Prevalence and 20-year trends in meditation, yoga, guided imagery and progressive relaxation use among US adults from 2002 to 2022

Abstract

Meditation, yoga, guided imagery, and progressive relaxation are promoted as complementary approaches for health and wellbeing in the United States, but their uptake by different sociodemographic groups is unclear. This study assessed the prevalence and 20 year trends in the use of these practices in US adults between 2002-2022. We examined practice use and associations with sociodemographic and health factors in a population-weighted analysis of n = 134,959 participants across 5 cycles of the National Health Interview Survey. The overall use of meditation (18.3%, 60.53 million), yoga (16.8%, 55.78 million) and guided imagery/progressive relaxation (6.7%, 22.22 million) increased significantly from 2002 to 2022. Growth was consistent across most sociodemographic and health strata, however users of 'Other' race (comprising 54% Indigenous Americans, Odds Ratios; ORs = 1.28-1.70) and users with moderate (ORs = 1.19-1.29) psychological distress were overrepresented across all practices, and those with severe psychological distress were overrepresented in meditation (OR = 1.33) and guided imagery/progressive relaxation (OR = 1.42). Meditation use has accelerated over time for 65 + year olds (OR = 4.22), people not accessing mental health care (OR = 1.39), and less educated (OR = 4.02) groups, potentially reflecting unmet health needs. Health professionals should consider the extensive use of complementary practices in service and treatment planning and consider their risks and benefits.

Keywords: CAM; Complementary and alternative medicine; Guided imagery; Meditation; NHIS; National health interview survey; Prevalence; Progressive relaxation; Public health; Trends; Yoga.

Figure 1

Prevalence and 20 year trends in meditation, yoga, and guided imagery/progressive relaxation between 2002–2022. Weighted population estimates (dots, percentage labels) and regressed growth rate (solid lines with error shading) of meditation, yoga, and guided imagery/progressive relaxation (GIPR) across 2002, 2007, 2012, 2017 and 2022. Error shading reflects 95% confidence intervals and is especially wide for meditation due to anomalous 2012 data. Source: NHIS Data 2002–2022.

Figure 2

Changes in the population prevalence and rate of growth in meditation by different sociodemographic subgroups between 2002–2022. Left panels show changes in weighted population estimates (dots, percentage labels) and regressed growth rates (solid lines) of meditation by each age, race/ethnicity, relationship status and educational attainment user subgroup compared to the grand average (dashed line with error shading, representing 95% confidence intervals) between 2002 and 2022. Right panels show percent changes from 2002 at each timepoint (dots, percentage labels; 2007, 2012, 2017, 2022) and regressed rates of change in growth (solid lines) for the same user subgroups compared to the grand average (dashed line with error shading, representing 95% confidence intervals). Source: NHIS Data 2002–2022.