World Meditation Day is just days away, and I’m a big fan of meditation! I’m pretty certain my meditation practice is the primary reason why my more recent attempt at managing my PCOS without birth control was more successful than prior attempts. And there are some cool studies that support my hypothesis! This post will discuss one particular form of meditation, but don’t worry, more posts on other meditation practices are coming soon!

Walking meditation vs. traditional walking

In a perfect study, we randomly assign one group of people to a treatment group and another group to the control group. The treatment group should only differ in terms of the treatment itself, and in no other ways. Many meditation studies suffer from an imperfect treatment/control design. The treatment group often gathers for classes while the control group just does nothing. Or perhaps the treatment group is given meditation practices to complete at home, and again, the control group has nothing assigned to them. Then it’s impossible to truly distinguish the impact of meditation from having group classes or specific tasks to complete, which could arguably have beneficial effects on well-being.

Given that, I just love this study (Gainey et al. 2016) on walking meditation because they have the perfect control group: just regular walking. They can truly say the impacts they found are from the mindfulness practices themselves and nothing else!

So let’s dig into what the study did and what it found!

The researchers recruited 27 people with type 2 diabetes, and randomly assigned them to either a traditional walking program or a walking meditation program. Two people from each group ended up dropping out during the study, so they were left with 11 people in the traditional walking group and 12 in the walking meditation group.

Both groups completed 50-minute supervised sessions, 3 times per week, for 12 weeks. Both groups started with a 10 minute warm-up with static stretching, followed by 30 minutes of walking on a treadmill, and 10 minutes of cool down and more static stretching. For both groups, their target heart rates were 50 - 60% of their maximum heart rates for the first 6 weeks, and then 60 - 70% of their max heart rates for weeks 7 to 12. Both groups performed their walking on treadmills.

The traditional walking group just walked as they normally did. The walking meditation group was told to focus on their footsteps, and repeat “Budd” as one foot hit the treadmill belt and then “Dha” as the second foot hit the treadmill belt to keep their attention on their steps.

This focus on footsteps is the ONLY difference between the two groups. And yet, as we’ll see, there are major differences in outcomes!

The results: Walking meditation beats just regular walking!

Before and after the 12-week intervention, a variety of measurements were taken of both groups.

Neither group experienced any changes in body mass, BMI, body fat percentage, or heart rate.

The walking meditation group experienced a 12% decrease in systolic blood pressure (the top number) and an 8% decrease in diastolic blood pressure (the bottom number), with a starting average blood pressure of 145 over 85 and an ending average blood pressure of 128 over 78. The traditional walking group saw no changes in blood pressure.

While the regular walking group did not experience changes in blood pressure, both groups did experience increases in flow-mediated dilation, which means that their arteries were better able to adjust to changes in blood pressure after the intervention. However, only the walking meditation group experienced a reduction in brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity, a measure of artery stiffness that we want to see decrease.

Interestingly, while both groups saw increases in VO2 Max, the meditation group experienced a 28% increase while the traditional walking group experienced only a 15% increase. While there was no change in the actual physical training done, there was a tangible difference in physical improvement.

So while traditional walking has some benefit to cardiovascular health, the walking meditation group saw more improvements in their cardiovascular well-being.

In terms of insulin resistance, both groups saw reductions in fasting blood glucose levels, with levels in the traditional walking group decreasing by 12% and levels in the walking meditation group decreasing by 14%. However, only the walking meditation group experienced a decrease in HbA1c, a measure of insulin resistance, seeing a 10% decrease in this metric.

Neither group experienced any changes in any measure of cholesterol or triglycerides, but the walking meditation group experienced a whopping 57% reduction in cortisol levels. Cortisol is the primary stress hormone that causes a cascade of negative impacts in the body when it is chronically elevated. This reduction in cortisol is likely the main driver behind the cardiovascular and insulin sensitivity improvements noted above.

take home points

Walking meditation, just three times a week, can have a significant impact on health risks that disproportionately impact women with PCOS.

Walking meditation is a zero-cost intervention! Just put on some shoes and walk, while paying attention to each step you take.

When your mind wanders, and it will because you’re human, just bring your attention back to your steps.

You can use the “Budd” “Dha” method to keep your focus as done in this study or choose another 2 syllable word or two one-syllable words with meaning for you to keep track of your steps.

You might feel like you’re “awful” at meditation when you start, but you’re not. Keep at it! You’ve got this!

references

Gainey A, Himathongkam T, Tanaka H, Suksoma D. 2016. Effects of Buddhist walking meditation on glycemic control and vascular function in patients with type 2 diabetes. Complementary Therapies in Medicine, 26:92–97. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ctim.2016.03.009

Disclaimer: This post is not intended to diagnose or treat any medical issues. It is intended for informational purposes only. I am not a medical practitioner. Always consult a trusted healthcare provider with any questions you may have about a medical condition or treatment and before starting any new health care regimen.