Researchers from the University at Buffalo School of Nursing have discovered that mindfulness may offer significant relief for people living with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
Their study, published in Heart & Lung in December 2024, found that people with COPD who actively practice mindfulness experience fewer severe symptoms, including anxiety, shortness of breath, fatigue, and insomnia.
How Mindfulness Helps with COPD Symptoms
The study, led by Dr. Tania T. Von Visger and Dr. Yu-Ping Chang, surveyed 339 adults with COPD. It showed that people who practice mindfulness—not just those who are aware of it—report a much lower severity of symptoms.
Notably, those who engaged in mindfulness had significantly lower anxiety levels compared to those who simply knew about mindfulness but did not actively use it in their daily lives.
Dr. Von Visger explained that mindfulness involves being fully aware of one’s thoughts, emotions, and bodily sensations in the present moment without judgment. Structured mindfulness programs, such as Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), have been tested for decades in chronic pain patients and other conditions.
Mindfulness has roots in Buddhist traditions but has been widely adopted across different cultures in practices such as tai chi, qi gong, yoga, and even group drumming.
Mindfulness-Based Interventions (MBIs) for COPD
The study confirmed that mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) can help people with COPD manage their symptoms and improve their overall well-being. These interventions could become an important tool in COPD care, especially as mindfulness has already shown benefits in managing other chronic illnesses.
The researchers also found that factors like age, education level, and depression symptoms influenced how people practiced mindfulness, but gender and disease severity did not. This means that mindfulness could be helpful for a wide range of COPD patients, but programs may need to be tailored based on personal background and life circumstances.
One surprising finding was that non-white participants were more likely to practice mindfulness than white participants. The researchers believe this should be studied further to understand how different cultural backgrounds affect mindfulness adoption.
Challenges in Promoting Mindfulness for COPD Patients
While mindfulness is linked to better symptom control and a higher quality of life, introducing it to people who have never practiced it can be challenging. Dr. Von Visger emphasized the need to support beginners and help them integrate mindfulness into their daily lives.
Factors like cultural background, age, and education level should be considered when recommending mindfulness programs to COPD patients.
Another challenge is that people who enroll in mindfulness-related studies are often already interested in the practice. This means researchers may not fully understand how people outside of clinical trials perceive and use mindfulness in real-life settings.
Learning more about this could help healthcare providers design better strategies for introducing, integrating, and sustaining mindfulness practices among people with chronic conditions like COPD.
Why This Matters
For COPD patients, managing symptoms can be difficult, and traditional treatments alone may not always be enough. This study adds to growing evidence that mindfulness can be a useful, non-drug approach to improving their quality of life. By reducing stress, anxiety, and physical discomfort, mindfulness may help COPD patients feel more in control of their health.
Moving forward, researchers hope to explore better ways to introduce mindfulness to those unfamiliar with it and ensure that mindfulness programs are accessible and effective for all COPD patients.
The research findings can be found in Heart & Lung.
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