WHAT IS THE SCIENCE OF MEDITATION?

Excerpted from Isa Acebal’s article in "A Skeptic’s Path to Enlightenment"

With the influx of recent meditation research, we are better understanding of the measurable mental and physical health benefits of meditation.

Decrease blood pressure

Meditation has been proven to decrease blood pressure, reduce inflammation, regularize circadian rhythms, and stabilize glucose metabolism. This benefit of meditation is potentially life-saving, because high blood pressure is a leading cause of death in the United States. 

Improve happiness

Scientific studies have established that one of the biggest contributors to happiness is simply being focused on what you are doing, whatever it may be. The activity itself matters less than staying present and aware of your activity, a key outcome of training the mind with mindfulness meditation. Mind-wandering, on the other hand, is associated with decreased levels of happiness. Not only does meditation decrease mind-wandering during meditation, but these effects can be maintained and strengthened if one has a regular meditation practice.

Reduce symptoms of depression, stress, and anxiety

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) is a specific clinical meditation technique developed to systematically reduce stress through mindfulness practice. Though first developed for stress, it has since been proven to also have a positive effect in combatting a variety of chronic illnesses including depression, anxiety, chronic pain, cancer, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and immune disorders.

Improve focus and memory

Another study found that a 2-week mindfulness training course improved reading comprehension scores and working memory capacity. This was coupled with the reduction of distracting thoughts during testing, with a decrease in the activity of the brain’s regions associated with mind-wandering after the mindfulness training. With a regular meditation practice, one can maintain these benefits throughout the day or even the week.

Reduce chronic pain symptoms

A meditation practice can expand the brain regions related to reducing chronic pain. The reason this works is that avoidance tends to increase anxiety, which increases sensitivity to pain and other negative health and mental states. So mindful openness to pain can actually reduce pain. One benefit of using meditation as an aid for chronic pain is that isn’t simply suppressing the pain—like pain medications—it is a long-term solution for addressing the root neurological causes of pain.

Improve sleep

People have trouble sleeping for a variety of reasons, but two commons one are issues with mental health and chronic pain. Meditation helps with mental health—increasing happiness and decreasing stress and anxiety—by regulating brain activity in specific areas of the brain.

https://www.skepticspath.org/blog/what-is-the-science-of -meditation/#:~:text=The%20medial%20prefrontal%20cortex%20reacts,keeping%20stress%20levels%20under%20control.