What is Digg?61 Comments
- adml_shake, on 10/12/2007, -7/+44Tell your boyfriend to keep yanking?
- SouthernDigger, on 10/12/2007, -3/+33Meditation takes a lot of concentration but at the same time I hear 15 min. of meditation is better than 1 hour of the deepest sleep. Want to know how to do it?
http://www.how-to-meditate.org/ - infra172, on 10/12/2007, -4/+14Its just the brain trying to escape the boredom.
- JulianMorrison, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7There's continuous bi-directional feedback between low-level brain structure and high-level mind. If you do a lot of anything, that part of your brain will increase. It's one of the reasons I'm sceptical of anyone who purports to "explain" a mind state eg: depression in terms of brain structure. Very hard to tell that they aren't putting the cart before the horse.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -3/+10Sounds interesting... but then again it supports the idea that you can grow cells (especially brain cells) using pure thought, correct?
Anyone know the validity of this source? - DoubtfulSalmon, on 10/12/2007, -4/+9Increases "thickness" huh?
- brandonking, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Actually, just reading the study:
"Increased cortical thickness could be due to greater arborization per neuron, increased glial volume or increased regional vasculature. The methods employed do not distinguish between these possibilities; however, each of these mechanisms is supportive of increased neural function."
In other words, this could just be glia and blood vessels, and not neurons. Sorry, but having worked in an MRI lab, this study isn't all that hot. It isn't bad, but any time they don't tell you the strength of the magnet OR the voxel size, you have to be suspect. Plus this is in the Neuroreport, a ho-hum publication. Probably rejected from bigger journals for lack of data and small n. - boredzo, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7Thicker (increased density) != bigger (increased volume).
- alamojo, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5this is consistent with other work i've seen on physiological changes in the brain in later life. Maybe it's like training a neural network, or better yet a neural network that adapts by adding nodes to the inner layers as well as changing weights.
- MrGeneric, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6Use it or loose it, that is the point. Meditation is about controlling your mind and part of that is to turn off the gibbering idiot that is your language centers and let the rest of your mind have more control.
The control aspects of meditation can lead to other health benefits that relate to biofeedback, such as blood pressure control.
Another interesting point was that it is just a variation on the benefits of mental and physical discipline, which would suggest that we should give our minds and our bodies a variety of exercises and that meditation should be part of that. - Ace2005, on 10/12/2007, -4/+7My guess is that its like a muscle, when you work out they get bigger, so since meditation requires a lot of concentration the body must be increasing the number of cells to increase your ability to do that task
- firefusion, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5Few useful links...
http://learn-meditation-techniques.org/
http://anger-management-techniques.org/
http://dealingwithfear.org/
http://findhappiness.org/
http://how-to-meditate.org/
http://awakenyourself.org/ - ViRaZ, on 10/12/2007, -5/+8Huh? M-e-d-i-t-a-t-i-o-n. Oh damnit.
(Zips-up pants) - brandonking, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4We grow new neurons. That's just a fact that has been proven over and over now. But remember the SIZE of the brain doesn't really matter (within a certain window), because what matters is how connected the mass of added brain tissue is. There was just a study in Science (or was it Nature?) showing that new neurons in the hippocampus don't actually integrate into the circuitry of the structure, and have little to no effect on computation.
They should have given them some perceptual IQ tests. Why? Because there is another case where neurons multiply - damage. It could be that meditation induces a massive dump of glutamate in the areas being 'stimulated', which can kick on mechanisms to counter an impending excitotoxic lesion. They say the cortex is 'thicker', which means more mass. The best way to get more mass it to increase cells, not connections. The oddest part is that if this is the case, we'll find out in a couple decades, since glutamate also kicks on Alzheimer's Disease mechanisms at high doses... - Mach5, on 10/12/2007, -5/+7but thicker = more connections = smarter
- brandonking, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4thicker = more cells
more cells != more connections (see my comment above)
more cells != smarter (except in extreme circumstances)
more connections != smarter (if the network is set to run efficiently, adding cells late can gum up the works)
In computer terms: I can throw a new CPU in my case, but if I don't add it to the motherboard, I have a 'dual process system' without any functional significance to the second chip. I can solder that cpu to the northbridge chipset, where it will get some power, but it is more liekly to mess up things than help them along. It is possible that there is a second slot on my mobo, but in the brain, that would equate to 10,000,000 space-keepers which has been shown in stem cells studies to not be the case. - quasipalm, on 10/12/2007, -5/+7"The researchers compared brain scans of 20 experienced meditators with those of 15 nonmeditators."
