{"id":174825,"date":"2015-10-13T14:00:13","date_gmt":"2015-10-13T18:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/webadmin.news-harvard.go-vip.net\/gazette\/gazette\/?p=174825"},"modified":"2019-03-08T15:55:00","modified_gmt":"2019-03-08T20:55:00","slug":"relaxation-response-proves-positive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2015\/10\/relaxation-response-proves-positive\/","title":{"rendered":"Relaxation response proves positive"},"content":{"rendered":"<header\n\tclass=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-article-header alignfull article-header is-style-full-width-text-below centered-image\"\n\tstyle=\" \"\n>\n\t<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" height=\"403\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/relaxing.jpg\" width=\"605\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">Previous studies have shown that eliciting the relaxation response \u2014 a physiologic state of deep rest \u2014 not only relieves stress and anxiety, but also affects physiologic factors such as blood pressure, heart rate, and oxygen consumption. <\/p><p class=\"wp-element-caption--credit\">Pexels.com<\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\t<div class=\"article-header__content\">\n\t\t\t<a\n\t\t\tclass=\"article-header__category\"\n\t\t\thref=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/health\/\"\n\t\t>\n\t\t\tHealth\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\n\t\t<h1 class=\"article-header__title wp-block-heading \">\n\t\tRelaxation response proves positive\t<\/h1>\n\n\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t<div class=\"article-header__meta\">\n\t\t<div class=\"wp-block-post-author\">\n\t\t\t<address class=\"wp-block-post-author__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"author wp-block-post-author__name\">\n\t\tSue McGreevey\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-block-post-author__byline\">\n\t\t\tMassachusetts General Hospital Public Affairs\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/address>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t<time class=\"article-header__date\" datetime=\"2015-10-13\">\n\t\t\tOctober 13, 2015\t\t<\/time>\n\n\t\t<span class=\"article-header__reading-time\">\n\t\t\t5 min read\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n\t\t\t<h2 class=\"article-header__subheading wp-block-heading\">\n\t\t\tStudy reveals how mind-body medicine could cut health care costs\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\n<\/header>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignwide has-global-padding is-content-justification-center is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n\n\n\t\t\r\n<div class=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-supporting-content alignleft supporting-content\" id=\"supporting-content-a50d1bdf-21b4-4108-99c5-3408516f2c5f\">\n\t<div class=\"featured-articles is-post-type-post is-style-grid-list\"  style=\"\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"featured-articles__title wp-block-heading\">More like this<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t<ul class=\"featured-articles__list \">\n\t\t\n\t\t<li class=\"featured-article \">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<figure class=\"featured-article__image\">\n\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"750\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/calm-daylight-evening-267967.jpg?resize=1200%2C750\" class=\"attachment-large-landscape-desktop size-large-landscape-desktop\" alt=\"Meditator\" srcset=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/calm-daylight-evening-267967.jpg?resize=608,380 608w, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/calm-daylight-evening-267967.jpg?resize=784,490 784w, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/calm-daylight-evening-267967.jpg?resize=1024,640 1024w, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/calm-daylight-evening-267967.jpg?resize=1200,750 1200w, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/calm-daylight-evening-267967.jpg?resize=1488,930 1488w, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/calm-daylight-evening-267967.jpg?resize=1680,1050 1680w\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<div class=\"featured-article__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<a class=\"featured-article__category\" href=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/health\/\">\n\t\t\tHealth\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"featured-article__title wp-block-heading \"><a href=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2011\/01\/eight-weeks-to-a-better-brain\/\">Eight weeks to a better brain<\/a><\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"featured-article__meta\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<time class=\"featured-article__date\" datetime=\"2011-01-21\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJanuary 21, 2011\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/time>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"featured-article__reading-time\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t4 min read\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/li>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t<\/div>\r\n\r\n<p>Relaxation-response techniques, such as meditation, yoga, and prayer, could reduce the need for health care services by 43 percent, according to a study at Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) that looked at participants in a relaxation-response-focused training program.<\/p>\n<p>Previous studies have shown that eliciting the relaxation response \u2014 a physiologic state of deep rest \u2014 not only relieves stress and anxiety, but also affects physiologic factors such as blood pressure, heart rate, and oxygen consumption.<\/p>\n<p>The paper\u2019s authors noted that stress-related illnesses, such as anxiety and depression, are the third-highest causes of health expenditures in the United States after heart disease and cancer (which also are affected by stress).<\/p>\n<p>The study, based at MGH\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bensonhenryinstitute.org\/\">Institute for Technology Assessment and the Benson-Henry Institute<\/a> (BHI) for Mind Body Medicine, found that individuals in the relaxation-response program used fewer health care services in the year after their participation than in the preceding year.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"http:\/\/dx.plos.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0140212\">report<\/a> was published Tuesday in the open-access journal <a href=\"http:\/\/www.plosone.org\/\">PLOS ONE.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur study\u2019s primary finding is that programs that train patients to elicit the relaxation response \u2014 specifically those taught at the BHI \u2014 can also dramatically reduce health care utilization,\u201d said James E. Stahl of the MGH Institute for Technology Assessment, who led the study. \u201cThese programs promote wellness and, in our environment of constrained health care resources, could potentially ease the burden on our health delivery systems at minimal cost and at no real risk.\u201d Previously affiliated with the Benson-Henry Institute, Stahl is now based at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center.<\/p>\n\n<p>The relaxation response was first described more than 40 years ago by Harvard Medical School Professor Herbert Benson, founder and director <em>emeritus<\/em> of the BHI and a co-author of the current study. The physiologic opposite of the well-documented fight-or-flight response, the relaxation response is elicited by practices including meditation, deep breathing, and prayer, and has been shown to be helpful in the treatment of stress-related disorders ranging from anxiety to hypertension.