How does meditation affect our brain? 9 unexpected facts

When we think about who we will be sitting with at dinner, or about the conversation that we had with a friend on the eve, we almost immediately begin to consider it in the context of other aspects of our life. This is useful in many ways, but sometimes it can lead us to obsessions. This is especially true for people prone to anxiety or depression.

Decentralization is one of the goals that realized meditation achieves. A person begins to perceive his thoughts and feelings as temporary.

Long-term research

Richard Davidson, a neurologist at the University of Wisconsin, made meditation the subject of a long-term study. He found that when he tried to intimidate two groups of people who were meditating, with such a sudden break as a loud noise, the meditators were much less outraged than people who were not in this state.

First of all, meditation helps us gain perspective

Experienced meditators become owners of a unique nervous system with well-developed areas of the brain that can be responsible for such processes as awareness and emotional control. Studies show that even people who are new to the field of meditation, notice significant changes in parts of the brain associated with memory, perspective and self-awareness.

Improves our ability to focus

Many of us live a day with troubling thoughts or problems that get stuck in the depths of our brains. People tend to repel these thoughts, but do not understand the feelings that can cause them.

Meditation reduces stress by helping us cope with negative feelings

A large survey of studies involving about 3,000 people showed that awareness meditation is associated with a decrease in feelings of depression, anxiety and even physical pain.

Meditation can strengthen our ability to show empathy to other people

Richard Davidson, a neurologist at the University of Wisconsin and head of a 12-year study based on a comparison of experts and beginning meditators, also studied people in these two groups.

In people from both groups, Davidson observed increased activity, which manifested their brain. These were areas of the nervous system that participated in empathy. But the increase in activity was much more pronounced in experienced meditators. Davidson concluded that people who regularly meditate have an increased ability to respond to others' feelings and empathize with them without feeling depressed.

People with stable meditation practice have a decrease in blood pressure

Researchers note that regular meditation has a positive effect on people suffering from hypertension. Pressure in the subjects decreased significantly. The researchers argue that the likely reason for this is that meditation can reduce the level of stress hormones that cause the inflammatory process and other physical problems.

In a small study conducted in January 2017, more than a dozen participants between the ages of 24 and 76 were connected. Subjects spent a week with complete renunciation of the world, accompanied by silent contemplation and meditation. Scientists studied the brain of participants in the experiment. Particular attention was paid to such chemicals as dopamine and serotonin. As you know, they are associated with the mood.

Reduces the feeling of fatigue

Scientists also conducted a survey of participants to assess their physical health, stress levels and fatigue. The survey showed that subjects significantly improved their physical health, while such negative feelings as stress and fatigue were much reduced.

Meditation strengthens the immune system

In a recent study, scientists divided the people into two groups, who conducted one full eight-week course of meditation. At the end of the experiment, all subjects were vaccinated against the flu. Then they were tested by the immune system, measuring the amount of antibodies against the flu that the body produced. The meditators had more antibodies than those who had not completed the training.

Meditation prevents cell damage at the genetic level

There is also some evidence that regular meditation can help prevent some genetic damage. In one study, people affected by cancer completed a meditation program. It was suggested that telomeres, special protein complexes that help protect DNA, they have become more.

According to the researchers, a possible mechanism is that reducing stress can somehow lead to an elongation of telomeres, but additional research is needed to confirm this scientific hypothesis.