Meditation and health: Then again, there is always the package of 28 injections over 8 weeks ...

From Massachusetts General Hospital, we learn

Mindfulness meditation training changes brain structure in 8 weeks

Meditation group participants reported spending an average of 27 minutes each day practicing mindfulness exercises, and their responses to a mindfulness questionnaire indicated significant improvements compared with pre-participation responses. The analysis of MR images, which focused on areas where meditation-associated differences were seen in earlier studies, found increased grey-matter density in the hippocampus, known to be important for learning and memory, and in structures associated with self-awareness, compassion and introspection. Participant-reported reductions in stress also were correlated with decreased grey-matter density in the amygdala, which is known to play an important role in anxiety and stress. Although no change was seen in a self-awareness-associated structure called the insula, which had been identified in earlier studies, the authors suggest that longer-term meditation practice might be needed to produce changes in that area. None of these changes were seen in the control group, indicating that they had not resulted merely from the passage of time. (Eurekalert, January 21, 2011)

Changes were associated with awareness, empathy, and stress.

Hat tip: Stephanie West Allen at Brains on Purpose

Meditation: Research scientist learns benefits personally

In "What Inspired A Scientist To Open A Meditation Center At UCLA?" (Huffington Post, July 15, 2009), Patricia Fitzgerald interviewed Susan Smalley, a research scientist who ended up creating a centre for mindfulness research.

I was fascinated with the gene mapping studies. I thought that if you found all the genes that influence human behavior, you could solve the world's problems. I thought that once we understood the biology, we would be able to map out what are the environments that interact with those genes and we could cure everything. I thought that was the solution to end suffering.

I did autism research for ten years, and ADHD research for 13 years. As I really started studying ADHD, it became clear that, like every other psychiatric and behavioral condition, there's not a single gene involved. There are many genes that interact. It's not something you're going to treat by altering genes; it will require a variety of approaches. I see ADHD as a way of brain processing that impacts many dimensions, not only attention but also working memory, probably personality, and other domains.

Then she got sick, and, while struggling with her disorder,

... had what I now call a "mystical experience" - I had a huge shift in consciousness. And it wasn't one that was incremental, day after day, increasing and increasing, but one of those, bam! Wow! The world, we're all interconnected, I'm part of the oneness of the universe. I discovered this sense of deep interconnectedness of our dependent nature and posted a blog about it.

It was so profound that I couldn't harm anything, and it was like all of a sudden. It wasn't choosing not to eat meat anymore or choosing not to harm an insect because I thought it was a nice thing to do. It was because I felt to harm another animal, insect, even plants was like hurting a part of myself, as if I was chopping off my own left arm. I saw us all as one interconnected thing.

It was a really profound state, and along with this heightened state of consciousness, this incredible state of compassion, came a flood of rushing joy, bliss, calmness, happiness. I couldn't even muster the old feelings I had that included the negative feelings of jealously, greed, anger ... all of those things I couldn't find in myself.

Of course, that state dissipated, but she saw another way to live, that may be much healthier for her.

Hat tip: Stephanie West Allen at Brains on Purpose

Meditation: More on how meditation changes the brain

In "Meditation on Demand: New research reveals how meditation changes the brain," Peter B. Reiner discusses recent efforts to understand meditation via experiments with mice.

It is hard to ignore the fact that the sustained gamma activity evoked in these mice was highly reminiscent of the type of electrical activity recorded from the long-time meditators practicing the elusive phenomenon known as open monitoring meditation. That being said, despite the elegant experimental design utilized by the investigators, sustained gamma-activity is not identical to meditation. For these reasons and more, it is doubtful that anyone would accept this experiment as satisfying the Dalai Lama’s call to the neuroscience community to develop a technological replacement for the many hours spent immersed in contemplative thought. But given the growing body of evidence which suggests that even short-term meditation improves measures of attention, these new experiments provide an interesting twist to the growing field of cognitive enhancement.

Sustained gamma-activity in mice is not identical to meditation?

Obviously, these critics have never heard of mice-stical contemplation!

Reiner wonders whether transhumanists will be tempted to automate mysticism via enhancements.

I doubt that will work because the whole point of effort of any kind is that it is really our effort, our experience, and our achievement. If we can buy an experience off the shelf, we can be pretty sure it isn't really part of our life.