<\/p>\n<p>To analyze the potential impact of mind-body interventions like the relaxation response on use of health care services, the researchers examined information available through the <a href=\"https:\/\/rc.partners.org\/about\/who-we-are-risc\/research-patient-data-registry\">Research Patient Data Registry (RPDR) of Partners HealthCare<\/a>. The research team gathered data on individuals participating in the BHI Relaxation Response Resiliency Program (3RP) from 2006 to 2014. The program combined elicitation of the relaxation response with social support, cognitive-skills training, and positive psychology designed to build resiliency.<\/p>\n<p>Data regarding more than 4,400 3RP participants\u2019 use of Partners system services in the years before and after their participation was compared with information from a demographically matched control group of almost 13,150 Partners patients over a similar two-year period. To address the possibility that 3RP participants had been more frequent users of health services in the year before their participation, the researchers also compared a subgroup of almost 1,200 3RP participants that excluded those with the highest pre-participation utilization levels with a subgroup of 222 controls whose initial healthcare utilization exactly matched those of the 3RP participants in the first of the two studied years.<\/p>\n<p>Based on the number of health care encounters in the studied period, which included interactions in any setting \u2014 imaging studies, lab tests, and procedures \u2014 the 3RP participants had an average reduction of 43 percent in their use of health care services in the year after their participation.<\/p>\n<p>The control group had an overall, but not statistically significant, increase in service utilization in the second year. The utilization-matched 3RP subgroup had a reduction of around 25 percent across all clinical services. Clinical areas in which 3RP participation was associated with the greatest reduction in service utilization were neurologic, cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, and gastrointestinal. The investigators estimate that the price of participating in programs like 3RP would be made up in costs savings in four to six months or less.<\/p>\n<p>Stahl noted that the results of this investigation need to be validated by a prospective study that would also explore where and when best to use mind-body interventions like the <a href=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/3rp.pdf\">Benson-Henry Relaxation Response Resiliency Program<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think of it this way: There are many gates to wellness, but not everyone is ready to walk through a particular gate at a given time. From a public health perspective, it is better to be prepared to offer these tools to people in their customary settings than to wait for them to seek out these interventions. For that reason, we feel that mind-body interventions \u2014 which are both low-cost and essentially risk-free \u2014 should perhaps be incorporated into regular preventive care.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Benson added, \u201cFrom the outset, our primary goal has been to enhance the health and well-being of people by counteracting the harmful effects of stress and alleviating the many diseases that are caused or exacerbated by stress. The challenge now is to disseminate these findings, which we feel will be of great interest to health care payors [such as insurance companies] and policy makers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Benson is the Mind Body Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and Stahl is an associate professor of Medicine at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth-Hitchcock.<\/p>\n<p>Additional co-authors of the PLOS ONE paper were Michelle Dossett, John Denninger, Darshan Mehta, Roberta Goldman, and Gregory Fricchione of the Benson-Henry Institute; and Scott LaJoie of the University of Louisville.<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bensonhenryinstitute.org\/\">Mind-Body Medicine: New Science and Best Practices to Meet Public Health Challenges&#8221;<\/a> will take place Nov. 5-8 at Harvard Medical School&#8217;s Joseph Martin Conference Center. The conference features Herbert Benson and Jon Kabat-Zinn, who will explore the scope, current status, and future of mind-body medicine as part of conventional health care protocol.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Relaxation-response techniques, such as meditation, yoga, and prayer, could reduce the need for health care services by 43 percent, according to a Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital study that looked at participants in a relaxation-response-focused training program.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":105622744,"featured_media":174830,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"gz_ga_pageviews":292,"gz_ga_lastupdated":"2024-07-29 19:25","document_color_palette":"crimson","author":"Sue McGreevey","affiliation":"Massachusetts General Hospital Public Affairs","_category_override":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[39644],"tags":[2213,5616,16801,18649,23037,23747,26800,27695,29053,29055],"gazette-formats":[],"series":[],"class_list":["post-174825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","tag-the-relaxation-response","tag-benson-henry-institute-bhi-for-mind-body-medicine","tag-herbert-benson","tag-james-e-stahl","tag-massachusetts-general-hospital","tag-mgh-institute-for-technology-assessment","tag-partners-healthcare","tag-plos-one","tag-relaxation-response","tag-relaxation-response-focused-training-program"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v23.0 (Yoast SEO v27.1.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Relaxation response proves positive &#8212; 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rate, and oxygen consumption. ","mediaId":174830,"mediaSize":"full","mediaType":"image","mediaUrl":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/relaxing.jpg","poster":"","title":"Relaxation response proves positive","subheading":"Study reveals how mind-body medicine could cut health care costs","centeredImage":true,"className":"is-style-full-width-text-below","mediaHeight":403,"mediaWidth":605,"backgroundFixed":false,"backgroundTone":"light","coloredBackground":false,"displayOverlay":true,"fadeInText":false,"isAmbient":false,"mediaLength":"","mediaPosition":"","posterText":"","titleAbove":false,"useUncroppedImage":false,"lock":[],"metadata":[]},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img alt=\"\" height=\"403\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/relaxing.jpg\" width=\"605\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">Previous studies have shown that eliciting the relaxation response \u2014 a physiologic state of deep rest \u2014 not only relieves stress and anxiety, but also affects physiologic factors such as blood pressure, heart rate, and oxygen consumption. <\/p><p class=\"wp-element-caption--credit\">Pexels.com<\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","innerContent":["<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img alt=\"\" height=\"403\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/relaxing.jpg\" width=\"605\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">Previous studies have shown that eliciting the relaxation response \u2014 a physiologic state of deep rest \u2014 not only relieves stress and anxiety, but also affects physiologic factors such as blood pressure, heart rate, and oxygen consumption. <\/p><p