Tuning out: How brains benefit from meditation
November 21, 2011 in Psychology & Psychiatry
Experienced meditators seem to switch off areas of the brain associated with wandering thoughts, anxiety and some psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia. Researchers used fMRI scans to determine how the brains of meditators differed from subjects who were not meditating. The areas shaded in blue highlight areas of decreased activity in the brains of meditators. Credit: courtesy of yale
Experienced meditators seem to be able switch off areas of the brain associated with daydreaming as well as psychiatric disorders such as autism and schizophrenia, according to a new brain imaging study by Yale researchers.
Meditation's ability to help people stay focused on the moment has been associated with increased happiness levels, said Judson A. Brewer, assistant professor of psychiatry and lead author of the study published the week of Nov. 21 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Understanding how meditation works will aid investigation into a host of diseases, he said.
"Meditation has been shown to help in variety of health problems, such as helping people quit smoking, cope with cancer, and even prevent psoriasis," Brewer said.
The Yale team conducted functional magnetic resonance imaging scans on both experienced and novice meditators as they practiced three different meditation techniques.
They found that experienced meditators had decreased activity in areas of the brain called the default mode network, which has been implicated in lapses of attention and disorders such as anxiety, attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder, and even the buildup of beta amyloid plaques in Alzheimer's disease. The decrease in activity in this network, consisting of the medial prefrontal and posterior cingulate cortex, was seen in experienced meditators regardless of the type of meditation they were doing.
The scans also showed that when the default mode network was active, brain regions associated with self-monitoring and cognitive control were co-activated in experienced meditators but not novices. This may indicate that meditators are constantly monitoring and suppressing the emergence of "me" thoughts, or mind-wandering. In pathological forms, these states are associated with diseases such as autism and schizophrenia.
The meditators did this both during meditation, and also when just resting not being told to do anything in particular. This may indicate that meditators have developed a "new" default mode in which there is more present-centered awareness, and less "self"-centered, say the researchers.
"Meditation's ability to help people stay in the moment has been part of philosophical and contemplative practices for thousands of years," Brewer said. "Conversely, the hallmarks of many forms of mental illness is a preoccupation with one's own thoughts, a condition meditation seems to affect. This gives us some nice cues as to the neural mechanisms of how it might be working clinically."
Provided by
Yale University
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Nov 21, 2011
Rank: 1 / 5 (1)
Nov 21, 2011
Rank: 3 / 5 (3)
It is refreshing to see a scientific article presented in a scientific manner. Five stars.
I must seriously consider meditating. The benefits appear to be substantial.
Nov 22, 2011
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Wait - Does this mean I am mentally ill?
Nov 22, 2011
Rank: 3 / 5 (2)
Only trouble with meditating - it's boring.
haha...
Nov 22, 2011
Rank: 4.9 / 5 (8)
@hyongx
Actually most people don't make it through the first week or two of a daily meditation regime because the howling cacophany of the "ordinary" thought process can be so deeply unsettling. You don't really realize all of the crazy random thoughts that fill your head every day until you stop and take a long hard look at what's going on in your mind.
But once the shock wears off, your thoughts start to become less insane, and you become keenly and gleefully conscious of your body's functions and the world around you: it's a very wakeful state, contrary to common misconceptions.
Very tough to maintain that frame of mind in a world that's totally psychotic and ruthless though.
Nov 24, 2011
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Nov 24, 2011
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Nov 24, 2011
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Nov 25, 2011
Rank: 5 / 5 (2)
@ericb4
This is going to sound disappointing, but the essence of meditation can be summed up very simply: "shut up, sit still, and pay attention." The point is to observe yourself as objectively/dispassionately as possible, like a scientist studying a subject in the lab. All the other stuff; breathing techniques, chanting phrases or words, body positioning disciplines, etc., are just meaningless clutter, imo. Meditation is about directly seeing and understanding the unfettered process of mind.
Before getting into the process I like to read the short essays of a great English-speaking meditator who died in 1986 named Jiddu Krishnamurti (not to be confused with the Krishna religion, or any other religion for that matter). He was a truly brilliant student of the mind, deeply insightful.
Nov 25, 2011
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I couldn't agree more. Krishnamurti also gives a concise description of how to meditate free of all the clutter you describe. Interestingly his approach to meditation is very similar to that of Shikantaza Zen meditation, which consists more of an opening up and witnessing of mental processes rather than a narrowing of focus and concentration common to most popular forms of meditation.
Nov 25, 2011
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okay, then... so I'm NOT doing it wrong...
Nov 25, 2011
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@David6502
You make a crucial point, David6502 - meditation is exactly the opposite of concentration and focus (which are the domain of the thought process). Meditation is about being a non-participant, a witness. It's very simple in theory, but arduous in practice. We're all so deeply conditioned to compulsively use every instant toward accomplishing something, that it's nearly impossible to surrender our ambitions even for a single hour a day.
Nov 25, 2011
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@Cynical1
You've just described "thinking," or perhaps "deep thinking," which is a different matter altogether. The key to
meditation is to simply witness the thoughts as they arise, recognize that they appear but without following
them, filing them away, or focusing on them at all...just let them arise and pass on by without luring you into
thinking about them further. Buddha suggested that you just acknowledge that the thought has appeared by
thinking "thought, thought" and letting the silence return until the next thought arises. Don't get invested at all
in any of the thoughts that come up (this is the hard part, btw). Instead, wait for the intervals of silence between
the thoughts.
Those intervals will grow, and become a doorway to the ineffable.
Nov 26, 2011
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Anyway, there doesn't seem to be any quiet times between thoughts anf that's okay with me - it's a (metaphorical? Fractal?)reflection of the universe.
Nov 26, 2011
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It's true, in the beginning the interval between thoughts is too small to see. They are there though, just as there
are pauses between each word in a sentence...but we overlook them because we're focused on the words and
not the spaces.
It takes about 2-3 weeks to get the hang of passively "disowning" your thoughts during meditation; seeing them
with no more significance than a passing cloud. As they lose their grip on you, they slow down a lot, and
become less urgent and wild. Then the gap between one thought and the next will sometimes become surprisingly long. That surprise registers as a subtle jolt of fear at first, which conjures a thought. But as the lingering silences become more and more hum-drum to you, soon many consecutive seconds will pass before another thought arises.
That's when you begin to see that you still exist even when your mind is totally silent.
Nov 26, 2011
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Nov 27, 2011
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Are functions of psych disorders and daydreaming centered in the same location of the brain?
Dec 15, 2011
Rank: 1 / 5 (1)
I have heard that very deep meditation requires at least 12 to 15 years of practice. Deep meditation means that your coconsciousness leaves your body and you will not feel any thing at all even your body is destroyed.
Dec 15, 2011
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Dec 23, 2011
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