Improving stress management, anxiety, and mental well-being in medical students through an online Mindfulness-Based Intervention: a randomized study.

Pressures and responsibilities of medical school put a strain on medical student's personal wellbeing, leading among all to high rates of anxiety, emotional discomfort and stress. In this work we evaluated the effectiveness of a comprehensive Mindfulness-Based Intervention (MBI) in reducing this load. The intervention comprised 10 twice-a-week Integral Meditation classes, dietary advice, and brief yoga sessions. We performed a randomized trial on two cohort of medical students from Italian universities: 239 in cohort 1 (106 treated and 133 controls), and 123 in cohort 2 (68 treated and 55 control) for a total sample of 362 students. Nine questionnaires for evaluating the effectiveness of our intervention on stress (PSS), state anxiety (STAIX-1), well-being (WEMWBS), mind-wandering (MW-S), overall distress (PANAS), emotion regulation (DERS), resilience (RS-14), and attentional control (ACS-C and ACS-D) were collected both pre and post intervention. Linear mixed effect models were run on the whole sample showing that, after multiple testing correction, our intervention was effective in reducing perceived stress (ß = - 2.57 [- 4.02; - 1.12], p = 0.004), improving mental well-being (ß = 2.82 [1.02; 4.63], p = 0.008) and emotional regulation (ß = - 8.24 [- 12.98; - 3.51], p = 0.004), resilience (ß = 3.79 [1.32; 6.26], p = 0.008), reducing the tendency to wander with the mind (ß = - 0.70 [- 0.99; - 0.39], p = 0.0001), ameliorating the ability to maintain attention (AC-S (ß = - 0.23 [- 0.44; - 0.02], p = 0.04) and AC-D (ß = - 0.19 [- 0.36; - 0.01], p = 0.04)), and the overall distress (ß = 1.84 [0.45; 3.23], p = 0.02).

Beneficial Effects of an Online Mindfulness-Based Intervention on Sleep Quality in Italian Poor Sleepers during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Randomized Trial.

Sleep of inadequate quantity and quality is increasing in the present 24 h society, with a negative impact on physical and mental health. Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) generate a state of calm behavior that can reduce hyperactivity and improve sleep. We hypothesized that our specific MBI, administered online, may improve sleep quality and foster emotion regulation and mindfulness. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Sleep Condition Indicator (SCI), Arousal Predisposition Scale (APS), Ford Insomnia Response to Stress Test (FIRST), Sleep Hygiene Index (SHI) and Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) were used to measure sleep quality and stability. Emotion regulation and mindfulness were measured via the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) and Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ). Our MBI included 12 biweekly integral meditation (IM) classes, recorded IM training for individual practice, and dietary advice to promote sleep regulation. Fifty-six voluntary poor sleepers with a PSQI score of >5 were randomly allocated to treated (n = 28) and control (n = 28) groups. Linear mixed models were used to estimate the effectiveness of the intervention. Statistically significant results were observed in the FFMQ sub-domain non-reactivity to inner experience (ß = 0.29 [0.06; -0.52], p = 0.01), PSQI (ß = -1.93 [-3.43; -0.43], p = 0.01), SCI (ß = 3.39 [0.66; 6.13], p = 0.02) and ISI (ß = -3.50 [-5.86; -1.14], p = 0.004). These results confirm our hypothesis regarding the beneficial effects of our intervention on sleep quality.

Improving Training Condition Assessment in Endurance Cyclists: Effects of Ganoderma lucidum and Ophiocordyceps sinensis Dietary Supplementation.

The main reasons for taking daily dietary supplements are to maintain good health, to improve homeostasis, and to create conditions for reducing the risk of disease. Due to growing market demand, the search for effective, nontoxic, natural compounds with antioxidant and ergogenic properties has increasingly become a matter of interest. This paper describes how a specific combination of fungal supplements can help improve the performance of endurance athletes. We report the effects of a brief 3-month trial of two fungal supplements, Ganoderma lucidum and Cordyceps sinensis (3 capsules of O. sinensis and 2 capsules of G. lucidum per day), in 7 healthy male volunteers, aged between 30 and 40 years, who are all amateur cyclists that participate in "Gran Fondo" cycling races. This trial investigated the effects of fungal supplements on the level of physical fitness of the athletes by monitoring and comparing the following biomarkers just before and after physical exertion: the testosterone/cortisol ratio in the saliva and oxidative stress (DPPH free radical scavenging activity). A decrease of more than 30% in the testosterone/cortisol ratio after race compared to before race was considered as a risk factor for nonfunctional overreaching (NFO) or the overtraining syndrome (OTS). The results show that, after 3 months of supplementation, the testosterone/cortisol ratio changed in a statistically significant manner, thereby protecting the athletes from NFO and OTS. Antioxidant activity was measured by quantifying the scavenging ability of the human serum on the synthetic free radical DPPH. After 3 months of fungal supplementation, the data demonstrate an increased scavenger capacity of free radicals in the athletes' serum after the race, thereby protecting the athletes from oxidative stress.