See also:

Spirituality: Michael Gerson on Andrew Newberg's new "How God Changes Your Brain" book

New book watch: Newberg and Waldman's How God Changes Your Brain

Andrew Newberg: Meditation helps, but (how many times do we have to say this?), you must work work at it

Real Buddhism scholar to "neural Buddhists": The Buddha does not infinitely morph and would never drop two grand for "meditation gear"

Andrew Newberg: Meditation helps, but - how many times do we have to say this - you must WORK at it ...

At Sharp Brains, Alvaro Fernandez interviews Andrew Newberg, author of Why God Won't Go Away and several other books, on recent studies in meditation. Newberg notes,

A variety of studies have already shown the stress management benefits of meditation, resulting in what is often called Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction. What we are researching now is what are the cognitive - attention, memory- benefits? It is clear that memory depends on attention and the ability to screen out distractions - so we want to measure the effect of meditation on the brain, both structurally and functionally.

Why don't more people meditate (or contemplate), despite a growing body of evidence that it helps them? From Newberg:

Well, the reality is that meditation requires practice and dedication. It is not an easy fix. And some of the best-researched meditation techniques, such as mindfulness meditation, are very intensive. You need a trained facilitator. You need to stick to the practice.

Yes indeed. As I have said elsewhere, and not as graciously as Dr. Newberg: "Real Buddhism scholar to "neural Buddhists": The real Buddha does not infinitely morph and would never drop two grand for meditation gear.

Neuroscience: Meditation really can change the brain

Barbara Lantin of The Times of London reports that "Meditation can alter brain structure" (March 14, 2008):

Long-term meditation seems not only to alter brain-wave patterns: early research suggests that it may also result in changes in the actual structure of the cortex, the outer parts of our brains. “We have found that brain regions associated with attention and sensory processing were thicker in meditators than in the controls,” says Dr Sara Lazar, an assistant in psychology at Massachusetts General Hospital.

"The data give credence to some of the claims of long-term meditators and suggests that meditation can play a role in reducing stress, improving emotion regulation and perhaps slowing the effects of ageing on brains - slowing the normal decrease in mental agility, ability to learn new things and memory that comes with age."

The thing to see here is that the brain is not cast in cement. Anything we spend a lot of time doing will alter our brains. Unfortunately, some people get hold of that and conclude that "meditators have a certain kind of brain" and set about looking for a "spirituality gene"

That makes as much sense as saying that people who are physically fit have a certain kind of body and looking for the "fitness gene" that explains it. As if.

Cognitive Neuroscience of Mindfulness Meditation:

Meditation catching on at universities?

Well, this beats booze binges, for long term health:

On her last sabbatical, Fran Grace went into the woods. In a remote cabin in a southeastern Oregon forest, with no electricity, Internet or phone, the University of Redlands religious studies chair sat down and began to meditate. When she returned to the California campus in fall 2004, she changed her class offerings — shifting from courses like “Religion and Hate” to contemplative-based classes in meditation, healing and compassion.

“It brought forth a commitment in me to see how do we integrate these kinds of contemplative moments in a learning environment for students, where they can drop down to a deeper level, a calmer level,” says Grace. “It seems so obvious to me that a calmer mind is a more focused mind and a more focused mind is a better learning mind. But we don’t really ever talk about that.”

Apparently, the trend is catching on. Good thing too. Can't see a course in "Religion and Hate" doing much for wholeness and wellness.

Hat tip Stephanie West Allen, at Brains on Purpose

Mindfulness meditation catches on in the workplace: Beaded hippies nowhere in sight

In Toronto’s Globe and Mail, Patrick White offers a look at the use of mindfulness meditation by executives, to get control of job stress:

cities across Canada, mindfulness classes are overbooked with stressed professionals searching for a path to increased focus and decreased stress.

The trend has caught the interest of academics. Researchers have found that prolonged mindfulness meditation eases stress, aggressive behaviour, cardiovascular problems, pain and depression.

About time they noticed. Meditation is way better for you than another cup of ruddy awful coffee.

In one study, neurologists at Massachusetts General Hospital found that meditation actually alters the construction of the brain. Comparing the brains scans of meditators with a control group, they found thickened cortical walls surrounding the regions of the brain responsible for attention and sensory processing.

Last year, University of Toronto scientist Tony Toneatto found that nursing students who were able to maintain a state of mindfulness had fewer symptoms of stress and anxiety.

Excellent article, despite the continual need to stress that the beaded hippies are nowhere in sight. (Can’t remember when I last saw one, anyway. )