class=\"wp-element-caption--credit\">Pexels.com<\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n"],"rendered":"<header\n\tclass=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-article-header alignfull article-header is-style-full-width-text-below centered-image\"\n\tstyle=\" \"\n>\n\t<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img alt=\"\" height=\"403\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/relaxing.jpg\" width=\"605\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">Previous studies have shown that eliciting the relaxation response \u2014 a physiologic state of deep rest \u2014 not only relieves stress and anxiety, but also affects physiologic factors such as blood pressure, heart rate, and oxygen consumption. <\/p><p class=\"wp-element-caption--credit\">Pexels.com<\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\t<div class=\"article-header__content\">\n\t\t\t<a\n\t\t\tclass=\"article-header__category\"\n\t\t\thref=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/health\/\"\n\t\t>\n\t\t\tHealth\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\n\t\t<h1 class=\"article-header__title wp-block-heading \">\n\t\tRelaxation response proves positive\t<\/h1>\n\n\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t<div class=\"article-header__meta\">\n\t\t<div class=\"wp-block-post-author\">\n\t\t\t<address class=\"wp-block-post-author__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"author wp-block-post-author__name\">\n\t\tSue McGreevey\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-block-post-author__byline\">\n\t\t\tMassachusetts General Hospital Public Affairs\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/address>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t<time class=\"article-header__date\" datetime=\"2015-10-13\">\n\t\t\tOctober 13, 2015\t\t<\/time>\n\n\t\t<span class=\"article-header__reading-time\">\n\t\t\t5 min read\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n\t\t\t<h2 class=\"article-header__subheading wp-block-heading\">\n\t\t\tStudy reveals how mind-body medicine could cut health care costs\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\n<\/header>\n"},"2":{"blockName":"core\/group","attrs":{"templateLock":false,"metadata":{"name":"Article content"},"align":"wide","layout":{"type":"constrained","justifyContent":"center"},"tagName":"div","lock":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","ariaLabel":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[{"blockName":"core\/freeform","attrs":{"content":"","lock":[],"metadata":[]},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n\t\t","innerContent":["\n\t\t"],"rendered":"\n\t\t"},{"blockName":"harvard-gazette\/supporting-content","attrs":{"id":"a50d1bdf-21b4-4108-99c5-3408516f2c5f","align":"left","allowedBlocks":[],"style":[],"lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":""},"innerBlocks":[{"blockName":"harvard-gazette\/featured-articles","attrs":{"autoGenerate":false,"className":"is-style-grid-list","inPostContent":true,"numberOfPosts":1,"postIds":[71172],"showExcerpt":false,"title":"More like this","category":"","carouselOnDesktop":false,"isEditor":false,"linkText":"See all book reviews","passPostIds":false,"postOverrides":[],"postTypeOverride":"post","receivePostIds":false,"series":"","showCategory":true,"showDate":true,"gridColumns":2,"showDropShadow":false,"showFormat":true,"showImage":true,"showImageZoom":false,"showSeries":true,"showReadMore":true,"showReadTime":true,"tags":[],"useCurrentTerm":false,"lock":[],"metadata":[],"align":"","style":[]},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"","innerContent":[],"rendered":"\n\t<div class=\"featured-articles is-post-type-post is-style-grid-list\"  style=\"\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"featured-articles__title wp-block-heading\">More like this<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t<ul class=\"featured-articles__list \">\n\t\t\n\t\t<li class=\"featured-article \">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<figure class=\"featured-article__image\">\n\t\t\t\t<img width=\"1200\" height=\"750\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/calm-daylight-evening-267967.jpg?resize=1200%2C750\" class=\"attachment-large-landscape-desktop size-large-landscape-desktop\" alt=\"Meditator\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/calm-daylight-evening-267967.jpg?resize=608,380 608w, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/calm-daylight-evening-267967.jpg?resize=784,490 784w, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/calm-daylight-evening-267967.jpg?resize=1024,640 1024w, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/calm-daylight-evening-267967.jpg?resize=1200,750 1200w, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/calm-daylight-evening-267967.jpg?resize=1488,930 1488w, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/calm-daylight-evening-267967.jpg?resize=1680,1050 1680w\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<div class=\"featured-article__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<a class=\"featured-article__category\" href=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/health\/\">\n\t\t\tHealth\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"featured-article__title wp-block-heading \"><a href=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2011\/01\/eight-weeks-to-a-better-brain\/\">Eight weeks to a better brain<\/a><\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"featured-article__meta\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<time class=\"featured-article__date\" datetime=\"2011-01-21\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJanuary 21, 2011\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/time>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"featured-article__reading-time\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t4 min read\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/li>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t"}],"innerHTML":"<div class=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-supporting-content alignleft supporting-content\" id=\"supporting-content-a50d1bdf-21b4-4108-99c5-3408516f2c5f\"><\/div>","innerContent":["<div class=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-supporting-content alignleft supporting-content\" id=\"supporting-content-a50d1bdf-21b4-4108-99c5-3408516f2c5f\">","<\/div>"],"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-supporting-content alignleft supporting-content\" id=\"supporting-content-a50d1bdf-21b4-4108-99c5-3408516f2c5f\">\n\t<div class=\"featured-articles is-post-type-post is-style-grid-list\"  style=\"\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"featured-articles__title wp-block-heading\">More like this<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t<ul class=\"featured-articles__list \">\n\t\t\n\t\t<li class=\"featured-article \">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<figure class=\"featured-article__image\">\n\t\t\t\t<img width=\"1200\" height=\"750\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/calm-daylight-evening-267967.jpg?resize=1200%2C750\" class=\"attachment-large-landscape-desktop size-large-landscape-desktop\" alt=\"Meditator\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/calm-daylight-evening-267967.jpg?resize=608,380 608w, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/calm-daylight-evening-267967.jpg?resize=784,490 784w, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/calm-daylight-evening-267967.jpg?resize=1024,640 1024w, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/calm-daylight-evening-267967.jpg?resize=1200,750 1200w, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/calm-daylight-evening-267967.jpg?resize=1488,930 1488w, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/calm-daylight-evening-267967.jpg?resize=1680,1050 