meditation

The Effects of Meditation on Anxiety and Depression

This is another post in celebration of World Meditation Day, and it covers a study near and dear to my heart… because it’s my own study!

In fall 2020, serving as my department’s graduate coordinator, I was observing firsthand the impact that the pandemic was having on our students’ mental health. There are many studies that show meditation has positive impacts on mental health in both students and the general population. However, most of these studies either used time-intensive interventions where participants met regularly or were targeting health-related students (med students, nursing students, etc.). I knew that the last thing our students needed was another meeting on their calendar (and a Zoom meeting at that!), and I wasn’t sure if the effects found for health-focused students would carry over to our own students.

So I set out to find out!

The Effects of Transcendental Meditation on Metabolic Syndrome

In honor of World Meditation Day, we’ve got a second post on the impacts of meditation on health issues that often plague women with PCOS. The study discussed here (Paul-Labrador et al. 2006) considers transcendental meditation, a very different kind of meditation than the walking meditation discussed in the previous post.

PCOS and Exercise: Which Kind of Exercise Is Best?

Most people who know me know that I love working out. So I’m often asked what the best form of exercise is. I always reply with, “The one you will do consistently.” And I firmly believe this. But if you’re someone who enjoys different kinds of exercise, and in particular, if you’re someone who is troubleshooting a medical issue, some forms of exercise might be better than others, and that is the case for women with PCOS.