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Olivia Larsen

Professor Malcolm Campbell

UWRT

10/30/2017

Meditation: Can You Om Your Way to Health?

What is meditation? There is no definition set in stone to describe meditation, but from

what I have learned from my research, is it a mental practice that involves training your mind to

achieve a higher level of awareness and enhance spiritual growth. Most people are familiar with

the idea that practicing meditation comes with health benefits. These benefits aid in improving

conditions such as chronic pain, stress, and anxiety. However, what most people dont know is

that meditation also has the potential to physically alter the structure of the brain. In addition, it

can also stall or even reverse the changes that take place in the brain due normal aging.

Meditation Background:

Meditation is an ancient practice that is believed to originate in India several

thousand years BCE. There are six main types of meditation. These include, Mindfulness Commented [t1]: This is not in the right font

Meditation, Spiritual Meditation, Focused Meditation, Movement Meditation, Mantra

Meditation, and Transcendental Meditation. However, most research and studies are conducted
using one type of meditation, Transcendental Meditation. This type of practice puts an emphasis
on training the mind in order to achieve a higher level of awareness. Transcendental Meditation
is the not only the most scientifically researched, but also the most popular form of meditation
among practitioners.

Meditations Effects on the Brain:

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As the number of meditation practitioners increase so does the amount of studies and

research concerning the topic. One of the most prominent and interesting effects of meditation
discovered through these studies is its ability to induce gyrification, the process of forming folds
in the cerebral cortex. This process has the potential to increase the brains ability to process
information. According to the NCCIH, a study was conducted in 2012 that supported this claim.
Researchers compared brain images from 50 adults who meditate and 50 adults who dont
meditate. Results suggested that people who practiced meditation for many years have more
folds in the outer layer of the brain. Meditation is also associated with several other neuroplastic
changes. According to traumaticbraininjury.net, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and positron Commented [t2]: Remember to use parenthetical citation,
Purdue Owl is a good resource for how to do this
emission tomography (PET) reports indicate that long term meditation practitioners showed
increased regional cerebral blood flow in the prefrontal cortex of the brain. One study I found to
support these findings was conducted in 2015. In this study 22 male volunteers between 18 and
30 years old performed a color-word matching task before and after 20 min of meditation and
random thinking. During meditation there was an increase in oxy-hemoglobin and total
hemoglobin concentration with reduced deoxyhemoglobin concentration over the right prefrontal
cortex, whereas in the control group that did random thinking there was increased
deoxyhemoglobin with reduced total hemoglobin concentration on the right prefrontal cortex.
The results from this study confirmed that meditation increases cerebral oxygenation and
enhances performance.
Meditation also has the ability to reduce the risk of Cerebrovascular Disease. This is

because practicing meditation lowers oxidative stress and lipid profiles which are key factors in
the development of Cerebrovascular Disease. According to a peer reviewed journal from the
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, evidence to support these claims are derived from
studies using cognitive, electroencephalogram, and structural neuroimaging which allow
researchers to observe these neuroprotective effects.
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Why Is It Important?

You are probably asking yourself, why is this relevant? Well in a study conducted in
1990 by Global Burden of Disease, the first global estimate on the burden of 135 diseases was
provided, and cerebrovascular diseases ranked as the second leading cause of death after
ischemic heart disease. Additionally, cerebrovascular disease is the leading cause of disability in
adults and each year millions of stroke survivors have to adapt to a life with restrictions in
activities of daily living as a consequence of cerebrovascular disease. In light of that, if there is a
simple practice that could significantly lower your chances of contracting such a debilitating
disease wouldnt you want to be informed about it? On the other hand, obtaining reliable
resources concerning meditation research does come with challenges. Researching meditation
involves directly sharing a personal first-person experience with others which can be quite
difficult, and that is exactly what meditation is, a personal experience. In light of that, in order to Commented [t3]: in light of that was used twice in the
same small section of words, nothing wrong with it, just
research meditation most researchers meditate themselves, they do this so that they can gain that makes the reading seem repetitive. Maybe using a different
writers move would make it flow better, something like
first person experience. Some even claim that it is actually essential in order to do successful Furthermore or Additionally, could work, off of the top
of my head.
research. As you can probably imagine, it is not easy to find researchers willing to do so.
However, as the popularity of practicing meditation increases, so will the demand for research
and interest from the science community.
If you are still not convinced that the benefits of meditation are relevant to todays

society I would like for you to refer back to the fact that practicing meditation reduces the risk of
age-related neurodegeneration. One of the most common and well known neurodegenerative
diseases is Dementia. According to dimentiastatistics.org, globally, the number of people living
with dementia will increase from 46.8 million in 2015 to 131.5 million in 2050, that is a 281%
increase. Another prominent disease that meditation could be used as a preventative measure for.
By being more informed about the benefits meditation, a safe and accessible practice, you
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can get your brain in tip top shape. You have been given a tool that can not improve your mental
and physical health, but can help reduce the risk of debilitating neurodegenerative diseases,
shouldnt everyone be have to opportunity to protect their brain?

Works Cited Commented [t4]: Works Cited should start on its own
page, but can be multiple pages long
ANVESANA Research Laboratory. Hemodynamic responses on prefrontal cortex

related to meditation and attentional task. Wiley Online Library, 17 Feb. 2015,
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1196/annals.1393.002/epdf?r3_referer=wol&tracking_act

ion=preview_click&show_checkout=1&purchase_referrer=onlinelibrary.wiley.com&pur

chase_site_license=LICENSE_DENIED_NO_CUSTOMER.

Meditation: In Depth. National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, U.S.

Department of Health and Human Services, 7 Sept. 2017,

nccih.nih.gov/health/meditation/overview.htm. Accessed 10 Oct 2017.
Neurologic Rehabilitation Institute. Traumatic Brain Injury,

www.traumaticbraininjury.net/. Accessed on 14 Oct 2017.

United States, Department of Health and Human Services. Meditation Practices for Health:
State of the Research. Government Printing Office. June 2007.
https://permanent.access.gpo.gov/lps83613/medit.pdf. Accessed 6 Oct 2017.
World Health Organization. World Health Organization, World Health Organization,

www.who.int/. Accessed on 1 Nov 2017.

Xiong, Glen L., and P. Murali Doraiswamy. Does Meditation Enhance Cognition and

Brain Plasticity? Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, Blackwell Publishing
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Inc, 28 Aug. 2009, http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1196/annals.1393.002/full.

Accessed 12 Oct 2017.