What Does Science Tell Us About Meditation?

Meditation has become popular, so that it is integrating into our lives naturally in different environments and with different objectives. Not surprisingly, meditation has multiple benefits for your physical and mental health. Perhaps that is why meditating is becoming fashionable.

However, many people deny meditation because they do not “believe” in it. But meditation is not a religion : you don’t have to have faith that meditation works. There is no magic in it either, nor is it a matter of luck.

Next we are going to see the most prominent benefits of meditation found by researchers in recent years.  Research on the benefits of meditation continues, so the benefits below are probably just the beginning.

Meditation makes you more creative

One of the most interesting benefits of meditation is that it encourages, and therefore increases, creativity. In this sense, a 2012 study by the University of Leiden, in the Netherlands, and a later one, carried out by the same University in 2014, found that certain meditation techniques can promote creative thinking.

According to these studies, in what they called “open monitoring” meditation, in which participants are receptive to all thoughts and sensations without focusing attention on any particular concept or object, they performed better in divergent thinking tasks and generated more new ideas than before.

These findings support the belief that meditation can have a lasting influence on human cognition, including how we conceive of new ideas and how we experience events, not only for experienced meditators, but newbies can benefit from meditation as well.

Meditation reduces stress and anxiety

One of the most prominent benefits attributed to it is that it helps reduce and prevent stress.  A study published in January 2017, conducted by Georgetown University, USA, found that inflammatory hormonal reactions to stress were reduced after meditation training, specifically after practicing mindfulness. This rigorously designed clinical trial has found objective physiological evidence that mindfulness meditation combats anxiety.

Researchers found that anxiety disorder patients had dramatically reduced stress hormone responses and inflammation to a stressful situation after taking a mindful meditation course, while patients who took a stress management course without meditation the responses had worsened.

Another study published in May 2017 by researchers at the University of Waterloo, Canada, found that just 10 minutes of meditation helps anxious people focus better. The study, which evaluated the impact of meditation on 82 participants experiencing anxiety, found that developing a current moment awareness reduced incidents of repetitive, off-task thinking, a hallmark of anxiety.

The researchers explain that the wandering mind accounts for almost half of anyone’s daily stream of consciousness. For people with anxiety, repetitive thoughts outside of task can negatively affect their ability to learn, complete tasks, or even function safely.

Meditation improves mental and body health and resistance to stress

Many people report positive health effects from practicing yoga and meditation, and experience mental and physical benefits from these practices. However, we still have much to learn about how exactly these practices affect mind-body health.

A new research article, published in August 2017, investigates the effects of yoga and meditation on people by looking at physiological and immunological markers of stress and inflammation. By studying the participants of an intensive three-month retreat with these disciplines, the researchers found that the practices positively impacted the physiological and immunological markers of stress and inflammation and, in addition, improved subjective well-being.

This article, published in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, investigates the effects of yoga and meditation on brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), activity on hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) effects, and inflammatory markers. By studying participants in an intensive 3-month yoga and meditation retreat, the researchers found that the practices positively impacted BDNF signaling, cortisol awakening response (CAR), and immune markers, as well as improved well-being. subjective.

The data showed that participation in withdrawal was associated with a self-reported decrease in anxiety and depression, as well as an increase in mindfulness. The research team observed increases in plasma levels of BDNF, a neuromodulator that plays an important role in learning, memory and regulation of complex processes such as inflammation, immunity, mood regulation, stress response and metabolism.

They also observed increases in the magnitude of the response to awakening of cortisol (CAR) which is part of the hypothalamic adrenal axis of the pituitary (HPA), suggesting better resistance to stress.

Meditation changes brain structure and gene expression

A 2011 study by researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital, USA, published in the journal Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging , revealed that meditation, specifically mindfulness meditation, can cause measurable changes in brain regions associated with memory, sense of self, empathy and stress. This study was the first to document the changes produced by meditation over time in the gray matter of the brain.