1680w\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<div class=\"featured-article__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<a class=\"featured-article__category\" href=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/health\/\">\n\t\t\tHealth\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"featured-article__title wp-block-heading \"><a href=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2011\/01\/eight-weeks-to-a-better-brain\/\">Eight weeks to a better brain<\/a><\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"featured-article__meta\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<time class=\"featured-article__date\" datetime=\"2011-01-21\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJanuary 21, 2011\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/time>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"featured-article__reading-time\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t4 min read\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/li>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t<\/div>"},{"blockName":"core\/freeform","attrs":{"content":"","lock":[],"metadata":[]},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\r\n<p>Relaxation-response techniques, such as meditation, yoga, and prayer, could reduce the need for health care services by 43 percent, according to a study at Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) that looked at participants in a relaxation-response-focused training program.<\/p>\n<p>Previous studies have shown that eliciting the relaxation response \u2014 a physiologic state of deep rest \u2014 not only relieves stress and anxiety, but also affects physiologic factors such as blood pressure, heart rate, and oxygen consumption.<\/p>\n<p>The paper\u2019s authors noted that stress-related illnesses, such as anxiety and depression, are the third-highest causes of health expenditures in the United States after heart disease and cancer (which also are affected by stress).<\/p>\n<p>The study, based at MGH\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bensonhenryinstitute.org\/\">Institute for Technology Assessment and the Benson-Henry Institute<\/a> (BHI) for Mind Body Medicine, found that individuals in the relaxation-response program used fewer health care services in the year after their participation than in the preceding year.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"http:\/\/dx.plos.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0140212\">report<\/a> was published Tuesday in the open-access journal <a href=\"http:\/\/www.plosone.org\/\">PLOS ONE.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur study\u2019s primary finding is that programs that train patients to elicit the relaxation response \u2014 specifically those taught at the BHI \u2014 can also dramatically reduce health care utilization,\u201d said James E. Stahl of the MGH Institute for Technology Assessment, who led the study. \u201cThese programs promote wellness and, in our environment of constrained health care resources, could potentially ease the burden on our health delivery systems at minimal cost and at no real risk.\u201d Previously affiliated with the Benson-Henry Institute, Stahl is now based at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center.<\/p>\n\n<p>The relaxation response was first described more than 40 years ago by Harvard Medical School Professor Herbert Benson, founder and director <em>emeritus<\/em> of the BHI and a co-author of the current study. The physiologic opposite of the well-documented fight-or-flight response, the relaxation response is elicited by practices including meditation, deep breathing, and prayer, and has been shown to be helpful in the treatment of stress-related disorders ranging from anxiety to hypertension.<\/p>\n<p>To analyze the potential impact of mind-body interventions like the relaxation response on use of health care services, the researchers examined information available through the <a href=\"https:\/\/rc.partners.org\/about\/who-we-are-risc\/research-patient-data-registry\">Research Patient Data Registry (RPDR) of Partners HealthCare<\/a>. The research team gathered data on individuals participating in the BHI Relaxation Response Resiliency Program (3RP) from 2006 to 2014. The program combined elicitation of the relaxation response with social support, cognitive-skills training, and positive psychology designed to build resiliency.<\/p>\n<p>Data regarding more than 4,400 3RP participants\u2019 use of Partners system services in the years before and after their participation was compared with information from a demographically matched control group of almost 13,150 Partners patients over a similar two-year period. To address the possibility that 3RP participants had been more frequent users of health services in the year before their participation, the researchers also compared a subgroup of almost 1,200 3RP participants that excluded those with the highest pre-participation utilization levels with a subgroup of 222 controls whose initial healthcare utilization exactly matched those of the 3RP participants in the first of the two studied years.<\/p>\n<p>Based on the number of health care encounters in the studied period, which included interactions in any setting \u2014 imaging studies, lab tests, and procedures \u2014 the 3RP participants had an average reduction of 43 percent in their use of health care services in the year after their participation.<\/p>\n<p>The control group had an overall, but not statistically significant, increase in service utilization in the second year. The utilization-matched 3RP subgroup had a reduction of around 25 percent across all clinical services. Clinical areas in which 3RP participation was associated with the greatest reduction in service utilization were neurologic, cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, and gastrointestinal. The investigators estimate that the price of participating in programs like 3RP would be made up in costs savings in four to six months or less.<\/p>\n<p>Stahl noted that the results of this investigation need to be validated by a prospective study that would also explore where and when best to use mind-body interventions like the <a href=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/3rp.pdf\">Benson-Henry Relaxation Response Resiliency Program<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think of it this way: There are many gates to wellness, but not everyone is ready to walk through a particular gate at a given time. From a public health perspective, it is better to be prepared to offer these tools to people in their customary settings than to wait for them to seek out these interventions. For that reason, we feel that mind-body interventions \u2014 which are both low-cost and essentially risk-free \u2014 should perhaps be incorporated into regular preventive care.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Benson added, \u201cFrom the outset, our primary goal has been to enhance the health and well-being of people by counteracting the harmful effects of stress and alleviating the many diseases that are caused or exacerbated by stress. The challenge now is to disseminate these findings, which we feel will be of great interest to health care payors [such as insurance companies] and policy makers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Benson is the Mind Body Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and Stahl is an associate professor of Medicine at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth-Hitchcock.<\/p>\n<p>Additional co-authors of the PLOS ONE paper were Michelle Dossett, John Denninger, Darshan Mehta, Roberta Goldman, and Gregory Fricchione of the Benson-Henry Institute; and Scott LaJoie of the University of Louisville.