Measuring mindfulness

Can mindfulness go from wellness pursuit to medical intervention? Maybe - but only if researchers can work out how to measure it. Kim Tingley reports.

HIGH blood pressure is a major risk factor for heart disease and stroke. It’s a condition that can be largely controlled with diet, exercise and medication, yet experts say only about half the people who have high blood pressure manage to keep it in check. In November, Eric Loucks, director of the Mindfulness Center at the Brown University School of Public Health, and colleagues published a study in Plos One, a science journal, that put forward a possible solution: an eight-week mindfulness-based programme.