Mindful exercise versus non-mindful exercise for schizophrenia: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Abstract Objective To investigate whether the mindful exercise was more beneficial than non-mindful exercise for people with schizophrenia. Methods PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, and PsycINFO were searched from their onset to April 2017. Randomized controlled trials of schizophrenia were selected. Mindful exercises were yoga, tai chi or qigong. Non-mindful exercises included any type of purely physical exercise. Risk of bias was assessed using criteria in the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions. Results Seven studies were identified. There were significant differences in favour of mindful exercise in psychiatric symptoms (total PANSS, 2 RCT, n = 101, MD -8.94, low-quality evidence) and “working memory” (1 RCT, n = 194, MD 0.39, low-quality). For outcomes of “attention” and social functioning, there was no clear difference. Four studies reported no adverse events. Conclusions Mindful exercise was more beneficial over non-mindful exercise on some outcomes of psychiatric symptoms and cognitive performance for schizophrenia.