and improve quality of life in heart attack survivors, with effects extending beyond the completion of the intervention. One explanation may be that meditation replaces catastrophic thinking with positive thoughts, making patients feel less emotionally and physically vulnerable. The findings suggest that mindfulness may be considered in the rehabilitation of patients after a heart attack. These results are very encouraging but more studies are needed to confirm our findings", says Dr. Canan Karadas.

Source-Medindia