Meditation during COVID-19 led to significant benefits for frontline nurses

Editor's Note

According to a new study, transcendental meditation significantly benefitted the mental health and well-being of frontline nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings were published in the Journal of Nursing Administration on December 11. 

Transcendental Meditation, or TM, involves sitting with the eyes closed for 20 minutes to settle the active mind and achieve a state of inner calm. For the study, 104 nurses in three Florida hospitals participated over the course of 3 months. Those assigned to the meditation group worked with certified TM teachers, including follow-up meetings. 

Some of the results include:

• a 62% decrease in anxiety in the TM group from baseline to 1 month compared to 3% in the controls
• a 54% decrease in the TM group after 3 months compared to 17% in the controls
• PTSD decreased 53% from baseline to 1 month in the TM group compared to 9% in the controls and 57% in the TM group over 3 months compared to a 17% decrease in the controls
• burnout decreased by 27% from baseline to 1 month in the TM group compared to no change in the controls, and 24% in the TM group over the 3 months compared to no change in controls
• in the TM group, “flourishing” improved by 15% from baseline to 1 month compared to a 1% decrease in the controls and increased 16% in the TM group compared to a 3% increase in controls from baseline to 3 months.

These results indicate this practice, which can be incorporated easily in most settings, could provide important support for nurses. Future studies may look at how TM could be incorporated into clinical shifts.