Meditation is a concept from several Asian spiritual traditions where one’s attention is focused on a single thing such as breathing, bodily sensations or certain words or phrases known as “mantras”. For example, an easy approach is progressive muscle relaxation, where you consecutively contract and then relax different muscle groups to focus on that particular sensation. In principle, meditation means turning away from distractions of any form and concentrating on the present moment. While it sounds relatively simple, it is not easy to escape outer and inner noise. To those wondering whether they meditate correctly, there is an easy way of checking: "if you are feeling better at the end, you are probably doing it right." [1]. Another aspect of meditative practice (which appears very Buddhist in its own right) is that there is no right way to meditate because there is no goal to reach. Instead, the journey is the real aim [2]. And just like physical exercise, you will perform better with practice.
There Are Many Paths to Meditation
What actually happens during meditation that drives Homo economicus to adopt centuries-old traditions to calm down? For several decades, science has been trying to elucidate the psychological and physiological mechanisms behind mindfulness and meditation. Unfortunately, despite increasing popularity in research, this particular field of study faces severe methodological problems: there is an immense degree of individual variety among the general background of neuro-connectivity, meditation practice, and expertise of the subjects. As a consequence, and even though researchers readily make use of EEG, fMRI, PET and other sophisticated neuroimaging techniques, results are often inconclusive.
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One of the earliest studies reported a decrease in blood pressure of hypertensive patients following meditation [3]. EEG studies showed a reduced frequency of alpha and theta waves linked to meditative state [4]. Depending on the type and tradition, meditation may lead to different effects. For example, researchers found increasing sympathetic activity and arousal with practice of Hindu tantric meditation as opposed to heightened parasympathetic activity and calmness when following other traditions [5]. Network connectivity studies with expert Taoist meditators reported significant differences in brain white matter and functional network topology between resting state and during meditation [6], while others find activation of basal ganglia (caudate body), limbic system (entorhinal cortex) and medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) [7].
Meditation focuses on the moment
Changes in brain activity and/or connectivity may also underlie the beneficial effect of meditation and mindfulness on pain. Pain consists of two elements: the sensory perception and the cognitive evaluation of this perception as painful. A review discussed the changes in brain activity with meditation practice as a consequence of increased thalamus and insula activity (where the sensation itself is processed) and a reduction in MPFC activity (responsible for the evaluation of pain). Therefore, it seems that meditation and mindfulness are effective because they alter the way sensory perception is assessed [8], a concept which may be applicable to a variety of health and mental problems.
Meditation to Improve Mental Health?
Recently, a large review took a deeper look at these topics [9]. Of all evaluated 18,000 citations, only 47 studies showed satisfactory methodological quality and could be included. From these, the authors conclude that meditation is likely not superior to active treatments (e.g. psychotherapy or medication) regarding stress-related problems, such as anxiety, depression and pain, yet a legitimate alternative in terms of side effects. One of the best accepted effects of meditation and mindfulness is stress reduction. It is not surprising, therefore, that big tech companies have started using these practices as a general leadership strategy to increase creativity and productivity [10].
What about you? Have you got experience with stress or ever lost your head over endless to-do-lists and half-baked could-be-done ideas? Maybe it is your turn to take your time and shape up your brain connections in order to be more creative, focused and happy!
by Bettina Schmerl, PhD Student AG Shoichet
This article originally appeared September 2017 in CNS Volume 10, Issue 3, Spirituality in Science
[1] http://bit.ly/1CfRBPx
[2] http://bit.ly/29s6NAn
[3] Benson et al., J Chronic Dis. 1974
[4] Cahn and Polich. Psychol Bull. 2006
[5] Amihai and Kozhevnikov. Biomed Res Int. 2015
[6] Jao et al., Brain Connectivity. 2016
[7] Sperduti et al., Conscious Cogn. 2012
[8] Zeidan and Vago, Ann Y Acad Sci, 2017
[9] Goyal et al., JAMA Intern Med. 2014
[10] http://bit.ly/1TmWHgu
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