<\/p>\n<p><em>\"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bensonhenryinstitute.org\/\">Mind-Body Medicine: New Science and Best Practices to Meet Public Health Challenges\"<\/a> will take place Nov. 5-8 at Harvard Medical School's Joseph Martin Conference Center. The conference features Herbert Benson and Jon Kabat-Zinn, who will explore the scope, current status, and future of mind-body medicine as part of conventional health care protocol.<\/em><\/p>\n","innerContent":["\r\n<p>Relaxation-response techniques, such as meditation, yoga, and prayer, could reduce the need for health care services by 43 percent, according to a study at Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) that looked at participants in a relaxation-response-focused training program.<\/p>\n<p>Previous studies have shown that eliciting the relaxation response \u2014 a physiologic state of deep rest \u2014 not only relieves stress and anxiety, but also affects physiologic factors such as blood pressure, heart rate, and oxygen consumption.<\/p>\n<p>The paper\u2019s authors noted that stress-related illnesses, such as anxiety and depression, are the third-highest causes of health expenditures in the United States after heart disease and cancer (which also are affected by stress).<\/p>\n<p>The study, based at MGH\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bensonhenryinstitute.org\/\">Institute for Technology Assessment and the Benson-Henry Institute<\/a> (BHI) for Mind Body Medicine, found that individuals in the relaxation-response program used fewer health care services in the year after their participation than in the preceding year.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"http:\/\/dx.plos.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0140212\">report<\/a> was published Tuesday in the open-access journal <a href=\"http:\/\/www.plosone.org\/\">PLOS ONE.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur study\u2019s primary finding is that programs that train patients to elicit the relaxation response \u2014 specifically those taught at the BHI \u2014 can also dramatically reduce health care utilization,\u201d said James E. Stahl of the MGH Institute for Technology Assessment, who led the study. \u201cThese programs promote wellness and, in our environment of constrained health care resources, could potentially ease the burden on our health delivery systems at minimal cost and at no real risk.\u201d Previously affiliated with the Benson-Henry Institute, Stahl is now based at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center.<\/p>\n\n<p>The relaxation response was first described more than 40 years ago by Harvard Medical School Professor Herbert Benson, founder and director <em>emeritus<\/em> of the BHI and a co-author of the current study. The physiologic opposite of the well-documented fight-or-flight response, the relaxation response is elicited by practices including meditation, deep breathing, and prayer, and has been shown to be helpful in the treatment of stress-related disorders ranging from anxiety to hypertension.<\/p>\n<p>To analyze the potential impact of mind-body interventions like the relaxation response on use of health care services, the researchers examined information available through the <a href=\"https:\/\/rc.partners.org\/about\/who-we-are-risc\/research-patient-data-registry\">Research Patient Data Registry (RPDR) of Partners HealthCare<\/a>. The research team gathered data on individuals participating in the BHI Relaxation Response Resiliency Program (3RP) from 2006 to 2014. The program combined elicitation of the relaxation response with social support, cognitive-skills training, and positive psychology designed to build resiliency.<\/p>\n<p>Data regarding more than 4,400 3RP participants\u2019 use of Partners system services in the years before and after their participation was compared with information from a demographically matched control group of almost 13,150 Partners patients over a similar two-year period. To address the possibility that 3RP participants had been more frequent users of health services in the year before their participation, the researchers also compared a subgroup of almost 1,200 3RP participants that excluded those with the highest pre-participation utilization levels with a subgroup of 222 controls whose initial healthcare utilization exactly matched those of the 3RP participants in the first of the two studied years.<\/p>\n<p>Based on the number of health care encounters in the studied period, which included interactions in any setting \u2014 imaging studies, lab tests, and procedures \u2014 the 3RP participants had an average reduction of 43 percent in their use of health care services in the year after their participation.<\/p>\n<p>The control group had an overall, but not statistically significant, increase in service utilization in the second year. The utilization-matched 3RP subgroup had a reduction of around 25 percent across all clinical services. Clinical areas in which 3RP participation was associated with the greatest reduction in service utilization were neurologic, cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, and gastrointestinal. The investigators estimate that the price of participating in programs like 3RP would be made up in costs savings in four to six months or less.<\/p>\n<p>Stahl noted that the results of this investigation need to be validated by a prospective study that would also explore where and when best to use mind-body interventions like the <a href=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/3rp.pdf\">Benson-Henry Relaxation Response Resiliency Program<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think of it this way: There are many gates to wellness, but not everyone is ready to walk through a particular gate at a given time. From a public health perspective, it is better to be prepared to offer these tools to people in their customary settings than to wait for them to seek out these interventions. For that reason, we feel that mind-body interventions \u2014 which are both low-cost and essentially risk-free \u2014 should perhaps be incorporated into regular preventive care.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Benson added, \u201cFrom the outset, our primary goal has been to enhance the health and well-being of people by counteracting the harmful effects of stress and alleviating the many diseases that are caused or exacerbated by stress. The challenge now is to disseminate these findings, which we feel will be of great interest to health care payors [such as insurance companies] and policy makers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Benson is the Mind Body Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and Stahl is an associate professor of Medicine at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth-Hitchcock.<\/p>\n<p>Additional co-authors of the PLOS ONE paper were Michelle Dossett, John Denninger, Darshan Mehta, Roberta Goldman, and Gregory Fricchione of the Benson-Henry Institute; and Scott LaJoie of the University of Louisville.<\/p>\n<p><em>\"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bensonhenryinstitute.org\/\">Mind-Body Medicine: New Science and Best Practices to Meet Public Health Challenges\"<\/a> will take place Nov. 5-8 at Harvard Medical School's Joseph Martin Conference Center. The conference features Herbert Benson and Jon Kabat-Zinn, who will explore the scope, current status, and future of mind-body medicine as part of conventional health care protocol.<\/em><\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\r\n<p>Relaxation-response techniques, such as meditation, yoga, and prayer, could reduce the need for health care services by 43 percent, according to a study at Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) that looked at participants in a relaxation-response-focused training program.