Mindful meditation eases bowl disorder

Practicing a simple meditation technique called mindful meditation may help people suffering from symptoms of Irritable bowel disease syndrome (IBS).

University of North Carolina researchers showed a 38 percent reduction in IBS symptoms of the individuals engaged in mindful meditation; the improvement rate, however, was as low as 12 percent in the controls.

Moreover, meditation notably improves the patients' psychological distress and quality of life, according to the study presented at the Digestive Disease Week meeting in Chicago.

Mindful meditation "empowers" patients to deal with an illness that is difficult to treat, said study co-author Olafur Palsson. "It's not easy to treat IBS, even with the best standard medical approaches. It's chronic and, over time, it’s hard to treat because it is complicated."

"It’s a different way of using the mind and being aware," said Palsson, adding that more than 200 hospitals around the country offer the mindfulness meditation-training program.

The mediation method "becomes second nature after a while," said Palsson, adding that, "this is not a clinical treatment, it’s more educational."