After the analysis of the MRI images, which focused on areas where differences associated with meditation were observed in previous studies, they found a higher density of gray matter in the hippocampus, which is known to be important for learning and learning. memory, and in structures associated with self-awareness and introspection. Participant-reported reductions in stress were also correlated with decreased gray matter density in the amygdala, which is known to play a role in anxiety and stress.

Another study, this one conducted in late 2013 by researchers from Wisconsin, Spain and France, published in the journal  Psychoneuroendocrinology,  reported for the first time on specific molecular changes that occurred in the body after a period of mindful meditation.

The study investigated the effects of a day of intensive mindfulness practice in a group of experienced meditators, compared to a group of untrained control subjects who participated in quiet, non-meditative activities. After eight hours of mindfulness practice, ‘the meditators’ showed a range of genetic and molecular differences, including altered levels of gene regulatory machinery, and reduced levels of pro-inflammatory genes, which in turn were correlated with physical recovery faster from a stressful situation.

“The most interesting thing is that the changes were observed in the genes that are the current targets of anti-inflammatory and analgesic drugs , “ the researchers explain.

Meditation can compensate for stress-causing DNA reactions

A more recent study, from June 2017, conducted by Coventry University in the United Kingdom, has found that both mind-body interventions (MBI), such as meditation, yoga and Tai Chi not simply relax us, but that can “reverse” or compensate for certain parts of our DNA that could constitute a risk factor.

The research, published in the journal Frontiers in Immunology , reviews more than a decade of studies looking at how the behavior of our genes is affected by different MBIs. The researchers conclude that when all 18 studies – with 846 participants aged 11 and over – are examined together, they reveal a pattern in the molecular changes that occur in the body as a result of MBIs and how these changes benefit mental health and physics of the patients.

Researchers focus on how gene expression is affected. That is, they focus on the way in which genes are activated to produce proteins that influence the biological composition of the body, brain and immune system.

The researchers note that millions of people around the world already enjoy the health benefits of mind-body interventions, such as yoga or meditation, but what they may not realize is that these benefits begin at the molecular and can change the shape of our genetic code. “These activities are leaving what we call a molecular signature in our cells, which reverses the effect that stress or anxiety would have on the body by changing the way our genes are expressed, which improves our well-being,” they explain.

Meditation relieves pain

Pain relief is another area in which meditation research shows great interest. In this sense, a study from the University of Leeds Beckett, in the United Kingdom, published in June 2017 found that meditation could be a cheaper alternative to traditional painkillers.

According to the study, just ten minutes of mindfulness meditation could be used as an alternative to pain relievers. Study results suggest that a single ten-minute mindfulness meditation session administered by a therapist can improve pain tolerance, pain threshold, and decrease anxiety toward pain.

Previous studies had explored the possibility of pain relief without opioids through meditation. This is the case of a study conducted in March 2016 by Wake Forest Baptist Health, in the United States, published in the Journal of Neuroscience . This study found that after a short period of meditation training, experimentally induced pain can be reduced.

The researchers explain that these results are especially important for those who have built up a tolerance to opioid-based drugs and are looking for a non-addictive way to reduce their pain. “We believe that meditation could be used in conjunction with other traditional drug therapies to improve pain relief without producing the addictive side effects and other consequences that can arise from opioid drugs , ” they say.

An earlier study, produced by the same center and published in 2015, found that mindfulness meditation reduces pain more effectively than placebo. The study used a two-way approach, pain scores and brain imaging, to determine whether mindfulness meditation simply has a placebo effect or its effects go further.

This study showed that study participants who practiced mindfulness meditation reported greater pain relief than placebo. Significantly, the brain scans showed that mindfulness meditation produced very different patterns of activity than did placebo in reducing pain.

Research on the effects of continuous meditation

We have talked about only a few of the studies that have addressed the effects of meditation. Undoubtedly, so much interest responds to the observation of benefits that go beyond myths and beliefs. Of course, also of the placebo effect.

What does not need demonstration is the fact that if you want to check that this works, you have to try it yourself, with an open mind, without judgment. Once you do, you can assess the results.