<\/p>\n<p>Previous studies have shown that eliciting the relaxation response \u2014 a physiologic state of deep rest \u2014 not only relieves stress and anxiety, but also affects physiologic factors such as blood pressure, heart rate, and oxygen consumption.<\/p>\n<p>The paper\u2019s authors noted that stress-related illnesses, such as anxiety and depression, are the third-highest causes of health expenditures in the United States after heart disease and cancer (which also are affected by stress).<\/p>\n<p>The study, based at MGH\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bensonhenryinstitute.org\/\">Institute for Technology Assessment and the Benson-Henry Institute<\/a> (BHI) for Mind Body Medicine, found that individuals in the relaxation-response program used fewer health care services in the year after their participation than in the preceding year.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"http:\/\/dx.plos.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0140212\">report<\/a> was published Tuesday in the open-access journal <a href=\"http:\/\/www.plosone.org\/\">PLOS ONE.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur study\u2019s primary finding is that programs that train patients to elicit the relaxation response \u2014 specifically those taught at the BHI \u2014 can also dramatically reduce health care utilization,\u201d said James E. Stahl of the MGH Institute for Technology Assessment, who led the study. \u201cThese programs promote wellness and, in our environment of constrained health care resources, could potentially ease the burden on our health delivery systems at minimal cost and at no real risk.\u201d Previously affiliated with the Benson-Henry Institute, Stahl is now based at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center.<\/p>\n\n<p>The relaxation response was first described more than 40 years ago by Harvard Medical School Professor Herbert Benson, founder and director <em>emeritus<\/em> of the BHI and a co-author of the current study. The physiologic opposite of the well-documented fight-or-flight response, the relaxation response is elicited by practices including meditation, deep breathing, and prayer, and has been shown to be helpful in the treatment of stress-related disorders ranging from anxiety to hypertension.<\/p>\n<p>To analyze the potential impact of mind-body interventions like the relaxation response on use of health care services, the researchers examined information available through the <a href=\"https:\/\/rc.partners.org\/about\/who-we-are-risc\/research-patient-data-registry\">Research Patient Data Registry (RPDR) of Partners HealthCare<\/a>. The research team gathered data on individuals participating in the BHI Relaxation Response Resiliency Program (3RP) from 2006 to 2014. The program combined elicitation of the relaxation response with social support, cognitive-skills training, and positive psychology designed to build resiliency.<\/p>\n<p>Data regarding more than 4,400 3RP participants\u2019 use of Partners system services in the years before and after their participation was compared with information from a demographically matched control group of almost 13,150 Partners patients over a similar two-year period. To address the possibility that 3RP participants had been more frequent users of health services in the year before their participation, the researchers also compared a subgroup of almost 1,200 3RP participants that excluded those with the highest pre-participation utilization levels with a subgroup of 222 controls whose initial healthcare utilization exactly matched those of the 3RP participants in the first of the two studied years.<\/p>\n<p>Based on the number of health care encounters in the studied period, which included interactions in any setting \u2014 imaging studies, lab tests, and procedures \u2014 the 3RP participants had an average reduction of 43 percent in their use of health care services in the year after their participation.<\/p>\n<p>The control group had an overall, but not statistically significant, increase in service utilization in the second year. The utilization-matched 3RP subgroup had a reduction of around 25 percent across all clinical services. Clinical areas in which 3RP participation was associated with the greatest reduction in service utilization were neurologic, cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, and gastrointestinal. The investigators estimate that the price of participating in programs like 3RP would be made up in costs savings in four to six months or less.<\/p>\n<p>Stahl noted that the results of this investigation need to be validated by a prospective study that would also explore where and when best to use mind-body interventions like the <a href=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/3rp.pdf\">Benson-Henry Relaxation Response Resiliency Program<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think of it this way: There are many gates to wellness, but not everyone is ready to walk through a particular gate at a given time. From a public health perspective, it is better to be prepared to offer these tools to people in their customary settings than to wait for them to seek out these interventions. For that reason, we feel that mind-body interventions \u2014 which are both low-cost and essentially risk-free \u2014 should perhaps be incorporated into regular preventive care.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Benson added, \u201cFrom the outset, our primary goal has been to enhance the health and well-being of people by counteracting the harmful effects of stress and alleviating the many diseases that are caused or exacerbated by stress. The challenge now is to disseminate these findings, which we feel will be of great interest to health care payors [such as insurance companies] and policy makers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Benson is the Mind Body Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and Stahl is an associate professor of Medicine at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth-Hitchcock.<\/p>\n<p>Additional co-authors of the PLOS ONE paper were Michelle Dossett, John Denninger, Darshan Mehta, Roberta Goldman, and Gregory Fricchione of the Benson-Henry Institute; and Scott LaJoie of the University of Louisville.<\/p>\n<p><em>\"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bensonhenryinstitute.org\/\">Mind-Body Medicine: New Science and Best Practices to Meet Public Health Challenges\"<\/a> will take place Nov. 5-8 at Harvard Medical School's Joseph Martin Conference Center. The conference features Herbert Benson and Jon Kabat-Zinn, who will explore the scope, current status, and future of mind-body medicine as part of conventional health care protocol.