Mindful exercise, quality of life, and survival: a mindfulness-based exercise program for women with breast cancer.

Background: The purpose of this article is to describe the rationale and protocol for a pilot study in women with breast cancer that integrates the two complementary therapies of mindfulness and exercise.

Design: A sample of 30 women diagnosed with breast cancer within the previous 12 months who have completed initial treatment for their disease will be recruited from oncology physicians' offices. The pilot will be a pre-post design, and the study will occur within a hospital counseling center for 2 h one day/week for 8 weeks.

Neuroendocrine responses to psychological stress in eumenorrheic and oligomenorrheic women.

Neuroendocrine adaptive responses to psychological stress include activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and sometimes suppression of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis. In women who experience chronic stress, these responses are probably responsible for disturbances in the menstrual cycle. In the present experiment, we investigated the effect of an acutely stressful situation on the physiological and neuroendocrine responses in college age women.

The effects of movement, relaxation, and education on the stress levels of women with subclinical levels of bulimia.

The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of a multidisciplinary intervention program on the attitudes and symptoms associated with bulimia nervosa (BN). The Bulimia Test (BULIT) and subscales from the Eating Disorder Inventory-2 (EDI-2) associated with BN were administered to 373 females to determine eligibility for participation in the study. In order to qualify for the study, participants had to be female, not be anorexic, and meet one of four criteria indicating that they had some of the symptoms of BN.

Mindfulness meditation, anxiety reduction, and heart disease: a pilot study.

Heart disease is the leading cause of death among Americans each year, yet the misperception still exists that cardiovascular disease is not a serious health problem for women. Evidence indicates that anxiety contributes to the development of heart disease. The primary purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of Kabat-Zinn's mindfulness-based stress reduction program to reduce anxiety in women with heart disease.

The relationship between eating disorder attitudes and the risk of cardiovascular disease.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between eating disorder (ED) attitudes and the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Forty women (M age = 18.85) agreed to participate in this study.

Explanatory variance in bulimia nervosa.

In order to prevent disease, one must understand the factors that contribute to the variance of the illness. In an effort to better understand factors that contribute to bulimia nervosa (BN), a study was designed to investigate explanatory factors in BN. Of particular interest to the researchers in the study was the effect of the Hispanic subculture on the variance of BN.