In our fast-paced culture, it is a rarity for one to sit, focus inward, and aim for a state of total relaxation. Many people view the practice of meditation as highly foreign or esoteric. Something reserved for Buddhist monks, recluses in far away places, and the crunchy-granola types among us.
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Before college, when I knew little about meditation and its variations, I also held this view. I could see the benefits of taking deep, full-bodied breaths when I felt anxious, but that was the extent of my appreciation for meditative practice.
When the stress and growing demands of undergrad at the University of Michigan consumed me, however, I searched for an outlet other than the standard: partying, treadmilling, and eating mounds of chocolate and junk food.
Well, the Graduate Student Instructor for my women’s studies class happened to live at the Zen Buddhist Temple in Ann Arbor. She brought our entire discussion section on a mini field trip down Packard Street to get a taste of what Zen Buddhist Meditation has to offer. I doubt that those at the Temple like to think of meditation as a commodity, but I was sold.
I signed up for an introductory meditation course, cultivated a practice of sorts, and as a psychology student, became a research assistant for the U-M Integrative Medicine program, which was conducting a mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) study in local elementary schools. MBSR, introduced by Jon Kabat-Zinn in 1979, is a clinically based, secular method that uses standardized meditation techniques. Through taking part in this research and reading extant studies, I became fully aware of the broad spectrum of health benefits of meditation—particularly as a result of regular, frequent meditation.
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What is meditation?
The word meditate is derived from the Latin meditari, “to think or reflect upon.” Meditation ranges from techniques used to promote relaxation to exercises performed with a goal of reaching a heightened sense of well-being. Meditation techniques have been practiced for thousands of years based on Eastern religious or spiritual tradition. But with the increasing popularity of yoga and complementary therapies, many people—including celebrities Moby, Russell Brand, and Dr. Oz—have begun to take up meditation to promote health and well-being (and apparently to cope with divorce—but that’s an issue for another time).
Meditation used as complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is considered a type of mind-body medicine. In fact, meditation was one of the very first mind-body interventions to be widely accepted among the world’s mainstream healthcare providers.
According to the National Institutes of Health, mind-body medicine focuses on:
- The interactions among the mind, the body, and behavior.
- The ways in which emotional, mental, social, spiritual, and behavioral factors influence health.
A growing body of evidence suggests that meditation can do a lot of good. Based on research, meditation can lead to reduced anxiety, psychological stress, pain, insomnia, high blood pressure, drug abuse, and depression, as well as improved clinical symptoms.
While the quality and quantity of peer-reviewed research on meditation is growing, some worry that the variability in types of meditation, individual differences across meditators, and the broad definition of meditation that many research studies use, lead to methodological challenges that hinder the design and results of meditation research. Thus, research methods that account for these challenges are necessary.
Despite these potential limitations, the majority of research points to the efficacy of meditation both as a clinical and public health resource. Certainly, the potential for mindfulness-based interventions seems promising.
How does meditation actually work?
Research tells us that meditation may actually produce changes in the body by affecting the two parts of autonomic nervous system: slowing down the one that mobilizes the body for action and speeding up the one that reduces the heart rate and improves blood flow. Research also suggests that meditation may change brain function, increase neuroplasticity (growth of new connections and development of new neurons in the brain), or improve the mind’s ability to pay attention. For instance, in several studies, Tibetan Buddhist monks were recruited to take part in research on the brain and meditation. Neuroimaging performed on this sample suggests that, “over the course of meditating for tens of thousands of hours, the long-term practitioners had actually altered the structure and function of their brains”…Guess these guys really are professionals!
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So, if you have meditated on the benefits of meditation and are ready to stop taking your blood pressure medication, you shouldn’t throw out the bottle just yet. But cultivating a practice as an adjunct to conventional care has its clear health advantages. And by increasing your gratitude, awareness, and introspection, you may even increase other health promoting behaviors as well.
{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }
Great post Danielle! Although I don’t have my own meditation practice, I am well versed on the many benefits, as my mom meditates twice a day. I agree with you that mediation shouldn’t replace medications, but it is a great technique and tool to be used along side with other treatments. This makes me want to start doing some meditation of my own!
Thanks for reading Reva! You should definitely start a practice of your own! A meditation practice is really whatever you want it to be. Starting a daily practice may be a challenge because of time constraints and a busy schedule, but you can start small. Even just taking a moment to relax and focus on your breath during the day can be highly beneficial. Although, the more regular and frequent the practice, the more health benefits you will receive. You may even consider meditating with your mom sometime!
Great blog post! While I want to have the benefits of meditation, I have begun to to approach the mindset through yoga. I wish I had more time to invest in this because of the clarity it brings (and all the physical benefits you mentioned!).
Thanks for the support! The practice of yoga often, if not always, involves a kind of meditation. In fact, a few of the articles I cited in the post include yoga as a type of meditation. Yoga involves following the breath, focusing inward, and being aware of our mind-body connection, all of which are part of meditation.