<\/em><\/p>\n"}],"innerHTML":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignwide\">\n\n\r\n\r\n\n\n<\/div>\n","innerContent":["\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignwide\">\n\n","\r\n","\r\n","\n\n<\/div>\n"],"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignwide has-global-padding is-content-justification-center is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n\n\n\t\t\r\n<div class=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-supporting-content alignleft supporting-content\" id=\"supporting-content-a50d1bdf-21b4-4108-99c5-3408516f2c5f\">\n\t<div class=\"featured-articles is-post-type-post is-style-grid-list\"  style=\"\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"featured-articles__title wp-block-heading\">More like this<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t<ul class=\"featured-articles__list \">\n\t\t\n\t\t<li class=\"featured-article \">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<figure class=\"featured-article__image\">\n\t\t\t\t<img width=\"1200\" height=\"750\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/calm-daylight-evening-267967.jpg?resize=1200%2C750\" class=\"attachment-large-landscape-desktop size-large-landscape-desktop\" alt=\"Meditator\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/calm-daylight-evening-267967.jpg?resize=608,380 608w, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/calm-daylight-evening-267967.jpg?resize=784,490 784w, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/calm-daylight-evening-267967.jpg?resize=1024,640 1024w, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/calm-daylight-evening-267967.jpg?resize=1200,750 1200w, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/calm-daylight-evening-267967.jpg?resize=1488,930 1488w, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/calm-daylight-evening-267967.jpg?resize=1680,1050 1680w\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<div class=\"featured-article__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<a class=\"featured-article__category\" href=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/health\/\">\n\t\t\tHealth\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"featured-article__title wp-block-heading \"><a href=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2011\/01\/eight-weeks-to-a-better-brain\/\">Eight weeks to a better brain<\/a><\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"featured-article__meta\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<time class=\"featured-article__date\" datetime=\"2011-01-21\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJanuary 21, 2011\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/time>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"featured-article__reading-time\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t4 min read\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/li>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t<\/div>\r\n\r\n<p>Relaxation-response techniques, such as meditation, yoga, and prayer, could reduce the need for health care services by 43 percent, according to a study at Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) that looked at participants in a relaxation-response-focused training program.<\/p>\n<p>Previous studies have shown that eliciting the relaxation response \u2014 a physiologic state of deep rest \u2014 not only relieves stress and anxiety, but also affects physiologic factors such as blood pressure, heart rate, and oxygen consumption.<\/p>\n<p>The paper\u2019s authors noted that stress-related illnesses, such as anxiety and depression, are the third-highest causes of health expenditures in the United States after heart disease and cancer (which also are affected by stress).<\/p>\n<p>The study, based at MGH\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bensonhenryinstitute.org\/\">Institute for Technology Assessment and the Benson-Henry Institute<\/a> (BHI) for Mind Body Medicine, found that individuals in the relaxation-response program used fewer health care services in the year after their participation than in the preceding year.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"http:\/\/dx.plos.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0140212\">report<\/a> was published Tuesday in the open-access journal <a href=\"http:\/\/www.plosone.org\/\">PLOS ONE.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur study\u2019s primary finding is that programs that train patients to elicit the relaxation response \u2014 specifically those taught at the BHI \u2014 can also dramatically reduce health care utilization,\u201d said James E. Stahl of the MGH Institute for Technology Assessment, who led the study. \u201cThese programs promote wellness and, in our environment of constrained health care resources, could potentially ease the burden on our health delivery systems at minimal cost and at no real risk.\u201d Previously affiliated with the Benson-Henry Institute, Stahl is now based at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center.<\/p>\n\n<p>The relaxation response was first described more than 40 years ago by Harvard Medical School Professor Herbert Benson, founder and director <em>emeritus<\/em> of the BHI and a co-author of the current study. The physiologic opposite of the well-documented fight-or-flight response, the relaxation response is elicited by practices including meditation, deep breathing, and prayer, and has been shown to be helpful in the treatment of stress-related disorders ranging from anxiety to hypertension.<\/p>\n<p>To analyze the potential impact of mind-body interventions like the relaxation response on use of health care services, the researchers examined information available through the <a href=\"https:\/\/rc.partners.org\/about\/who-we-are-risc\/research-patient-data-registry\">Research Patient Data Registry (RPDR) of Partners HealthCare<\/a>. The research team gathered data on individuals participating in the BHI Relaxation Response Resiliency Program (3RP) from 2006 to 2014. The program combined elicitation of the relaxation response with social support, cognitive-skills training, and positive psychology designed to build resiliency.<\/p>\n<p>Data regarding more than 4,400 3RP participants\u2019 use of Partners system services in the years before and after their participation was compared with information from a demographically matched control group of almost 13,150 Partners patients over a similar two-year period. To address the possibility that 3RP participants had been more frequent users of health services in the year before their participation, the researchers also compared a subgroup of almost 1,200 3RP participants that excluded those with the highest pre-participation utilization levels with a subgroup of 222 controls whose initial healthcare utilization exactly matched those of the 3RP participants in the first of the two studied years.<\/p>\n<p>Based on the number of health care encounters in the studied period, which included interactions in any setting \u2014 imaging studies, lab tests, and procedures \u2014 the 3RP participants had an average reduction of 43 percent in their use of health care services in the year after their participation.<\/p>\n<p>The control group had an overall, but not statistically significant, increase in service utilization in the second year. The utilization-matched 3RP subgroup had a reduction of around 25 percent across all clinical services. Clinical areas in which 3RP participation was associated with the greatest reduction in service utilization were neurologic, cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, and gastrointestinal. The investigators estimate that the price of participating in programs like 3RP would be made up in costs savings in four to six months or less.<\/p>\n<p>Stahl noted that the results of this investigation need to be validated by a prospective study that would also explore where and when best to use mind-body interventions like the <a href=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/3rp.pdf\">Benson-Henry Relaxation Response Resiliency Program<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think of it this way: There are many gates to wellness, but not everyone is ready to walk through a particular gate at a given time. From a public health perspective, it is better to be prepared to offer these tools to people in their customary settings than to wait for them to seek out these interventions. For that reason, we feel that mind-body interventions \u2014 which are both low-cost and essentially risk-free \u2014 should perhaps be incorporated into regular preventive care.