Meditation and the Brain 1

Meditation and the Brain By: Jessica Reimann Salt Lake Community College

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Abstract: Meditation has been proven to change the brain and help relieve stress. Even just 20 minutes a day shows changes to the left prefrontal cortex. According to a Harvard study regarding meditation stated that the parts of your brain called the Hippocampus controlling selfawareness and compassion grew while the part called the Amygdala that deals with stress shrank. (ABC News Video)

Keywords: Meditation, Neuroscience, brain, prefrontal cortex, alternative medicine

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What do you think about when you hear the word meditation? Many people think of hippies or Buddhist monks. Meditation has become the more known as the newest relaxation technique used by many Americans of religious backgrounds and from non religious backgrounds. Meditation has been proven to make psychical changing in the brain, reduce stress, increase compassion and attention. According to ABC News video Change your life through mediation says that 40% of Americans are turning to alternative methods of medical treatment especially meditation. ABC News Anchor Dan Harris says that the marines are using meditation, many companies such as General Mills, Google and even students practice mediation. 3 million doctors have actually proscribed mediation to their patients. Next they show a doctor saying that they were not expecting so many referred to this program. Doctor Rex Hoffman recommended meditation to his patient who had stage 2 lymphoma who was to claustrophobic to do the treatment that required him to wear a radiation mask. The meditation worked and he was able to proceed with the treatment. Dr Hoffman says that he foresees that they will use the mediation technique on many more patients. The research says that meditation doesnt just relax you that it can psychically change your brain. According to a Harvard study of people who took and eight week course of meditation found that the parts of your brain (called the Hippocampus) controlling selfawareness and compassion grew while the part (called the Amygdala) that deals with stress shrank.

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ABC News Anchor Dan Harris then goes on to explains how to do mediation in three easy steps. First sit comfortably preferably in a quiet place. Second focus on your breath, by breathing in deeply and let it out slowly. Last when your mind wonders to return your thinking to your breathing. Harris says that you dont need to be part of any religious group say any chants or wear robes that mediation is something any one can do. He then went on to inte3rview corporate executives and even lead singer Riviers Cuomo from popular band Weezer. Cuomo said that he had not done meditation to cure his stage fight he would not be where he is today. Last he explains that the people doing meditation only did it for 30 minutes a day and if you do less that it still works. He also says that there are other studies out there that meditation can reduce blood pressure, boost your immune system and even make you nicer. The ABC news piece I thought was put together very well. It gave examples of meditation and then told you how to do it. The science of meditation that they gave I think could have been better it was very brief and didnt tell you what parts of the brain they were talking about. Most people dont know what parts of the brain are and if they had explained that it could have been understood better. I thought that it was good that they mentioned well know companies and even a rock band to help make the story more creditable. I think that this research is important because its about changing your view on life and making yourself a better person. I also think its important for those who are not mentally or emotionally stable to learn. Many people dont know much about mediation all they think

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about is yoga. Its not just about yoga its about being able to process your thoughts at a slower rate. Meditation is about understanding yourself better. I dont know how we would present this to the world. The news video did ok but people need to research self help techniques. Maybe doctors could tell their patients to try and meditate along with any medication they may be taking. The next step in the research would be for people to try to mediate and find out for them self if it works or not. I dont think they were impaling anything they were just telling your how it was. Here are some examples of articles I found to help explain meditation better. Richard Davidson, a neuroscientist at the university's W. M. Keck Laboratory for Functional Brain Imaging and Behavior did a study on 10 monks and meditation and 10 volunteers who had never done meditation before. What Davidson did was hook up the monks and volunteers to 256 electrical sensors and had them meditate. What Davidson found was that The meditation novices showed only a slight increase in gamma wave activity while meditating, but some of the monks produced gamma wave activity more powerful than any previously reported in a healthy person. Davidson final repost was that mediation can make psychical permanent changes to the brain. (Kaufman) this proves that even if you never meditated before that its still a possibility it would work for you. Pop culture has changed our view of meditation from a lifelong path of enlightenment to a 24/7 stress reliever. According to Harvards mental health letter meditation has been used by many to relive discomfort in patients with psoriasis, irritable bowel syndrome, and fibromyalgia. A combination of meditation, yoga and diet change has been claimed to reverse

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coronary artery disease.(Smith) This is so amazing and people with these health problems should try meditation to see the results. In article written by Katherine Ellison in the magazine Psychology Today say that Meditation alters what we tend to think of as stable mental traits--anxiety, for example, or anger. Practitioners discover that feelings are events that rise in the psyche like bubbles off the bottom of a pot of boiling water. She continues that say that the brain in plastic meaning that it can change over time. A study at Massachusetts General Hospital said that 40 minutes of daily meditation thickens parts of the cerebral cortex concerned in attention and sensory processing. Even just meditating less than 30 minutes a day enhanced their moods as if they had taken an antidepressants. (Ellison) This is great even if you just do it for 5 minutes they effects of meditation are still going to help calm you down and make you a better person. After researching mediation I know that when Im stressed or just want to be, I can sit down and meditate. Meditation has been proven to make psychical changing in the brain, reduce stress, increase compassion and attention. I want to reduce my stress and everyone needs more compassion in their lives. Mediation is so simple and the change it does to the brain is astonishing. I recommend that people should give mediation a chance and see how it affects your life. As to the ABC video it is a good brief source for people to look into meditation if they are interested. Overall the video was very knowledge able and gave that basic information and if you are interested you could do it yourself without having to sign up for any classes or read any books.

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Reference List ABC News, (May 10, 2011) Changing your life through Meditation, retrieved from http://abcnews.go.com/Health/world-news-hospitals-medical-centers-offering-meditationintegrative/story?id=13573736 Ellison, K. (2006, Mastering your own mind. Psychology Today Vol.39, no.5, , 70-77. Retrieved fromhttp://sks.sirs.com Kaufman, M. (2005, ). Meditation gives the brain a charge. Spectator (Hamilton). Retrieved from http://sks.sirs.com Smith, V. A. (2005, May 30). Slow down, meditate. Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia, PA). Retrieved fromhttp://sks.sirs.com