Brain Changes
Sara Lazar, a research scientist at Massachusetts General Hospital, presented preliminary results last November that showed that the gray matter of 20 men and women who meditated for just 40 minutes a day was thicker than that of people who did not. Unlike in previous studies focusing on Buddhist monks, the subjects were Boston-area workers practicing a Western-style of meditation called mindfulness or insight meditation. You don’t have to do it all day for similar results. Meditation may slow the natural thinning of that section of the cortex that occurs with age.
The forms of meditation Lazar and other scientists are studying involve focusing on an image or sound or on one’s breathing. The practice seems to exercise the parts of the brain that help us pay attention. Richard Davidson, director of the Laboratory for Affective Neuroscience at the University of Wisconsin, has collaborated with the Dalai Lama to study the brains of Tibetan monks. Using caps with electrical sensors placed on the monks’ heads, Davidson has picked up unusually powerful gamma waves that are better synchronized in the Tibetans than they are in novice meditators. Studies have linked this gamma-wave synchrony to increased awareness.
Meditation may restore synapses, much like sleep but without the initial grogginess. Bruce O’Hara, associate professor of biology at the University of Kentucky, had college students either meditate, sleep or watch TV. Then he tested them for what psychologists call psychomotor vigilance, asking them to hit a button when a light flashed on a screen. Those who had been taught to meditate performed 10% better — a huge jump, statistically speaking. Those who snoozed did significantly worse.
Studies say meditation also improves worker productivity, in large part by preventing stress-related illness and reducing absenteeism.
“How to Get Smarter, One Breath at a Time” by Lisa Takeuchi Cullen