Have you ever wondered what science says about meditation?, I wonder if the benefits of this practice have been scientifically proven ?, that’s what we’ll talk about in this article.
Meditation has become very popular, so it integrates naturally into our lives in different environments and with different objectives, and was not in vain. Meditation has multiple benefits for physical and mental health, perhaps that’s why meditation is ‘fashionable’.
- But do many people hesitate to meditate because they don’t?But meditation is not a religion: it does not take faith for meditation to work.
- There’s no magic involved either.
- And there’s no luck.
Many of the benefits attributed to meditation are scientifically proven and, in doing so, many benefits and benefits have been discovered.
Next, we’ll learn what science says about meditation and discover the most important benefits discovered by researchers in recent years. Research on the benefits of this practice continues, so the ones we’ve gathered below are probably just the beginning.
One of the most interesting advantages of meditation is that it promotes and therefore increases creativity, in this sense a 2012 study of the University of Leiden in the Netherlands and a subsequent study of the same university in 2014 revealed that certain meditation techniques can promote creativity. Thinking.
According to these studies, in meditation called “open surveillance”, in which participants are receptive to all thoughts and sensations without focusing their attention on a particular concept or object, people performed better in divergent thought tasks and created more new ideas than before.
These findings support the belief that meditation can have a lasting influence on human cognition, including how we conceived new ideas and how we feel about events. And this not only happens with experienced meditators, beginners can also benefit from meditation.
One of the most important benefits attributed to this practice is that it helps reduce and prevent stress. A january 2017 study, conducted by Georgetown University in the United States, found that inflammatory hormonal reactions to stress were reduced after meditation training, especially after meditation training. The practice of mindfulness. This rigorously planned clinical study has obtained objective physiological evidence that conscious meditation combats anxiety.
Researchers found that patients with anxiety disorders significantly reduced responses to stress hormone and inflammation in a stressful situation after taking a conscious meditation course, while other patients who took a course to manage stress without meditation had their responses worsened.
Another study published in May 2017 by researchers at the University of Waterloo in Canada found that only 10 minutes of meditation helps anxious people get a better perspective. The study, which assessed the impact of meditation on 82 participants who felt anxious, found that developing awareness of the present moment reduced incidents of repetitive thinking outside of homework, a feature of anxiety.
Researchers explain that the wandering mind accounts for nearly half of each person’s daily flow of consciousness. For anxious people, repetitive thoughts outside the task can negatively affect their ability to learn, perform tasks, or even function safely.
Many people report positive health effects during yoga and meditation, as well as the mental and physical benefits of these practices; However, we still have a lot to learn about how these practices exactly affect the health of the body and mind.
A new research paper, published in August 2017, examines the effects of yoga and meditation on people by examining the physiological and immune markers of stress and inflammation. By studying participants in an intensive three-month retreat with these disciplines, the researchers found that the practices had a positive impact on the physiological and immunological markers of stress and inflammation, as well as improving subjective well-being.
This article, published in frontiers in Human Neuroscience, discusses the effects of yoga and meditation on brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), activity on the hypothalamic effects of the adrenal pituitary gland (HPA) and inflammatory markers. In an intensive three-month yoga and meditation retreat, researchers found that the practices had a positive impact on BDNF signaling, cortisol’s response to wakefulness (CAR), and immune markers, as well as improving subjective well-being.
Data showed that retirement participation was associated with a self-formed decrease in anxiety and depression, as well as an increase in mindfulness. The research team observed an increase in plasma levels of BDNF, a neuromodulator that plays an important role in learning. regulating complex processes such as inflammation, immunity, mood regulation, stress response and stress.
Increases in the magnitude of the response to awakening cortisol (CAR), which is part of the pituitary hypothalamic axis, were also observed, suggesting better stress resistance.
A 2011 study by researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital in Massachusetts, USA, has been conducted by researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital. The U. S. , published in the journal Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, found that meditation, especially mindfulness meditation, can cause significant changes in the regions of the brain associated with memory, self-esteem, empathy and stress. The study was the first to document the changes produced by meditation over time in the gray matter of the brain.
After analyzing MRI images, which were concentrated in areas where differences associated with meditation were observed in previous studies, a higher density of gray matter was noticed in the hippocampus, which is important for learning and memory, and in structures. associated with self-awareness and introspection. Stress reductions reported by participants were also linked to decreased density of gray matter in the amygdala, which plays an important role in anxiety and stress.
Another study, conducted in late 2013 by researchers from Wisconsin, Spain and France and published in the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology, first reported specific molecular changes in the body after a period of conscious meditation.
The study examined the effects of a day of intensive mindfulness practice on 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 number of genetic factors and molecular differences, including altered levels of the gene regulation mechanism and reduced levels of pro-inflammatory genes that, in turn, were related to a faster physical recovery from a stressful situation.
“The most interesting thing is that the observed changes occurred in genes that are the current targets of anti-inflammatory and analgesic drugs,” the researchers explained.
A more recent study, in June 2017, conducted by coventry University, UK, found that body-mind interventions (MBI) and meditation, yoga and Tai Chi Chuan not only provide relaxation, but can ”return” or compensate for parts of our DNA. that could be a risk factor.
The research, published in frontiers in Immunology, reviews more than a decade of studies that look at how the behavior of our genes is affected by different MBI. Studies reveal a pattern of molecular changes occurring in the body as a result of IBM and how these changes benefit patients’ physical and mental health.
Researchers focused on how genetic expression is affected, i. e. they focused on how genes are activated to produce proteins that influence the biological composition of the body, brain and immune system.
Researchers point out 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 level and can change the shape of our genetic code. “These activities leave what we call the molecular mark 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, experts explain.
Pain relief is another area in which meditation researchers show great interest. As a result, a study from Leeds Beckett University in the UK, published in June 2017, found that meditation could be a cheaper alternative to traditional painkillers.
According to this study, only ten minutes of mindfulness meditation could function as an alternative to painkillers. The results of the study suggest that a single 10-minute mindfulness meditation session administered by a therapist may improve pain tolerance, pain sensation threshold, and decrease pain. related anxiety.
Other previous studies had explored the possibility of relieving opioid-free pain through meditation, this is the case of a march 2016 study by Wake Forest Baptist Health in the United States, published in the Journal of Neuroscience, which revealed that after a short period of time of meditation training, it is possible to reduce experimentally induced pain.
Researchers explain that these findings are particularly important for those who have already developed a high tolerance to opiate-based drugs and are looking for a way to reduce pain that does not cause addiction. “Do we think meditation could be used in conjunction with other traditional therapies, such as medications, to improve pain relief without the side effects and other consequences that can result from opiate production?, they claim.
An earlier study, conducted by the same center and published in 2015, found that conscious 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 if its effects go further.
This study showed that participants who practiced mindfulness meditation reported greater pain relief than those who used a placebo. Significantly, brain imaging showed that conscious meditation produces very different activity patterns than those produced by placebo to reduce pain.
We’re just talking about a few studies that have addressed the effects of meditation. Undoubtedly, so much interest is related to observing benefits that go beyond myths and beliefs. And also the placebo effect, certainly.
Even if you know what science says about meditation, what you don’t need to prove is that if you want to prove that it works, you’ll have to try it yourself, with an open mind and without judgment. you can evaluate the results yourself.