The Scientific Benefits of Meditation
Meditation is a series of simple tasks, easy to perform, that only need to be repeated until they bear fruit. – Culadasa (a.k.a. John Yates, PhD)
Meditation is the act of training your mind.
But can you really train the mind like a muscle?
Although gold-standard research on the scientific benefits of meditation is still in its infancy, initial studies suggest that it can enhance nearly every area of cognition.
Meditation has amazed neuroscientists with its ability to change the structure of our brains in key areas responsible for intelligence, memory, and emotional regulation.
Imagine there’s a new drug on the market with the following benefits:
Reduces stress and anxiety[1],[2]
Improves concentration, working memory, and mood[3]
Supports immune function[4]
Decreases depression[5]
Cultivates positive emotions, like empathy[6],[7]
Boosts creativity[8]
Improves insulin sensitivity[9]
Aids in sleep[10],[11]
Increases pain tolerance by 40%[12]
Slows age-related cognitive decline[13],[14]
Diminishes inflammation[15],[16]
Increases self-control and reduces cravings, such as binge eating[17]and alcoholism[18],[19]
Lowers blood pressure[20]
And other benefits, including the potential to treat clinical disorders[21] and slow cellular aging[22]
How much would people pay for this drug?
But the best part is that you can reap these rewards for free through meditation.
Since meditation involves training your metacognition and entire mind-body system, there are a wide variety of benefits.
Most importantly, it creates a shift in your perception of the world. Meditation allows you to get in tune with your mind, becoming aware of previously unconscious thoughts and emotions that led to automatic behaviors.
As an analogy, meditation allows you to look at the mirror (i.e., objectively observing mental activity) without getting lost in the mirror (i.e., caught up in mental stories and appearances).
When you meditate, you gain control of your mind. You can then spend more time in the present moment, where life happens.
P.S. — If you’re serious about learning these techniques and deepening your meditation practice, check out the FitMind meditation app.
Sources:
[1] Goyal, Madhav, et al. "Meditation programs for psychological stress and well-being: a systematic review and meta-analysis." JAMA internal medicine 174.3 (2014): 357-368.
[2] Orme-Johnson, David W., and Vernon A. Barnes. "Effects of the transcendental meditation technique on trait anxiety: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials." The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine 20.5 (2014): 330-341.
[3] Zeidan, Fadel, et al. "Mindfulness meditation improves cognition: Evidence of brief mental training." Consciousness and cognition 19.2 (2010): 597-605.
[4] Davidson, Richard J., et al. "Alterations in brain and immune function produced by mindfulness meditation." Psychosomatic medicine 65.4 (2003): 564-570.
[5] Jain, Felipe A., et al. "Critical analysis of the efficacy of meditation therapies for acute and subacute phase treatment of depressive disorders: a systematic review." Psychosomatics56.2 (2015): 140-152.
[6] Hofmann, Stefan G., Paul Grossman, and Devon E. Hinton. "Loving-kindness and compassion meditation: Potential for psychological interventions." Clinical psychology review 31.7 (2011): 1126-1132.
[7] Fredrickson, Barbara L., et al. "Open hearts build lives: positive emotions, induced through loving-kindness meditation, build consequential personal resources." Journal of personality and social psychology 95.5 (2008): 1045.
[8] Greenberg, Jonathan, Keren Reiner, andNachshon Meiran. "“Mind the trap”: Mindfulness practice reduces cognitive rigidity." PloS one 7.5 (2012): e36206.
[9] Paul-Labrador, Maura, et al. "Effects of a randomized controlled trial of transcendental meditation on components of the metabolic syndrome in subjects with coronary heart disease." Archives of internal medicine 166.11 (2006): 1218-1224.
[10] Martires, Joanne, and Michelle Zeidler. "The value of mindfulness meditation in the treatment of insomnia." Current opinion in pulmonary medicine 21.6 (2015): 547-552.
[11] Black, David S., et al. "Mindfulness meditation and improvement in sleep quality and daytime impairment among older adults with sleep disturbances: a randomized clinical trial." JAMA internal medicine 175.4 (2015): 494-501.
[12] Zeidan, Fadel, et al. "Brain mechanisms supporting the modulation of pain by mindfulness meditation." Journal of Neuroscience 31.14 (2011): 5540-5548.
[13] Khalsa, Dharma Singh. "Stress, meditation, and Alzheimer’s disease prevention: where the evidence stands." Journal of Alzheimer's Disease 48.1 (2015): 1-12.
[14] Gard, Tim, Britta K. Hölzel, and Sara W. Lazar. "The potential effects of meditation on age‐related cognitive decline: a systematic review." Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1307.1 (2014): 89-103.
[15] Rosenkranz, Melissa A., et al. "A comparison of mindfulness-based stress reduction and an active control in modulation of neurogenic inflammation." Brain, behavior, and immunity 27 (2013): 174-184.
[16] Creswell, J. David, et al. "Alterations in resting-state functional connectivity link mindfulness meditation with reduced interleukin-6: a randomized controlled trial." Biological psychiatry 80.1 (2016): 53-61.
[17] Katterman, Shawn N., et al. "Mindfulness meditation as an intervention for binge eating, emotional eating, and weight loss: A systematic review." Eating behaviors 15.2 (2014): 197-204.
[18] Zgierska, Aleksandra, et al. "Mindfulness meditation for alcohol relapse prevention: a feasibility pilot study." Journal of Addiction Medicine 2.3 (2008): 165.
[19] Hayes, Steven C., Victoria M. Follette, and Marsha Linehan, eds. Mindfulness and acceptance: Expanding the cognitive-behavioral tradition. Guilford Press, 2004.
[20] Anderson, James W., Chunxu Liu, and Richard J. Kryscio. "Blood pressure response to transcendental meditation: a meta-analysis." American journal of hypertension 21.3 (2008): 310-316.
[21] Tang, Yi-Yuan, Britta K. Hölzel, and Michael I. Posner. "The neuroscience of mindfulness meditation." Nature Reviews Neuroscience 16.4 (2015): 213.
[22] Epel, Elissa, et al. "Can meditation slow rate of cellular aging? Cognitive stress, mindfulness, and telomeres." Annals of the new York Academy of Sciences 1172.1 (2009): 34-53.