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Scientific Studies Show Benefits of Meditation
Compiled by Sandi Smith
- Sara Lazar, researcher at Massachusetts General Hospital, found that meditation thickens the brain's cerebral cortex, increasing the capacity for attention, memory and decision-making. Practicing mindfulness meditation or insightfulness that focuses on the breath or an object 40 minutes per day could also slow the brain's thinning that occurs with age.1
- Bruce O'Hara, associate professor of biology at University of Kentucky, found that meditation enhances mental acuity better than a nap or watching TV. 2
- Richard Davidson, Director of University of Wisconsin Laboratory for Affective Neuroscience and the W.M. Keck Laboratory for Functional Brain Imaging and Behavior, and Jon Kabat-Zinn, Professor of Medicine Emeritus and founding director of the Stress Reduction Clinic and the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, found immune system benefits from reduced stress in meditators. 3
- Practicing compassion meditation increases feelings of happiness, joy, enthusiasm, high energy, and alertness, according to Davidson's research. In advanced meditators, this capacity for happiness is 7-8 times what it is in non-meditators. 4
- Meditators score higher on the capacity for empathy than non-meditators. Paul Ekman, the world's leading authority on facial expressions, tested meditators' accuracy in describing fleeting facial expressions. Long-time meditators scored in the top 2%, surpassing policemen, lawyers, psychiatrists, customs officials, judges, and Secret Service agents.5
- Davidson found advanced meditators do not startle easily or at all; this is a predictor of lower negative emotions.6
- Wolf Singer, Director of Max Planck Institute for Brain Research in Frankfurt, Germany, shows that meditation increases consciousness through the synchronization of oscillatory activity in the beta-and gamma-frequency range. Both focused attention and meditation serve the brain's binding functions, heighten awareness, and lead to unification of distributed processes. 7
1Lazar SW, Kerr C, Wasserman RH, Gray JR, Greve D, Treadway MT, McGarvey M, Quinn BT, Dusek JA, Benson H, Rauch SL, Moore CI, Fischl B. Meditation experience is associated with increased cortical thickness. NeuroReport, 2005; 16: 1893-1897.
2http://www.research.uky.edu/odyssey/winter07/meditation.html.
3Davidson, R. J., Kabat-Zinn, J., Schumacher, J., Rosenkrantz, M., Muller, D., Santorelli, S. F. et al. (2003). Alterations in brain and immune function produced by mindfulness meditation. Psychosomatic Medicine, 65, 564-570.
4Ekman, P., Davidson, R.J., Ricard, M. & Wallace, B. Alan. Buddhist and psychological perspectives on emotions and well-being. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 14, 59-63.
5Daniel Goleman, Destructive Emotions, Bantam, New York, 2003, p. 14.
6Ibid, p. 15-17.
7Presentation to H.H. The Dalai Lama, Mind and Life Conference, Washington, DC, 2003.
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