Effectiveness of meditation for fatigue management: Insight from a comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis

Objective: This systematic review and meta-analysis revealed the effectiveness of meditation in addressing fatigue, given its widespread use as a remedy for sleep disturbances and fatigue. Method: We analyzed 29 randomized controlled trials from MEDLINE and the Cochrane Library, spanning from December 31, 2022. We conducted two metaanalyses using mean difference (MD) with normalized data and standardized mean difference (SMD) with original data. Results: These trials included various populations, with baseline fatigue severity observed at 52.2 +/- 16.0 points among 4104 participants. After an average meditation duration of 9.6 +/- 4.7 weeks, fatigue scores decreased significantly by 6.4 points of MD [95% CI, 4.3-8.5] compared to controls. The most significant reduction occurred in the sub-healthy group (MD 8.2 [95% CI, 2.7 to 13.8]), followed by the general group (MD 6.9 [95% CI, 0.4 to 13.4]), and the disease group (MD 5.7 [95% CI, 3.4 to 8.0]). Notably, meditation-based anti-fatigue effects were particularly pronounced for mental fatigue (MD 10.0 [95% CI, 4.3 to 15.6]), especially with expert guidance and supplementary homework. Conclusion: These findings align with meta-analysis results using standardized mean difference (SMD), providing evidence for meditation as an effective nonpharmacological intervention for fatigue management, while also informing effective meditation approaches. Registration number: CRD42023395551 in PROSPERO.