Depression and poor sleep often affect both dementia patients and their caregivers. Now new research shows that caregivers and patients who undergo mindfulness training together experience an improvement in mood, sleep and overall quality of life.
While past studies have shown that yoga and simple meditations can relieve caregivers' stress, researchers at Northwestern University wanted to determine if patients and caregivers could be trained together.
In the small study (subscription required), pairs of patients and caregiver participated in an eight-week mindfulness program. Patients were diagnosed with dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease or mild cognitive impairment, often a precursor to dementia. Caregivers included spouses, adult children or other relatives. The training was designed specifically to meet the needs of individuals with memory loss due to terminal neurodegenerative illness and their caregivers. Researchers evaluated participants within two weeks of starting the program and two weeks of completing it. Lead author Ken Paller, PhD, explained the results in a release:
We saw lower depression scores and improved ratings on sleep quality and quality of life for both groups... After eight sessions of this training we observed a positive difference in their lives.
Mindfulness involves attentive awareness with acceptance for events in the present moment... You don’t have to be drawn into wishing things were different. Mindfulness training in this way takes advantage of people’s abilities rather than focusing on their difficulties
Since caregivers often have limited personal time, mindfulness programs that accommodate them as well as patients could be an effective approach to helping both groups regularly attend sessions, said researchers.
The findings were published Monday in the American Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Dementias.
Previously: Regularly practicing hatha yoga may improve brain function for older adults, Study suggests yoga may help caregivers of dementia patients manage stress and How mindfulness-based therapies can improve attention and health
Photo by Alex
