Participating in an eight-week mindfulness meditation program appears to make measurable changes in brain regions associated with memory, sense of self, empathy, and stress. In a study that will appear in the Jan. 30 issue of Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, a team led by Harvard-affiliated researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) reported the results of their study, the first to document meditation-produced changes over time in the brain’s gray matter
More proof of meditation benefits
Moderators: Rosie, Stanz, Jean, CAMary, moremuscle, JFR, Dee, xet, Peggy, Matthew, Gabes-Apg, grannyh, Gloria, Mars, starfire, Polly, Joefnh
More proof of meditation benefits
http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2 ... ter-brain/
Thank you, Deb, for sharing this. Wonderful - not surprising, but good evidence to share with skeptics and those who think meditation is a bit too "fluffy" or "woo-woo" to really be taken seriously.
Meg
Meg
Courage is the price that life exacts for granting peace; the soul that knows it not, knows no release from little things. - Amelia Earhart
I agree, and here's why: If we are going to find a way to positively influence our health, we are in a much better position to be able to influence the brain than we are able to influence the gut (by means of gut bacteria manipulation). Unfortunately, gut bacteria have a mind of their own (of sorts), not only individually, but communally, and we don't seem to be able to understand it at all. So any progress that we make by trying to utilize a gut bacteria approach will pretty much depend on blind luck, despite good intentions.
By contrast, the brain is not infested by gut bacteria (at least I hope that's true), so there is no "higher power" that is likely to frustrate our efforts to manipulate the way our brain works by altering our thought patterns. IMO, there is a great potential for health benefits available in the brain, and if researchers spent half as much time researching that potential as they spend attempting to study gut bacteria, they would get much more bang for their buck.
Unfortunately, because this sort of research is not likely to result in FDA approvals for new drugs designed to make drug manufacturers even richer, research money is much harder to come by, and the results are not as actively promoted as drug ads would be. And the general population is less likely to appreciate a process that requires a little discipline, knowledge, and dedication, because of their desire to cure all their ills by popping a pill.
All in all, there is a good chance (IMO) that this will eventually take a leading role in getting our health as a society back on track at some point in the future.
Thanks for the link.
Tex
By contrast, the brain is not infested by gut bacteria (at least I hope that's true), so there is no "higher power" that is likely to frustrate our efforts to manipulate the way our brain works by altering our thought patterns. IMO, there is a great potential for health benefits available in the brain, and if researchers spent half as much time researching that potential as they spend attempting to study gut bacteria, they would get much more bang for their buck.
Unfortunately, because this sort of research is not likely to result in FDA approvals for new drugs designed to make drug manufacturers even richer, research money is much harder to come by, and the results are not as actively promoted as drug ads would be. And the general population is less likely to appreciate a process that requires a little discipline, knowledge, and dedication, because of their desire to cure all their ills by popping a pill.
All in all, there is a good chance (IMO) that this will eventually take a leading role in getting our health as a society back on track at some point in the future.
Thanks for the link.
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
Hi Deb, and thanks for the article.
Even more impressive than documented physical changes in the brain, IMHO, is the study by Harvard researchers (led by Herbert Benson, MD) that found actual changes in the DNA of meditators vs. non-meditators. Specifically, the genes related to "stress" symptoms/diseases actually "switched off" in the meditators after just a few months of meditation. To me, this is earth-shattering news - it proves that our genes are not necessarily our destiny. They can be positively altered (epigenetics) by meditation. How incredible!
We have discussed this before here. It is the subject of the book "Relaxation Revolution" by Herbert Benson, M.D.
Fascinating stuff - with great hope for future understanding of the mind/body connection.
Polly
Even more impressive than documented physical changes in the brain, IMHO, is the study by Harvard researchers (led by Herbert Benson, MD) that found actual changes in the DNA of meditators vs. non-meditators. Specifically, the genes related to "stress" symptoms/diseases actually "switched off" in the meditators after just a few months of meditation. To me, this is earth-shattering news - it proves that our genes are not necessarily our destiny. They can be positively altered (epigenetics) by meditation. How incredible!
We have discussed this before here. It is the subject of the book "Relaxation Revolution" by Herbert Benson, M.D.
Fascinating stuff - with great hope for future understanding of the mind/body connection.
Polly
Blessed are they who can laugh at themselves, for they shall never cease to be amused.
Agreed. The good news is that mindfulness meditation is a growing trend in many workplaces and elsewhere. It saves businesses money in various ways. If the workers are in the business of caring for others (e.g. nurses), it can have a ripple effect to better outcomes for those in their care.
Courage is the price that life exacts for granting peace; the soul that knows it not, knows no release from little things. - Amelia Earhart
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My view is that meditation's long history in so many different traditions has more than established it as a beneficial/healing technique without need of modern "scientific" research to justify its practice. This recent research can be fascinating but I, for one, was already convinced that meditation is beneficial. The scientific research helps explain how meditation effects the body but it is no more proof of meditation benefits that the long history of satisfied practitioners. If this research brings people into the meditation fold who would not otherwise be there then it is a good thing. I just don't think "scientific" proof is the only kind of valid proof.
Jean
Jean