University of Wisconsin Meditation & Exercise Cold Study

Study Summary

The primary goal of this project is to determine whether behavioral training in mindfulness meditation or moderate intensity sustained exercise will lead to reductions in acute respiratory infection (ARI) illness, such as common cold and influenza like illness. Specifically, this project aims to: 1. Determine whether an 8-week training program in mindfulness meditation, as compared to the control group, will lead to significant reductions in incidence, duration, and severity of ARI illness. 2. Determine whether an 8-week training program in moderate intensity sustained exercise, as compared to the control group, will lead to reductions in incidence, duration, and severity of ARI illness. 3. Assess whether any observed reductions in ARI illness are accompanied by fewer ARI-related health care visits and less time lost to productive work (reduced absenteeism). 4. Compare the potential benefits of mindfulness meditation to those from moderate intensity sustained exercise. 5. Discern potential mediating factors and causal pathways that might help explain how these interventions lead to improved ARI illness-related outcomes. The investigators' preliminary findings suggest substantial benefit of these interventions in terms of reduced incidence, duration and severity of ARI illness, with corresponding reductions in days of work lost to illness. If the proposed research confirms these findings, there will be major implications for public and private health-related policy and practice, as well as for scientific knowledge regarding health maintenance and disease prevention.

Primary Outcome

The primary outcome will be severity-weighted total cumulative days of ARI illness (global severity), calculated as trapezoidal approximation to area under the time severity curve during ARI illness, with severity assessed once daily using self-reports on the validated Wisconsin Upper Respiratory Symptom Survey (WURSS-24). Incidence (number of ARI episodes in each group) and duration (total number of days of ARI illness) are components of the primary outcome, and will be analyzed separately.

Conditions Studied

Interventions

• OTHER Exercise
• OTHER Mindfulness Meditation

Study Locations (1)