That’s interesting Danielle. As they continue to study meditation, there is one aspect that I would like to see researched: If a busy person feels that he or she can devote, say, 4 hours a week to doing something beneficial for mind/body, would it be better to spend the 4 hours exercising, or devote some of that time to meditating. Without knowing more, my unscientific impression is that my mind and body would get the most benefit from using all four hours to exercise.
I’m glad you brought this up. I’m not sure if there is a study that specifically looks at exercise versus meditation in this way. But I imagine if you have to choose, physical activity is indeed a more obligatory health behavior than meditation. However, if you have 4 hours a week available and want to meditate, you do not necessarily have to meditate for the full 4 hours; most people who meditate frequently probably don’t devote that much time to their practice. As I mentioned above, you can even use techniques of meditation at your desk. Meditation is a broad term that has many different kinds of techniques associated with it–some more involved and others very simple and relatively quick.
Danielle I found your blog not only insightful but also extremely interesting. You hit on a number of items that I was not aware of. I enjoyed how you educated me as well as brought a personal aspect into your blog. Can’t wait to read more.
I’m happy you like the personal touch and that it helped you connect with the piece. I’m hoping to continue to draw from personal examples in my future posts for MTSG as well.
Like at least one other commenter, I’ve begun in the last several years to approach meditation through yoga and am interested in learning more. Before that time, though, I was highly skeptical of the benefits – in part because of the very “crunchy-granola”-ness that you mention. I think that’s part of why I like this post. You address skeptics who might distrust the holistic aspects of meditation immediately (though politely) in the introduction, and then support your claim that meditation is beneficial with quantitative, in-depth studies. In short, you’re incorporating evidence that will appeal to a wide range of audiences. Well done!
Hi Ashley, thanks for commenting! I hope you do give meditation a try, or continue participating in yoga and continue learning how meditation is woven into the practice. I do hope that I engaged people who are skeptical of meditation and prompted them to consider the potential value of meditation.
Danielle,
This is an excellent start to what I hope is a lot of great posts. I love the organization of your writing. Honestly, I have never been able to meditate myself, but I do think that anything that can help relieve stress is good.
great post!
Margaret
Hi Margaret,
Your support is much appreciated. A point that I’m not sure I got across was that anyone can meditate! I’m not sure what you have tried in the past (if you have tried). But some types of meditation such as transcendental meditation in which you work to rise above all that is impermanent, are extremely difficult to master. Trying to be perfect in your meditative practice can be frustrating and really defeats the purpose of meditating in the first place. In my mind, “perfection” should not be any meditator’s goal. So, perhaps you would appreciate visualization or mindful eating (paying attention to the taste and feel of each bite of food) more.
Here are some nice descriptions of several popular types of meditation: http://www.iam-u.org/index.php/8-basic-kinds-of-meditation-and-why-you-should-meditate-on-your-heart
I have tried, but usually when my mind “relaxes” it starts thinking more, but I think I might try again. Thanks for the response and the extra resource.
Danielle,
Love the topic! I have recently started meditating more and find it beneficial to both my mental and physical health. I think meditation and other mindfulness techniques hold great promise as health promotion/preventative public health strategies (very cost-effective!), but I think one of the barriers for many is getting over the “crunchy granola” stereotype.
You mentioned that many of the published studies employed a different definition of meditation–did most of them use religiously-based meditation practices (such as in the Buddhist philosophy) or more secular meditation and mindfulness techniques?
Looking forward to more posts from you! Good luck blogging.
Hi Lindsay,
Thanks for your comment. It’s true that meditation is a very cost effective measure of health prevention. If everyone had meditative techniques in their repertoire and used them, it would certainly change the face of public health.
In terms of the studies I looked at, most of the definitions involved secular meditation and mindfulness techniques as opposed to religiously-based definitions. It is my understanding that most of the techniques popular in Western culture are not religiously-based, so researchers may focus more on investigating techniques more frequently used in the U.S. population. The challenge in measuring the health effects of meditation in general, is in developing an operationalizable definition that accounts for differences in frequency of meditation, individuals’ pre-existing health conditions, and variations in meditative styles/techniques.
Hope you enjoy reading more and that you continue to get a lot out of your meditation practice!
Hi Danielle
Very interesting topic and one close to my own heart.
Just wanted to say that when discussing effects of treatment/intervention (e.g., regarding anxiety, pain management), consulting the Cochrane library’s systematic reviews and meta-analyses is recommendable. Cochrane reviews are a key resource in evidence based decision making and there is quite a bit of work on mediation that you may find interesting.
This could be useful too:
http://cochrane.clickmediapro.com/consumers/sysrev.htm
Hi Kiya,
Wow, thanks for the resource. I will definitely check it out. I think meta-analyses in particular are very beneficial in terms of highlighting methodological challenges and helping to validate research findings. I’m glad you found the topic here interesting and appreciate you reading! Stay tuned for more posts!
-Danielle