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Benson added, \u201cFrom the outset, our primary goal has been to enhance the health and well-being of people by counteracting the harmful effects of stress and alleviating the many diseases that are caused or exacerbated by stress. The challenge now is to disseminate these findings, which we feel will be of great interest to health care payors [such as insurance companies] and policy makers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Benson is the Mind Body Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and Stahl is an associate professor of Medicine at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth-Hitchcock.<\/p>\n<p>Additional co-authors of the PLOS ONE paper were Michelle Dossett, John Denninger, Darshan Mehta, Roberta Goldman, and Gregory Fricchione of the Benson-Henry Institute; and Scott LaJoie of the University of Louisville.<\/p>\n<p><em>\"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bensonhenryinstitute.org\/\">Mind-Body Medicine: New Science and Best Practices to Meet Public Health Challenges\"<\/a> will take place Nov. 5-8 at Harvard Medical School's Joseph Martin Conference Center. The conference features Herbert Benson and Jon Kabat-Zinn, who will explore the scope, current status, and future of mind-body medicine as part of conventional health care protocol.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n"}},"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":169852,"url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2015\/05\/meditation-may-relieve-ibs-and-ibd\/","url_meta":{"origin":174825,"position":0},"title":"Meditation may relieve IBS and IBD","author":"harvardgazette","date":"May 5, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"A small pilot study by Harvard-affiliated researchers finds symptom improvement and changes in expression of inflammation-associated genes in irritable bowel syndrome and inflammatory bowel disease patients who practice the relaxation response.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Health&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Health","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/health\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/meditate-creativecommons605.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/meditate-creativecommons605.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/meditate-creativecommons605.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":107019,"url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2012\/04\/chill-therapy\/","url_meta":{"origin":174825,"position":1},"title":"Chill therapy","author":"harvardgazette","date":"April 9, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"MGH\u2019s Herbert Benson, author of \u201cThe Relaxation Response,\u201d says that the methods outlined in his book can create genetic changes in irritable bowel syndrome sufferers, and with further study might be used to treat other ailments.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Health&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Health","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/health\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/040412_benson_024_605main.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/040412_benson_024_605main.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/040412_benson_024_605main.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":53,"url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2009\/03\/counteracting-stress-at-work\/","url_meta":{"origin":174825,"position":2},"title":"Counteracting stress at work","author":"harvardgazette","date":"March 5, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Herbert Benson, associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and director emeritus of the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine, will deliver a lecture, \u201cCounteracting stress at Harvard: The relaxation response,\u201d in which he will discuss the harmful effects of stress, lead the audience through his Relaxation Response strategy,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Campus &amp; Community&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Campus &amp; Community","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/campus-community\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":247084,"url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2018\/06\/mindfulness-meditation-and-relaxation-response-affect-brain-differently\/","url_meta":{"origin":174825,"position":3},"title":"Mindfulness meditation and relaxation response affect brain differently","author":"harvardgazette","date":"June 20, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"A Harvard study shows mindfulness meditation and \"The Relaxation Response\" provide distinct effects on brain areas associated with awareness and with deliberate relaxation.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Health&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Health","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/health\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"graphic of brain","src":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Mindfulness-Study.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Mindfulness-Study.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Mindfulness-Study.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Mindfulness-Study.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":42449,"url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2004\/03\/herbert-benson-counsels-busy-students\/","url_meta":{"origin":174825,"position":4},"title":"Herbert Benson counsels busy students:","author":"gazetteimport","date":"March 4, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Stressed out? Exhausted? Scared? Confused? Eating poorly?","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Campus &amp; Community&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Campus &amp; Community","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/campus-community\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":70224,"url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2002\/04\/meditation-changes-temperatures\/","url_meta":{"origin":174825,"position":5},"title":"Meditation changes temperatures","author":"gazetteimport","date":"April 18, 2002","format":false,"excerpt":"In a monastery in northern India, thinly clad Tibetan monks sat quietly in a room where the temperature was a chilly 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Using a yoga technique known as g Tum-mo, they entered a state of deep meditation. Other monks soaked 3-by-6-foot sheets in cold water (49 degrees) and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Campus &amp; Community&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Campus &amp; Community","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/campus-community\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Herbert Benson","src":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2002\/04\/09-tumo1-450-11.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/105622744"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=174825"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174825\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":267483,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174825\/revisions\/267483"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/174830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=174825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=174825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=174825"},{"taxonomy":"format","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/gazette-formats?post=174825"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=174825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}