10/08/2024
How Mindfulness Can Help with POTS?
Mindfulness meditation has been shown to be beneficial for managing the symptoms of postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS):
- Mindfulness can help shift your focus from the "driven mind" to the "being mind", allowing you to accept your condition rather than trying to "fix" it. This can reduce stress and improve quality of life.
- Mindfulness training has been found to improve autonomic responses to stress and reduce hypervigilance and catastrophic interpretations of POTS symptoms. This helps break cycles of negative thoughts and actions that can exacerbate distress.
- Mindfulness-based interventions have been shown to significantly improve mental health, quality of life, and physical functioning in patients with various chronic conditions[3]. The benefits likely extend to POTS as well.
- Specific mindfulness exercises like body scans and grounding techniques can help relax the body, reduce pain and tension, and achieve a calmer state of mind[5]. Regularly practicing these exercises can provide a coping mechanism for managing POTS.
- One POTS patient reported that mindfulness has given her illness a "perimeter" - she still has bad days, but is learning to accept her altered state and focus on the positive rather than projecting fear about the future.
In summary, mindfulness appears to be a promising complementary therapy for POTS patients to improve emotional well-being, reduce symptom-related anxiety, and enhance quality of life. It provides tools to manage the condition with greater acceptance and resilience.
Meditation And Mindfulness “Like a clear, still pool without ripples, mindfulness mirrors what’s occurring without distortion so that we can gain perspective on ourselves and our lives. We can then wisely determine the best course of action to help ourselves. It takes courage to turn toward our ...
