In recent years, many scientific studies have focused on the benefits of meditation on our brain.
And what is amazing is that each study attributes a “new” benefit to meditation. But are these benefits really new?
Indeed, meditation is practiced by our ancestors for centuries .
Finally, science and new technologies only confirm the benefits of meditation on the brain.
Meditation has a surprising variety of benefits for our neurons :preservation of gray matter, reduction of activity in the region of the brain linked to awareness of the "me" (and therefore of the ego) and improved connection between the regions of the brain.
In this article, we have compiled the most interesting research on meditation.
All indicate that meditation produces measurable results on the most important organ of our body:the brain.
Most interestingly, these physiological changes to the brain also have psychological benefits.
Several studies have thus looked into the psychic benefits of meditation.
They show that meditation relieves anxiety and depression .
In general, meditation improves concentration and psychological well-being.
Here are the 7 scientifically proven benefits of meditation on your brain:
According to a study by the University of California (UCLA) that looked at aging, the brains of people who have been practicing meditation for several years are better preserved than those of people who do not practice meditation.
People who have been meditating for more than 20 years have a higher amount of gray matter in their brain.
That's not to say there isn't loss of gray matter over time in people who meditate.
On the other hand, this loss is less pronounced than in people who never practice meditation.
"We thought that the effects of meditation were very localized to a limited number of regions of the brain," says Florian Kurth, the author of this study.
“Instead, meditation has been found to have a global effect on the entire brain, spanning a large number of regions. »
One of the most interesting studies of recent years, which was done by Yale University in the United States, revealed that meditation calms brain activity.
Indeed, meditation reduces the tendency of our brain to wander from thought to thought and thus generate stress.
And since wandering from thought to thought is one of the causes of people being less happy...
Who ruminate and who worry about the past and the future, meditation is a good remedy to feel better quickly.
Several studies show that meditation can reduce the number of thoughts in the brain.
As a result, you feel less stressed and calmer on a daily basis.
A study from Johns-Hopkin University in Baltimore analyzed the relationship between meditation and its ability to reduce symptoms of depression , as well as alleviating anxiety and pain.
The results of researcher Madhav Goyal and his team indicate that the effect of meditation is of a magnitude of 0.03.
If this value seems low, keep in mind that the effect of antidepressants is also of a magnitude of 0.03.
In light of this study, we understand that the effects of meditation on our brain have incredible power.
Meditation is therefore an active form of brain training.
“A lot of people think that meditating is just sitting around and doing nothing. explains Mr. Goyal.
“But this perception is wrong. Meditation is an active training of the mind, to increase our ability to be "mindfully". And all forms of meditation have their techniques for actively increasing mindfulness. »
There is no magic bullet — meditation is no exception — to cure people who suffer from depression.
On the other hand, meditation is an effective tool to relieve the symptoms and better manage this disease.
In 2011, a Harvard University study demonstrated that mindfulness meditation can actually change the structure of the brain.
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), is a form of mindfulness meditation.
In the Harvard study, participants took MBSR sessions.
After 8 weeks of sessions, the researchers observed an increase in the thickness of the cerebral cortex of the hippocampus (an area associated with memory and our ability to learn).
Similarly, MBSR has the same effect on the cerebral cortex of the brain which regulates the control of our emotions and our "self-referential logic", that is, our way of thinking in correlation with our ego.
But that's not all:MBSR meditation sessions also reduced amygdala brain volume — the area of the brain responsible for fear, anxiety and stress.
In addition, all these changes were confirmed by the self-assessments of the participants:they all declared that the sessions lowered their level of stress .
This indicates that meditation not only changes the structure of the brain, it also changes our subjective perceptions and our emotions .
In fact, in another study, the same researchers found that when meditation altered regions of the brain related to mood and arousal, participants reported an improvement in overall well-being .
Of course, even though meditation is proven to change the structure of the brain, some skeptics will still think that means nothing.
