--- title: Transcendental Meditation: How Mindfulness Helps People With HIV description: Transcendental Meditation might help patients living with HIV; the mindfulness program may lead to better health outcomes, a new study finds canonical: https://time.com/3548563/transcendental-meditation-hiv-aids/ author: Mandy Oaklander article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-10-30T19:48:46.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:07:13.564Z article:section: Health og:title: How Transcendental Meditation Helps People With HIV og:description: Transcendental Meditation might help patients living with HIV; the mindfulness program may lead to better health outcomes, a new study finds og:url: https://time.com/3548563/transcendental-meditation-hiv-aids/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0a58f9906f5b25f9/6987637b2dce016cf99db3a3/meditation-mindfulness.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5200 og:image:height: 2925 og:image:alt: Meditation mindfulness og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How Transcendental Meditation Helps People With HIV twitter:description: Transcendental Meditation might help patients living with HIV; the mindfulness program may lead to better health outcomes, a new study finds twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0a58f9906f5b25f9/6987637b2dce016cf99db3a3/meditation-mindfulness.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How Meditation May Help People With HIV > Sponsored content. 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Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators.  by [Mandy Oaklander](https://time.com/author/mandy-oaklander/)  ## Mandy Oaklander Oaklander is a senior editor at TIME. Oct 30, 2014 7:48 PM UTC  Female doing yoga and meditation outside Female doing yoga and meditation outside Getty Images  by [Mandy Oaklander](https://time.com/author/mandy-oaklander/)  ## Mandy Oaklander Oaklander is a senior editor at TIME. Oct 30, 2014 7:48 PM UTC From the time a person is diagnosed with any illness, the focus of their healthcare often shifts to managing sickness rather than promoting wellbeing. But new research shows that a non-pharmacological intervention could help play a role in HIV patient’s mental and physical health. Practicing Transcendental Meditation (TM), a 20-minute twice-a-day mindfulness regimen, may help people with HIV feel better, a small new study finds. The [project’s research](http://www.davidlynchfoundation.org/hiv.html), which is being submitted to scientific journals but is not yet published, was done with the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and the David Lynch Foundation, a nonprofit that funds research on stress reduction methods, including TM, for at-risk populations. In the 39 HIV patients who completed the study, researchers measured health factors like stress levels, wellbeing (using an established spiritual wellbeing scale), levels of psychological distress and physical symptoms related to HIV, like fatigue. They then taught TM to the patients, and after three months of meditation, patients experienced significant improvement, the study authors say. They got sick less frequently, were less fatigued and more energized and had better general health and physical functioning, says Thomas Roth, director of the David Lynch Foundation HIV Initiative and TM teacher of 40 years. Psychological symptoms got a boost, too: patients reported being less stressed and anxious, with decreased anger, hostility and depressive symptoms. **MORE**: [You Asked: Is Meditation Really Worth It?](http://time.com/3479384/meditation-benefits/) The study didn’t look at blood biomarkers for things like stress, not did it measure the patients’ T-cell counts, instead relying on reports from the people in the study. More research is needed, and for now, says Roth: “My prediction two years ago was that this could improve the quality of life of people living with HIV.” ### You Asked: Your Top 10 Health Questions Answered  You Asked: Are Cleanses Healthy? Potions that claim to clear your body of toxins might sound alluring, but do they deliver? Illustration by Peter Oumanski for TIME  You Asked: Is Eating Dessert Really That Bad For Me? Bad news for sweet-eaters—except if you end your meals with this kind of treat. 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