Meditation-and-the-brain research has been continuously increasing for several years, with new studies published almost every week demonstrating some new advantage of meditation. Or, more specifically, some ancient benefit that is only now being proven by fMRI or EEG. The practice appears to offer a wide range of neurological benefits, including changes in grey matter volume, decreased activity in the brain’s “me” centers, and increased connectivity across brain regions. The following are some of the most intriguing research to come out in recent years, demonstrating that meditation does generate measurable changes in our most crucial organ. Skeptics may wonder what good a few brain alterations are if the psychological repercussions are not demonstrated simultaneously. Fortunately, there is excellent evidence for those as well, with research showing that meditation reduces our subjective levels of anxiety and depression while improving attention, concentration, and overall psychological well-being.
Meditation helps to preserve the aging brain.
UUCLA researchers found that long-term meditators had better-preserved brains as they aged compared to non-meditators. Those who had been meditating for about 20 years showed higher grey matter volume throughout the brain. While elderly meditators did experience some volume loss compared to younger meditators, it was less pronounced than in non-meditators. This suggests that meditation can help preserve the aging brain.
Meditation decreases activity in the brain’s “Me Center”
The default mode network (DMN) is the brain network responsible for mind wandering and self-referential thinking, often known as “monkey mind.” The DMN is “on” or active when we aren’t thinking about anything in particular, but rather wandering from thought to thought. Many people strive to reduce mind-wandering because it is often related with feelings of sadness, rumination, and worry about the past and future. Several studies have found that meditation, through its calming influence on the DMN, appears to accomplish this. Even when the mind wanders, meditators are better at snapping back into focus thanks to the new connections they establish.
Its effects on sadness and anxiety rival those of antidepressants.
Johns Hopkins University did a review study to evaluate the relationship between mindfulness meditation and its ability to treat symptoms of despair, anxiety, and pain. Madhav Goyal and his team discovered that meditation has a moderate effect size of 0.3. If this seems tiny, keep in mind that the effect size for antidepressants is also 0.3, therefore the benefit of meditation looks to be rather good. Meditation is actually an active form of brain training. Even though a lot of people believe to meditate, you have to sit down and doing nothing. However, that hat is not true. Meditation is an active mental training that increases awareness, and different meditation methods approach this in different ways.” Meditation is not a cure-all for depression, and no treatment is, but it is one technique that may help manage symptoms.
Meditation may cause volume changes in key areas of the brain.
In 2011, Sara Lazar and her team at Harvard made a groundbreaking discovery: mindfulness meditation can profoundly alter the structure of the brain. After just eight weeks of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), participants showed increased cortical thickness in the hippocampus, the critical section for learning and memory. Additionally, the areas of the brain associated with regulating emotions and self-referential processing also exhibited growth. Remarkably, the amygdala, known for its role in fear, anxiety, and stress, showed decreased volume. These changes were consistent with the participants’ reports of reduced stress levels, highlighting that meditation can not only reshape the brain but also our subjective experience and emotional well-being. In fact, a follow-up study by Lazar’s team discovered that after meditation training, alterations in brain areas linked to mood and arousal were associated with improvements in how participants reported feeling — i.e., their psychological well-being. So, for anyone who believes that active blobs in the brain don’t necessarily represent anything, our subjective experience – enhanced mood and well-being – appears to be transformed by meditation as well.
Only a few days of training improves concentration and attention.
Concentration problems are not limited to children; millions of adults, whether diagnosed with ADD or not, suffer from them. Not unexpectedly, one of the main advantages of meditation is that it enhances attention and concentration. A recent study found that just a few weeks of meditation training improved people’s focus and recall during the verbal reasoning section of the GRE. In reality, the improvement in score was equivalent to 16 percentile points, which is not to be taken lightly. Because one of the primary goals of meditation is to maintain a strong focus of attention (on an object, thought, or activity), it’s not surprise that meditation should improve people’s cognitive skills at work as well – but it’s wonderful to have science back it up. And everyone could use a little more help with standardized assessments.
Meditation reduces anxiety, including social anxiety.
Many people start meditating to reduce stress, and there’s ample evidence supporting this benefit. Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn at the University of Massachusetts’ Center for Mindfulness (now available nationwide), is a notable program in this regard, is a newer sub-genre of meditation that aims to reduce a person’s stress level, both physically and mentally. Studies have shown that it can help reduce anxiety even years after the initial 8-week session. Mindfulness meditation, as opposed to focusing solely on the breath, has been demonstrated in studies to reduce anxiety, and these effects appear to be mediated through brain regions linked with self-referential (“me-centered”) thoughts. Mindfulness meditation has also been shown to aid persons with social anxiety disorder: a Stanford University team discovered that MBSR changed brain regions involved in attention while also relieving social anxiety symptoms.
Meditation Can Help With Addiction.
Meditation is increasingly acknowledged for its ability to help in addiction recovery, as evidenced by a growing body of studies. Meditation has been found in studies to be especially helpful because it affects the brain’s self-control regions. For example, one study compared the efficacy of mindfulness training to the American Lung Association’s Freedom From Smoking (FFS) program. The study found that participants who got mindfulness training were considerably more likely to quit smoking by the end of the course and maintained their gains at a 17-week follow-up, outperforming those who received traditional treatment. Several studies have found that mindfulness training, mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT), and mindfulness-based relapse prevention (MBRP) can help cure various types of addiction. This could be because meditation enables people to “decouple” their cravings from their smoking behavior, so one does not always have to lead to the other. Instead, people can completely experience and endure the “wave” of craving until it passes.
Short meditation breaks can help kids at school.
Meditation holds just as much, if not more, potential for developing brains as it does for adults. Educators and academics are increasingly interested in bringing meditation and yoga to schoolchildren, who face the regular challenges at school as well as added stress and trauma outside of school. Some schools have begun to incorporate meditation into their daily schedules, with positive results: One district in San Francisco implemented a twice-day meditation program in some of its high-risk schools, resulting in fewer suspensions and higher GPAs and attendance rates. Meditation has been shown in studies to offer cognitive and emotional benefits for kids, but more research is likely to be needed before it becomes widely accepted.
Closing Thoughts from One Motion Forward:
As we reflect on the rich history and modern resurgence of the sauna, it’s evident that this ancient practice has transcended time to become a cherished part of many cultures. Whether you prefer the convenience of a modern infrared sauna or the traditional wood-fired sauna, the key is to take your time to steam or get hot, allowing the heat to penetrate your body and soothe your soul. So, the next time you step into a sauna, embrace the warmth, relax, and let the stress melt away, knowing that you’re partaking in a practice that has brought comfort and wellness to people for millennia. Namaste.
Step into Your Stride: Accept the Journey with One Motion Forward!