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Can meditation shorten recovery time after surgery?
by Olivia Campbell
It’s normal to be anxious before undergoing a medical procedure or depressed after receiving a terminal diagnosis … But your feelings shouldn’t affect your health outcomes — right? Turns out, they very well might.
A significant number of studies suggest preoperative anxiety is associated with increased postoperative pain, slower recovery, increased risk of infection, and other negative outcomes. One study of 230 adults showed that those with negative attitudes before radiology treatments — fear, distress, or hostility — were more likely to experience unstable heart rate and blood pressure during the procedure, and had an increased risk of postoperative bleeding.
According to Linda Carlson, chair of psychosocial oncology research at the University of Calgary in Canada, stress and anxiety cause inflammatory cytokines and stress hormones to be secreted into the bloodstream. These, she says, “can have dampening effects on the immune system. Hence, people are less able to recover quickly from medical procedures like surgery, and their healing from wounds may be slower.”
But before you start worrying about worrying too much before your next medical procedure, it may help you to know that scientists’ next task has been to identify effective ways to reduce…