However, these scientific studies clearly demonstrate that these changes in the structure of the brain coincide with a real psychic change in people who practice meditation:an improvement in mood and in the feeling of well-being.
It's not just children who have trouble concentrating. Millions of adults have the same difficulties, whether or not they suffer from attention deficit disorder.
That is why it is interesting to point out that one of the most important benefits of meditation is that it improves our ability to concentrate .
In a recent study, researchers analyzed the effect of meditation on the performance of participants in an oral reasoning test.
Just 2 weeks of meditation training was enough to improve participants' concentration and memory skills.
This improvement is significant:the scores have indeed increased by 16%.
It's probably because one of the main objectives of meditation is to be able to focus all your attention (on an idea, an object or an activity).
So it's hardly surprising that meditation also improves our cognitive abilities when we need it!
But it's still good to know that scientific research backs it up.
Meditation is therefore an excellent way to improve our concentration both at work and at school.
Many people are introduced to meditation to take advantage of one of its main benefits:the reduction of stress .
Moreover, several studies confirm the merits of this approach.
As mentioned above, there is a new form of meditation, Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) in English).
This technique, developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn at the Center for Mindfulness at the University of Massachusetts, aims to reduce the level of stress, both physically and mentally.
Multiple research shows the benefits of MBSR meditation for anxiety — even years after the initial 8-week training.
Mindfulness meditation (as opposed to breath-based meditation) significantly reduces symptoms of anxiety disorders, study finds .
Mindfulness meditation can also help people who suffer from social phobia.
In fact, researchers at Stanford University have found that MBSR meditation enables changes in areas of the brain associated with attention.
They also found that this form of meditation relieves symptoms of social phobia .
According to several studies, meditation acts directly on areas of the brain related to self-control.
Therefore, it is a particularly effective technique to help people overcome several types of addiction .
In particular, a study looked at the effectiveness of meditation in helping people who want to quit smoking.
Specifically, she compared the effectiveness of mindfulness meditation to that of smoking cessation programs.
Results indicate that people who learn the mindfulness technique are much more likely to quit smoking than people who only follow a traditional program to quit smoking.
These results are confirmed at the end of the initial 8-week training, as well as by a follow-up study 17 weeks later.
Researchers believe that meditation is effective because it facilitates the dissociation between the mental state of the need to smoke and the physical act of smoking.
In practice, this means that the desire smoking does not necessarily give rise to the act to smoke.
So when ex-smokers feel the urge to light up a cigarette, they are better able to weather the storm.
Other studies confirm that mindfulness meditation, as well as mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT), can be helpful in treating other forms of addiction.
Children's developing brains can also reap the benefits of meditation, perhaps even more so than adult brains.
This is why more and more educators and researchers are interested in the benefits of meditation on children.
More specifically, they are interested in incorporating yoga and meditation into the school setting.
Children are exposed to several stressors, at school, but also outside the classroom.
Some American schools have added meditation to the daily curriculum of their students and are already reaping the benefits.
For example, the city of San Francisco has decided to add a meditation program (2 daily sessions) in certain schools located in sensitive areas.
The results are surprising:increase in the average grades and reduction of punishments and absences.
Studies confirm the cognitive and emotional benefits of meditation on students.
However, more research is likely to be needed before this technique is accepted and used more widely.
Admittedly, meditation is not a magic bullet for all problems.
But there's plenty of evidence to show that it brings multiple benefits to people who practice it regularly.
More and more people, and even large companies (Apple, Google, etc.), have integrated meditation into their daily routine.
In addition, enjoying the benefits of meditation requires little training.
Meditation is therefore well worth trying!
So when you have a few free minutes, in the morning or in the evening, instead of going on your smartphone or the internet, why not try meditation and try to calm your mind?
Try to become aware of all the thoughts that go through your head and then just let your thoughts pass without giving them importance or judging them.
If all these studies are correct, just a few minutes of meditation can make a big difference in your daily life.
There you go, now you know the 7 benefits of meditation on your brain :-)
Does it make you want to try? Tell us in comments. We can't wait to read you!
