Positive Health Online

Abstract

SHAPIRO and co-workers, Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA, shaunashapiro@aol.com, have studied the efficacy of mindfulness-based stress reduction in the treatment of sleep disturbance in women with breast cancer.

Background

The diagnosis of breast cancer elicits greater distress than any other diagnosis. Therefore it seems important to investigate stress reduction interventions for women with breast cancer.

Methodology

This study is part of a larger randomized controlled study on mindfulness-based stress management, The current analysis looks at the effects of the intervention on sleep disturbances.

Results

Both mindfulness-based stress reduction and a free choice control condition produced significant improvement on daily diary sleep quality measures, though neither showed significant improvement on sleep efficiency. Participants in the mindfulness-based stress reduction who reported greater mindfulness practice improved significantly more on the sleep quality measures most strongly associated with distress.

Conclusion

Mindfulness-based stress reduction shows some promise as a means to improve the quality of sleep in women with breast cancer who experience sleep disturbances as a result of their distress.

References

Shapiro SL, Bootzin RR, Figueredo AJ, Lopez AM, Schwartz GE. The efficacy of mindfulness-based stress reduction in the treatment of sleep disturbance in women with breast cancer: an exploratory study. Journal of Psychosomatic Research 54 (1): 85-91, Jan 2003.