Meditation and aerobic exercise enhance memory and mental health in women living with HIV

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infects the body, including the brain. After being infected with HIV, people often experience additional traumas, along with symptoms of mental illness related to stress, depression and anxiety. In this study, women with HIV (n = 37) were assessed for posttraumatic cognitions (Posttraumatic Cognitions Inventory), ruminative thoughts (Ruminative Responses Scale), perceived stress (Perceived Stress Scale), depressive symptoms (Beck Depression Inventory) and anxiety symptoms (Beck Anxiety Inventory) with self-report questionnaires. Mental health symptoms were highly correlated with one another within individuals. An exploratory factor analysis was performed on responses to the five questionnaires to determine which items related most highly to a common underlying construct, and how these symptoms vary and relate to interoception. Measures of mental health loaded highly and consistently onto one factor and accounted for 66% of the variance in the data. Women that were more representative of the trait captured by this principal factor (i.e., those with higher factor scores) reported that they were less able to sense their bodily sensations and less able to regulate thoughts and feelings when assessed with the Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness. Thus, women who reported poor awareness of bodily sensations were experiencing greater numbers of trauma-related and ruminative thoughts, as well as feelings of stress, depression and anxiety. Although interoceptive sensitivity did not relate to interoceptive accuracy, accuracy was positively related to recognition memory, indicating women who could better detect their heartbeats were likewise better at remembering everyday information. These results suggest that women with HIV may respond especially well to interventions that target processes of learning and memory. In particular, they might benefit from a combined mind and body intervention that enhances awareness of emotional states as they emerge in the body, along with tools to regulate maladaptive thoughts and feelings. Mental and Physical (MAP) Training targets the brain and the body through a combination of 30 minutes of focused-attention meditation and 30 minutes of aerobic exercise. The following pilot study tested whether six weeks of MAP Training would enhance hippocampal-dependent processes of learning and memory (assessed with the Behavioral Pattern Separation task) and reduce mental health symptoms (assessed with self-report questionnaires) in women with HIV (n = 18). After six weeks of combined meditation and aerobic exercise training, participants performed better during a pattern separation task related to discrimination learning. They reported fewer ruminative thoughts, depressive symptoms, less perceived stress and fewer posttraumatic cognitions. Reductions in rumination and depression persisted at six months post-training. Heart rate variability, interoceptive accuracy and interoceptive sensibility did not change after six weeks of combined meditation and aerobic exercise. These data support the combination of meditation and aerobic exercise as an effective add-on treatment to address cognitive and mental health challenges faced by women living with HIV.Ph.D.Includes bibliographical reference