Meditation Research

Meditation Research includes scientific studies to understand the effect of meditation on stress reduction, Asthma, ADHD, memory loss, Anxiety control, gene and DNA modification, BDNF, Insula and Brain Fitness. Meditation increase telomerase, decrease the bad genes, improve the good genes, improve sleep, reduce depression, increase the clarity of purpose. It brings overall spiritual wellbeing. Effect of meditation and yoga on Neuroplasticity, Neurogenesis, Neurophysiology, Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience are discussed. Meditation and yoga can profoundly change the brain structure. Effect of meditation on Grey matter, BDNF, Insula, pre-frontal cortex, hippocampus, orbito-frontal cortex, thalamus and the inferior temporal gyrus are explained.

Yoga and Mindfulness to Keep Stress and Blood Pressure down

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Blood pressure is effectively lowered by mindfulness meditation. Downward-Facing Dog Pose Standing Forward Bend Pose and Bridge Pose are the three most important yoga poses for stress reduction. Stress is not an illness itself, but it can cause serious illness. Yoga and mindfulness meditation is the easiest cure for that. Age-related stiffening of the arteries is a key contributor to high blood pressure and the propensity to develop blood clots. Yoga and mindfulness can increase the flexibility of the arteries.

Yoga and Mindfulness for Cardiovascular System

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Yoga and mindfulness improve the blood circulation and thereby reduces the causes of hypertension, heart attack or stroke. Yoga detoxifies muscles and organs and thereby improves blood circulation. Yoga brings harmony in heart and lungs. Yoga and mindfulness pumps the immune system and balance the cardiovascular system. Scientist observed that dispositional mindfulness is positively associated with cardiovascular health. During yoga session the massaging effect on the internal organs improve blood circulation.

Meditation and Rich-Club Connectivity Hubs

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Recent scientific studies on meditation demonstrated that rich club brain network have a key role to play in making global communication and information integration during meditation. The human brain is a complex network of interlinked regions. Scientific studies on meditation demonstrated that the anatomical network of the human brain shows a “rich-club” organization. The aim … Read more

Brain Network Hub Connectivity during Meditation

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How meditation work in our brain? How brain network hubs interacts? This article identify the major brain regions and their dynamic connectivity during meditation. Brain network connectivity approaches to meditation neuroscience are currently accelerating at a rapid pace, propelled by the availability of ‘big fMRI data’, an expanding computational infrastructure, and the formation of large-scale … Read more

Effect of Meditation on Cortical Thickness of the Brain

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Scientific evidence suggests that meditation alters the functional and structural plasticity of the brain. In the milestone study, Sara Lazar, et al. in 2005, demonstrated that meditation increases the cortical thickness of the brain. Since then a large number of studies, mostly with varying sample sizes are conducted to identify the relationship between meditation techniques and development of cortical thickness in different brain areas. The results have been remarkably consistent. There is increasing evidence that the insula undergoes structural refinement through meditation. Meditation stops insular cortical thinning process. Insular cortical thinning occurs due to age and depression. In this article we focus on the impact of meditation on overall cortical thickness of the brain. Advancements in developmental biology, neuroscience, and medical imaging have brought us closer than ever to understand the effect of meditation on brain.

There are several meditation methods, such as Yoga, Om meditation, Zen, mindfulness, breathing awareness, and Samatha. Specially, Om chanting and meditation has several benefits. The chanting of Om improves the somatic relaxation and the meditation on the meaning of Om increase cognitive relaxation. Special cognitive relaxation of Om meditation and somatic relaxation of Om chanting improves the cortical characteristics of the brain. Moreover, the practice of Om improve immune competence, especially in older populations who often experience a loss of immune function. Om mantra stabilizes the fight-and-flight response of the amygdala. Which improves the gyrification and cerebral characteristics.

Meditation and the Default Mode Network

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Default Mode Network

Default mode network are a multilayer, hierarchical network of neurons not some isolated regions of the brain. Understanding how meditation and DMN work together is central for understanding deeper levels of meditation. Here we present a basic model of DMN and its role in meditation. The DNM is active when one is engage in internal tasks such as daydreaming, envisioning the future, retrieving memories, and thinking others’ perspectives.The DNM releases unresolved tensions in our lives. The default mode network is more active for creative people. During wakeful rest, the brain consolidates recently accumulated data, memorizing the most salient information, and essentially rehearses recently learned skills, etching them into its tissue. Normally, default mode of humans appears to be that of mind-wandering. In my earlier article I have discussed about the effect of meditation on brain structure. In this article I discussed the effect of meditation on default mode network.

Sirtuins for Restoring Youthfulness and Extending Longevity

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Emerging from current research on the sirtuins there is a growing appreciation that the sirtuins are playing major roles in regulating cell proliferation, cell survival and apoptosis (programmed cell death). Sirtuins block multiple key processes in neurodegeneration. Sirtuins restore protein homeostasis by reducing accumulation of toxic proteins, improve neural plasticity by elevating transcription of genes, enhance mitochondria function by reducing oxidative stress, and suppress sustained chronic inflammation with epigenetic mechanisms. In this article we review the role sirtuin genes for restoring youthfulness and extending longevity. Telomere attrition has been shown to be accelerated by oxidative stress and inflammation. SIRT3 expression increases by exercise, fasting and caloric restriction and decreased by high-fat diet. SIRT1 genes are linked in inflammatory responses. SIRT1 can block the neuropathogenic inflammatory loops.

How to Live Longer Life to the Fullest

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The science behind long, happy and healthy life is continuously emerging. The maximum lifespan of human being is about 120 years. How to increase that? How to add more life into those years? How can we preserve our youth? What cause aging? Can human bodies become immortal? These are the most fundamental questions in biology. Aging is almost universal, but the causes of aging are complex. The rate of aging also differs from person to person. Scientific evidence suggests that proper diet, regular exercise, regular learning and calorie restriction, during middle age and beyond is enormously effective to promote health and disease free life. Through discipline life, it is possible to make the rejuvenation and extend lifespan and possible to achieve stop senescence, reverse aging or at least significantly delay it.

How to Increase Gray Matters in the Brain

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Gray matters in the brain are directly responsible for seeing and hearing, memory, executive functions, impulse control, emotions and speech. With age gray matter in the brain decreases. However, meditation, yoga, omega-3 and many other things can increase the gray matter in your brain. In this article we focus on the techniques and methods to increase the gray matter in the brain.

Impact of Meditation on Brain Structure

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Angular Gyrus

Effect of meditation on the brain structure can be broken up into two categories: short-term changes and long-term changes. In this article we focused our attention both on short term and the long term impact of meditation on brain structure. There are three types of meditation practices. The first is the Open Monitoring or Mindfulness … Read more