The Effect of Meditation to Reducing Body Mass Index (BMI) and Hypercholesterolemia among Registered Nurses in Suphan Buri Province

Abstract

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that overweight and obesity were the 5th risk factor of world populationûs 2,800,000 deaths annually. This demonstrated that overweight and obesity, in conjunction with high cholesterol or hypercholesterolemia, may cause cardiovascular disease. Registered nurses and healthcare providers had risk factors both directly and indirectly to incur chronic diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, hypercholesterolemia, etc. Previous studies showes that 56.7% of registered nurses and healthcare providers had high cholesterol (>200 ml/dl, 232.56 ± 24.76) and 48.4% of them were overweight (BMI > 23.0 kg/m2, 25.72 ± 2.89). This quasi-experimental research, aimed to determine the effect of meditation in reducing BMI and cholesterol among registered nurses-45 in the experimental group and another 45 in the control group in Suphan Buri province. The experimental group by apply the SKT2 technique of the meditation practice for at least one round of 30 breath cycles each day; while the control group did not apply such technique. The study was conducted for 3 months (July-September 2014). After the experiment, it was found that the nurses in the experimental group had BMI their significantly lower than that before the experiment (t = 2.064, p < 0.000); and, their cholesterol levels were also lower than those before the experiment, and those in the control group (t = -5.464, p < 0.000). The results showed that the SKT2 meditation practices was effective in reducing the had BMI and cholesterol levels of registered nurses.