Palscience

There are over 40 million people worldwide infected by HIV, as most of us know that there is no specific treatment for this devastating virus. Stress is another enemy faces patients with HIV, since most of the patients know that they are dying slowly.

Reducing stress can bolster immune system in HIV-positive adults, others

Now, researchers at University of California - Los Angeles reported that the practice of mindfulness meditation stopped the decline of CD4 T cells in HIV-positive patients suffering from stress, slowing the progression of the disease. The CD4 T cells are the brain of the immune system; they coordinate its activity when the body comes under attack. They are also the cells that are attacked by HIV that causes AIDS.

Mindfulness meditation makes you avoid thinking of the past or worry about the future. It’s thought to reduce stress and improve health outcomes in a variety of patient populations.

“This study provides the first indication that mindfulness meditation stress-management training can have a direct impact on slowing HIV disease progression,” said lead study author David Creswell, a research scientist at the Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology at UCLA. “The mindfulness program is a group-based and low-cost treatment, and if this initial finding is replicated in larger samples, it’s possible that such training can be used as a powerful complementary treatment for HIV disease, alongside medications.”