Throughout
this semester we had various talks on a lot of different topics but I think
that the talk that I found the most interesting was the one on meditation. I
think that the concept of meditation is very interesting because many studies
conducted on it suggest that it can improve real life problems like depression,
high blood pressure, immune system function, and may even play a role in growth
of new neurons and increase gray matter in the brain but at the same time is
also something that we still do not fully understand why or how it works. Dr.
Grabowecky gave a very interesting talk on meditation towards the end of the
semester that touched upon many different areas of meditation but one specific
area in particular that I was very interested in was the possible effects of
meditation on gray matter in the brain. I decided to do some more research on
it and found some very interesting articles presenting data that support her
findings, which was that meditation increases the amount of gray matter in the brain.
A study
published in the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences titled “Exploring
age-related brain degeneration in meditation practitioners” talked about the
different benefits sets of data on meditation for different age groups for
three different studies. According to one of the studies meditating
participants of age 40-50 had the same average thickness in the right insula
and the right frontal cortex as the control group of ages 20-30, suggesting
that meditation reduces the rate of neural degeneration at this specific site.
According to another study there was a significant increase in the amount of
gray matter (unmyelinated cells in the brain) in the brain in individuals who
meditated regularly as opposed to those who did not. The increase of gray
matter not only suggests protection of existing cells, but also possibly
neuroplasticity and growth and proliferation of certain cells in the brain.
This finding is something that Dr. Grabowecky mentioned in her presentation,
which was an increase of gray matter in the hippocampus and cerebral cortex in
participants in her study who had incorporated meditation as part of their
daily routines as compared to those individuals who did not meditate.
I think that
it is fascinating to think that doing so simple and more important in today’s
health care system, inexpensive, as meditating can bring about such great and
positive consequences on so many levels on both the mind and the body. I think
that it is important to point out that there are a lot of different types of
meditation and also that while meditation is helpful to most people, it is not
for everyone. Also, since the brain itself is poorly understand on many areas,
it is important to conduct more studies to support the findings of the effects
of meditation and to uncover the mechanisms under which meditation administers
its effects to individuals who practice it, which is something that was
mentioned in both Dr. Grabowecky’s presentation and nearly every peer-reviewed
article I found on this topic.
References:
Luders, E. (2014), Exploring
age-related brain degeneration in meditation practitioners. Annal of the New
York Academy of Sciences, 1307: 82-88. doi: 10.1111/nyas.12217
Lutz, A., Slagter, H. A., Dunne, J.
D., & Davidson, R. J. (2008, March 10). Attention regulation and monitoring
in meditation. Cell Press Neuron, 12(4), 1-7.
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