Publicación:

Intervenciones basadas en mindfulness para reducir el estrés en la enfermedad cardiovascular ¿cómo funcionan?

Resumen

Cardiovascular diseases involve disorders linked to increased stress, depression, anxiety, sedentary lifestyle, smoking, alcohol, etc., and lead the list of cause of mortality in low and middle income countries. Losses attributable to such illnesses increase poverty and are one of the greatest public health problems worldwide. The objective of the current review is to explain theoretically how mindfulness-based interventions work to the emotional regulation and stress reduction in cardiovascular diseases; on the basis of reviewing articles and books with research results in such databases as Science Direct, PubMed, Ovid, Scielo, Psicodoc and Google Scholar. This research literature shows that stress and cardiovascular diseases are related through physiological, psychological and behavioral mechanisms. It is concluded that the implementation of mindfulness-based interventions for emotional regulation and stress reduction in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases could be effective because they are easily learned, they involve the patient’s active role, are low cost, they can be performed anywhere, and lack physiological or psychological risks. However, the effects of mindfulness on specific physiological parameters are not yet well established, and therefore further studies are required.