Meditation and the Brain

Can meditation change your brain? Researchers believe it can... the meditation can have a profound effect on the most fundamental aspects of human physiology

Brain During Meditation Recently, a more study was conducted that showed a specific effect of meditation on attention.

The results of this study showed that after training, participants in the training group showed more improvement in a task measuring executive attention than the control group. The training also helped reduced cortisol levels caused by mental stress.

Three months of intensive meditation can have a profound/positive effect on the brain.

The mind perceives every little detail and facts of life every day,that normally it is almost impossible to grasp.

Recent literature by scientists from four different countries – India, Italy, Japan and the United States – agrees that "Meditation practice in the medical setting is proving to be an excellent adjunctive therapy for many illnesses and an essential and primary means of maintaining holistic health and wellness":



1)Increased blood flow was detected in key regions of the brain that are affected in cases of dementia – the frontal lobe and right superior parietal lobe.



2)An improvement in cognitive functioning was noted based on a neuropsychological evaluation that tested verbal fluency and cognitive tests that assessed attention and logical memory.



3)The participants in the meditation intervention experienced the practice as "enjoyable and beneficial and perceived their cognitive function to be improved".



Researchers are beginning to prove that alternative methods of treatment can be helpful in the fight against Alzheimer's disease.



transcendental-meditation-brainThe Alzheimer's Research and Prevention Foundation today announced data demonstrating that a specific meditation performed daily for eight weeks increased brain activity in areas central to memory and actually mproved cognition in patients suffering from memory problems. The results of the study, conducted at the University of Pennsylvania, were published in an early online version of an article scheduled to appear in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease

Positive psychological changes that occur during meditation training are associated with an increased activity of telomerase.

[Telomerase is an enzyme that maintains the DNA at the ends of our chromosomes, known as telomeres. In the absence of telomerase activity, every time our cells divide, our telomeres get shorter. This is part of the natural aging process, as most cells in the human body do not have much active telomerase. Eventually, these DNA-containing telomeres, which act as protective caps at the ends of chromosomes, become so short that the cells die.But in some cells, such as cancer cells, telomerase, which is composed of RNA and proteins, is highly active and adds telomere DNA, preventing telomere shortening and extending the life of the cell.ScienceDaily (Nov. 3, 2010)]

According to researchers at the University of California, Davis, and the University of California, San Francisco. The study is the first to link positive well-being to higher telomerase, an enzyme important for the long-term health of cells in the body.

"We have found that meditation promotes positive psychological changes, and that meditators showing the greatest improvement on various psychological measures had the highest levels of telomerase," said Clifford Saron, associate research scientist at the UC Davis Center for Mind and Brain.

well... hope you have a nice meditation!