Reiki Benefits Caregivers

Reiki is not just beneficial to people with chronic health conditions. It's also beneficial for caregivers of those people!

Many of us are familiar with the healing and stress-relieving effects of Reiki. These effects can benefit anyone, including caregivers.

A 2021 research study examined the effects of Reiki on caregivers who were caring for someone with cancer. It probably won't surprise you to learn that the effects were overall positive!

This randomized controlled trial followed the experience of 42 caregivers over 6 weeks. Half of the caregivers received Reiki over the 6 weeks, and the other half received a sham (fake) Reiki treatment.

Researchers used multiple outcome measures, including the Caregiver Strain Index CSI), blood pressure, resting heart rate, and saliva cortisol levels.

The Results? The group that received Reiki had significantly lower CSI scores, blood pressure, and resting heart rate compared to the sham Reiki group!

This means that Reiki did have a significant effect on the caregivers' levels of stress.

Reiki is easy to use and simple to learn. Imagine if every caregiver knew how to use it--everyone would benefit!

Study: Effect of Reiki on the stress level of caregivers of patients with cancer: Qualitative and single-blind randomized controlled trial

Authors: Yuce, U. and Tasci, S. (2001) G