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How meditation could change the brain

2022-06-13T23:38:24.186Z


Scientists are researching exactly how meditation might help various areas of our physical and mental health.


What does science say about meditation?

3:02

(CNN) --

In a time when traumatic events like pandemics, shootings and loss seem endless, mindfulness can be a tool for feeling empowered during times of uncertainty.


"

Mindfulness

is a set of practices that today aim to help most of us cultivate moment-to-moment awareness," says Monica Vermani, a Toronto-based clinical psychologist and author of "A Deeper Wellness: Conquering Stress , Mood, Anxiety and Trauma".

"You are not only aware of your body; you are aware of your surroundings and your world," he added.

"It forces you to pay attention to life (instead of) getting stuck in your head with anxious thoughts, worries, and ruminating on the future."

Meditating can induce physiological changes that help reduce stress.

Meditation, a

mindfulness

practice , does not have a single universal definition.

But as interest in

mindfulness

and meditation has grown, it has been summed up as "a mind-body practice focused on the interactions between brain, mind, body, and behavior, containing four key elements : a quiet place with few distractions, a comfortable posture, a focus of attention, and an open attitude," according to a 2021 study.

Scientists are still learning how exactly meditation might induce positive impacts on other aspects of health such as helping our immune systems function optimally, improving sleep, lowering cholesterol, and relieving pain.

"It helps you with memory and concentration, it builds resilience, it helps you better manage stress (and) it helps you have a positive impact on relationships," Vermani said.

"In relationships, if you're busy in your mind, you're reactive. And when you're mindful and grounded, you have a tendency to respond rather than react, that is, to pause and reflect before letting go. things from your mouth that are sometimes hurtful, or negative, or judgmental.

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Influences stress and longevity

Mindfulness

practice has been found to

influence two stress pathways in the brain, altering brain structure and activity in regions that regulate attention and emotion, according to the American Psychological Association.

People who practice mindfulness-based stress reduction and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, which include meditation, are less likely to have negative thoughts or unhelpful emotional reactions when faced with stressful situations, review finds from 2015.

In addition to any structural changes in the brain, these benefits could be the result of physical processes as well.

Meditation can help regulate the autonomic nervous system, the part of our nervous system that is responsible for regulating involuntary physiological functions like heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, and digestion.

"When we're anxious or rushed through the hustle and bustle of the world, we rush so fast that we take short, shallow breaths," explains Vermani.

"When you do that, your muscles tense up, your brain tends to get foggy, overwhelmed; you can ruminate."

Breathing meditations can reduce muscle tension and heart rate, Vaile Wright, a psychologist and senior director of health care innovation for the American Psychological Association, told CNN in 2020. The calm you feel during or after deep-breathing meditations could be due to more oxygen entering the brain and body, Vermani said.

"We did a week-long meditation retreat," said Dr. Deepak Chopra, founder of the Chopra Foundation and a clinical professor of family medicine and public health at the University of California, San Diego.

"In that week, all the genes that cause autoregulation, homeostasis, in short, healing, were multiplied by 17. All the genes that cause or complicate cancer, heart disease, autoimmune disease (and) accelerated aging The level of the enzyme telomerase increased by 30%. It regulates the genetic block or how we age."

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Outstanding issues of investigation

Although some mental and physical health benefits of meditation are known, researchers are still searching for the best methods to objectively measure how the practice affects the brain.

Some researchers have increasingly used cognitive neuroscience methods, such as magnetic resonance imaging, to determine what is happening in participants' neural networks during or after meditation, according to a 2019 review published in the academic journal

Perspectives on Meditation.

Psychological Science.

But images from MRIs and other scanning methods may not accurately represent the complex factors that may be involved in some of the conclusions other researchers have made about how meditation might change brain structure and function, the study authors said. review, which could lead to "overly simplistic interpretations".

Also, there have been some studies whose results challenged the idea that meditation can help anyone regardless of their personal differences.

"Meditation-related experiences that were severe or distressing enough to warrant further treatment or medical attention have been reported in more than 20 published case reports or observational studies," according to the

Perspectives on Psychological Science review.

These rare reports document events including psychosis, mania, anxiety, panic, reexperiencing of traumatic memories, and depersonalization, a state of mind in which one seems unreal and the person feels cut off from oneself and the outside world, and the thoughts and experiences they have a distant and dreamlike character, according to the American Psychological Association.

Differences between people who do or don't benefit from meditation might come down to figuring out which type of meditation is best for one's body and state of mind, Vermani said.

"Even when we did our study (on meditative breathing for anxiety), we had to check that generalized anxiety disorder was not complicated by other disorders that might be worse," Vermani said.

This was because one of the meditations Vermani and his colleagues used was bellows breathing or Bhastrika, an invigorating yogic breathing technique that involves rapid inhalations and exhalations for energy and mental clarity.

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"If you have bipolarity, it (bellows breathing) can induce mania, so that's a big deal. A pregnant woman isn't taught bellows breathing because it's so vigorous that it can induce labor. So meditation It has consequences."

Also, some people who turn to meditation have spent years avoiding or distracting themselves from distressing memories.

"When you're alone, your thoughts turn to things you haven't dealt with," Vermani said.

"The military, the 9/11 rescuers or the police that I work with, a lot of times they've got so many horrible things that they've seen, that they just kind of push through life and function and put things aside. sit quietly and meditate or breathe, all those things come back to the surface because you haven't addressed them.

Practicing meditation in supervised settings with professionals who can educate about possible effects has been helpful for people with complicated emotional states, he added.

How to start

Meditation is "very accessible," says Dr. Robert Waldinger, clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development.

"There are so many apps now that if you have a smartphone, you can learn how to meditate. Often what's really helpful is using one of the apps...where someone walks you through a meditation."

You can also try an introductory class at a local meditation center, read a book, watch an online video, or practice on your own.

Whichever path you choose, see what resonates with you: Find someone whose voice you like and whose words make sense, says Waldinger.

For beginners, starting out in a professionally-led setting can be helpful in refocusing after any roadblocks that might lead to quickly abandoning the practice or feeling discouraged, Waldinger said.

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"There are a lot of misconceptions about meditation," he added.

"A misconception is, 'If I'm doing it right, I'm not supposed to have thoughts.' And that's not true at all. The mind produces thoughts; that's what it does. So you won't get rid of thoughts until that you die".

Instructors can teach you aspects of meditation that aren't intuitive or obvious, like that having thoughts or a wandering mind is okay, Waldinger said.

"If you just set the intention to be present, then whatever happens is what you're doing, even being distracted."

Since meditation is about being present, it can be done anywhere, he added, but a quiet, uninterrupted area may be optimal for beginners who are still learning to focus on the present.

You can start with five minutes a day, and then gradually increase.

"Test every day for a week and see if you notice anything," Waldinger said.

"But even after one time, a lot of people are like, 'Oh, that was helpful. I want to do it again.'"

If you find that meditating makes you feel worse, talk to an experienced meditator about your experience or wait until you're in a better emotional or mental state, Waldinger said.

"People are realizing that there's more to meditation than just stress management," said Chopra, author of "Total Meditation: Practices in Living the Awakened Life."

"Nowadays when people say meditation, they mean mindfulness, which is good. But meditation includes self-investigation of consciousness. It includes interoception, (which is) knowing how to navigate control of your autonomic nervous system. consciously. It includes all that aspect of full awareness of relationships, of the ecosystem, of emotions, of social emotional intelligence".

meditationmindfulness

Source: cnnespanol

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