Meditation and health
Meditation:
- Increases happiness and strengthens the immune system. Scientists at the University of Wisconsin reported that people newly trained in meditation have shown an increase in electrical activity in the left frontal part of the brain, an area associated with positive emotion and happiness.
- Boosts the immune system. In the same study, meditators also showed a significant increase in immunity to the flu.
- Enhances memory and attention. A study at Massachusetts General Hospital found that parts of the brain’s cerebral cortex were thicker in people who had practiced meditation daily for just 40 minutes for several years. The cerebral cortex is the part of the brain that deals with attention and processing sensory input and tends to thin with age.
- Reduces the physical pain, anxiety, and stress of fibromyalgia. A study published in Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics showed sustained benefits over a three year period in a group of women who had taken an eight-week course in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction.
- Lowers blood pressure. A 2004 study published in the American Journal of Cardiology showed meditation can lower blood pressure and mortality rates in older people with hypertension.
- Helps alleviate mild to moderate anxiety and depression. Researchers at the University of Louisville found that mindfulness meditation alleviates depression in women with fibromyalgia.
- Increases alertness. University of Kentucky researchers found that sleepy people who meditated for 40 minutes did better on a test of mental quickness than people who had taken a 40-minute nap.
- Helps control binge eating. A study at Indiana State University found that obese women who practiced mindfulness meditation had an average of four fewer binge-eating episodes a week than before they took up the practice. Mindfulness can help bingers recognize when they want to overeat and lower the odds that they will.
- Helps lower blood sugar: Researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles showed that patients were able to lower their blood pressure, blood sugar and insulin by practicing transcendental meditation.
Comments
Comment from Jim
Time: July 26, 2007, 5:16 pm
I often wonder when reading about these studies: does 40-minutes (”people who meditated for 40 minutes did better. . .”) mean they meditated for 40 minutes all at once or does it mean they meditated for two 20-minutes sessions (perhaps 20 minutes in the morning and then 20 minutes in the evening) for a total of 40 minutes?
Comment from Bodhipaksa
Time: July 26, 2007, 7:47 pm
Good point. If I had the time right now I’d track down reports of those studies on the web and add ore details to this page. If you have time to do that yourself why not drop me a line using the contact form and we can update the page and add links?
Comment from Jason
Time: October 26, 2007, 10:54 pm
I found clinical sources dealing with memory recall, though I couldn’t find any that point to meditation as a general memory enhancer. Most of the studies that I saw were centered on guided meditation with a trained clinician. I do not doubt meditation’s overall benefits and I also hope that others will help to find the objective proof that some individuals so desire.
Comment from sue
Time: November 15, 2007, 11:02 am
I have just started a meditation course and am finding it helpful. I also have epilepsy and wonder if there is any information on meditation and seizures. I had an absence type seizure during my last session but I do have them at other times as well.
Comment from Bodhipaksa
Time: November 15, 2007, 11:22 am
Hi Sue,
The relationship between epilepsy and meditation doesn’t seem to have been well explored. Some studies have reportedly shown a reduction in seizures in those who suffer from epilepsy while there’s some anecdotal evidence that some individuals may have an increased risk. I did in fact know one man many years ago who didn’t meditate because it would precipitate seizures. So I think you’d just have to watch what happens and to keep records of your seizure patterns and how they relate to the meditation you do, and see if any correlation appears. It’s also possible that different meditation practices have different effects on seizures, so if you do keep a diary you’d probably be best to make a note of what kind of meditation you’re doing (assuming you’re doing more than one kind).
Here’s an article from epilesy.com.
The author is one of those who found an individual in whom meditation seemed to make things worse, but she thinks more research has to be done before any definite conclusions can be reached.
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