Scientific evidence of the benefits of meditation on health and wellbeing

More and more research is showing the physiological and psychological benefits of having a meditation practice.

The Mindfulness Report from 2010 explored the available research and showed meditation typed disciplines can improve both mental and physical health. The report started to combine modern science with ancient knowledge to show the benefits. The report particularly highlights the benefits of meditation in the workplace to improve productivity and decrease the incidence of sick days.

Their review of research showed that people who meditate are “less likely to experience psychological distress including depression and anxiety.” It also showed that people who meditate can have a greater awareness, acceptance and bounce back from bad moods quicker. It suggested meditators levels of focus, attention and productivity at work are greater, as well as greater levels of satisfaction, better relationships and they are less likely to act on impulse.

How does meditation create physiological change in the brain?

Research looking at the physiological changes in the brain during or after meditation practice tends to use neuroimaging. This might be in the form of:

Brain waves are the oscillating electrical voltage within the brain and are detected on an EEG. Different parts of the brain have different frequencies and how you feel will change depending on the frequency your brain is functioning at and create homeostasis. The five main waves looked at are GAMMA, BETA, ALPHA, THETA, DELTA (shown in the image above).

How the brain waves are altered by meditation

Research by Travis et al, shows that meditation slows down brain activity and the peaks of waves reduce. We might experience this in a positive way as a reduced mental chatter, anxiety and worry which helps with decision making and mental clarity. During the meditation practice the brain waves change from alertness to calm and silence and returns to alertness.

Boccia’s review on meditation with fMRI shows an increase in activation in areas of the brain linked with attention, mind wandering, recovery of sporadic memories and emotional processing whilst meditating. Particularly within the “prefrontal cortex, parietal areas, middle cingulate cortex, hippocampal and parahippocampal formations.”

For people new to meditation prior to starting meditation their brain waves are often functioning at BETA wave levels. When they start to meditate their brain waves flip into ALPHA. This means their brains waves become less frenetic in shape and speed. The aim is not to fall asleep in most meditations however if the meditator falls asleep when they meditate their brain will flip into DELTA mode. Personally and lots of people have mentioned to me, I often find during meditation find the answers I have been looking for come to mind. This is often because we have shifted our perception, we are changing our brain waves and maybe alternating between GAMMA, ALPHA and THETA waves.

Sound Therapy is very powerful at changing brain waves; as soon as you hear the sounds, your brain waves switches to alpha or maybe even deeper brain waves. This is why Sound Therapy is particularly good if you struggle with meditation as it helps you to relax deeper and switch brain waves quickly. This particularly helps people who struggle to calm or switch off their minds.

How does meditation affect the body with physiological changes?

Bruce Barrett’s research suggests that meditation reduces the duration of illnesses, thus improving immunity, however they suggest more research is needed. The Mindfulness Report supports this by saying meditation improves the functioning of the immune system and people have fewer hospital admissions. It also highlights that meditation increases blood flow, reduces blood pressure and reduces risk of hypertension.

Meditation also activates the parasympathetic nervous system and the vagus nerve. This increases the vagal tone and inhibits cytokine production. This is important as the brain and gut are deeply connected and can influence feelings of depression, anxiety and mood. Research by Breit suggests the correlation between vagal tone and the capacity to regulate stress responses which can help with resilience and improvement in mood and anxiety.

The Mindfulness Report also shows that meditation increases blood flow, reduces blood pressure and reduces the risk of hypertension and cardiovascular disease. Furthermore, meditators have a lower number of hospital admissions for heart disease, cancer, infectious disease alongside ½ the visits to their GP, compared with those who don’t meditate.

Research by Benson has shown that meditation can activate the relaxation response, which is an intrinsic mechanism to reduce the effects of stress on the body. The mechanism that switches off the flight, flight, freeze and façade mechanism. Through focusing on breathing it is possible to “decrease heart rate, lower metabolism, decrease rate of breathing, and in this way bringing the body back into a healthier balance.” This helps to reduce the rate of cellular decay and so slows down the rate of aging. Research by Melville has also shown that 15 minutes of meditation in the office can activate the relaxation response.

Meditation has been shown to improve sleep quality and quantity too. A review by Nagendra showed that practiced meditators spend more time in theta-alpha brain waves with background delta waves. As well as reduced brain activity and enhanced Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, this is because Meditation helps to increase melatonin levels which improve the quality of sleep.

How does meditation affect the body with psychological changes?

Dr Travis also shows that regular meditation increases activity of the left prefrontal cortex in the brain, which ultimately helps people feel happier. Dr David Hamilton also discussed how regular meditation over a period of time increases neural connections within the front of the brain (neural wiring) and specifically compassion meditation (loving kindness) creates more activity in the left frontal cortex which is where empathy is created.

The review by Boccia further supports this by saying that meditation activates parts of the brain involved with processing self-relevant information, self regulation, focused problem-solving, adaptive behaviour, and interception.

The Mindfulness Report suggests that regular meditation increases the size of the parts of the brain such as the hippocampus, oribito-frontal cortex, thalamus and inferior temporal lobe which are used for emotion regulation.

Research by Holzel and Sara Lazar used MRI scans to show repeated meditation creates changes in the brain called neuroplasticity where the amount of grey matter increases. As we age the frontal cortex shrinks, which is why people often struggle with memory issues, but through meditation this can be limited. Meditation also increases the size of the hippocampus which helps with learning, memory and regulation of emotions. The right basal amygdala grey matter decreases whilst perceived stress levels decrease. Therefore, meditation helps to decrease stress levels, improves memory, helps people to process emotions better and slows down the aging process.

The Mindfulness Report has also shown that people who meditate are more in control of their behaviour and change their internal thoughts and reactions. Discussing the reduction of stress levels, better mood regulation and less anxiety alongside a reduction in aggressive behaviour and switch to tolerance and compassion. Mindfulness also increases the awareness people have about themselves and can improve vitality. It also highlights a reduction of addictive behaviour, for example to illegal drugs, prescribed medications, as well as the consumption of alcohol and caffeine.

A really interesting subject area to me is the research into the effects of meditation on those suffering from chronic pain in The Mindfulness Report. It shows research where people in chronic pain (a protective mechanism from the brain if nothing structurally wrong) who also mediated had less pain, their lives were less restricted by pain and furthermore less medication was required to manage their symptoms. Amazingly, this lasted until at least the 15 month follow up review.

Summary of the benefits of meditation

Physiological benefits of meditation

Physiological benefits of meditation

Spiritual benefits of meditation

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