So how do they know that it was the meditation? Couldn't it be that increased brain size increases your likelihood of wanting to meditate? It seems this study didn't account for the chicken and the egg problem. - YellowBook, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Regardless of how busy people perceive themselves to be, stopping for an hour a day is really not that hard. A massive benefit of this extra insight and reflection is better time management. Simply put, you don't spend nearly as much time on meaningless tasks. Instead, the focus is on perfoming tasks that are in tune with the direction in which you are going. Personally, I'd rather be in charge of my own destiny.
- brandonking, on 10/12/2007, -4/+6From the study Discussion section:
"Additional studies suggest that relaxation facilitates the learning-based process that underlies such cortical plasticity."
It could jsut be that meditation helps you cope with stress better, so the effects of aging are lessened if done over a long period of time. - mac0Fd00m, on 10/12/2007, -0/+235 people does not constitute a scientific study.
- wilfordbrimley, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3"The results were very encouraging," Lazar remarks. "But further research needs to be done using a larger number of people and testing them multiple times. We also need to examine their brains both before and after learning to meditate. Our group is currently planning to do this."
- Misled, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4Very interesting study.
Although I am somewhat skeptical about meditation increasing brain size, anybody who has meditated for a while knows that there is a correlation between meditating and focus. Meditation DOES increase awareness, focus, and attention. I am not some new age freak, either. Just a simple college student tired of not being able to sleep at night due to random thoughts.
My first experience with meditation was extremely boring and, from what I thought at the time, pointless. After continuing practice it gets to the point where you almost look forward to meditation. Just after a couple of weeks doing so it becomes obvious of the effects it has on the mind.
I would like to see other studies that deals with the brain size increase. It just seems odd that it could happen.
But if thoughts can make my penis grow, I don't know why it wouldn't have the same affect on my brain. ;) - Buddhist, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2...Sweet. Looks like i'm on the right track then. :)
- xAXISx, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3...and we all know how smart Einstein was.
- SyDIGG, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1It could all be that the poor and probably thus uneducated do not have time to meditate ...they have other things to worry about ...like providing for their family. The educated and probably thus rich have time for leisure like meditation. It does not mean meditation increases brain size.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1that's just one style of meditation, its considered to be the most difficult
- bikeham, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3Ridiculously small sample size. Meditation, however is a *good thing*. Digg for meditation. Now, go away grasshopper and don't think.
- pwrstick, on 10/12/2007, -5/+6@quasipalm
Excellent point. A good scientist knows that "correlation does not prove causality." A popular example of this is "Drowning increases as a function of ice cream sales," which is true, but a better reason it is true is because both correlate with summer, when it is hotter, so more people eat ice cream and more people go swimming.
The correct way to do this study would be to design a longitudinal (takes place over a long period of time) one, where two randomized samples are created, one sample to meditate, the other to do something else (control). Baselines would be taken before the experiment, and at the end you'd have way better data. - rohi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1While it's hard in the western world to make time for things that don't fit into our fast food culture, describing meditators as "educated" or "rich" is inaccurate. And most wouldn't consider meditation "leisure time".
This is because the vast majority of meditators are Buddhists in what we would consider 'extreme poverty' in places like Nepal, Burma, Thailand, etc.. - mwong, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1From what research I have read (and I have read a lot being a psychology of learning senior), most any mental activity will have similar results. Staying mentally active is always important. The brain is a use it or lose it type of organ. The more you need specific type of nuerons the more you use it. The more you use it the stronger it gets, thus you keep it. What the meditators are doing is concentrating, etc. for long periods regularly, thus getting more blood flow and more mass (thickness) for those specific parts of the brain. What makes this article interesting to me is that it does specific research into to what degree meditating has on mental activity (what parts of the brain it affects).
The latter part of the article talking about aging and the thinning affects may be misleading. Thinning is usually regarded as specifically loss of nueral connections in areas you don't use. This could not be so bad. If you don't day to day need to concentrate really hard on one thing, then chances are you won't need to when you are older if you have about the same life style. Your brain is good at what it needs to do, experience has ensured that already. - Misled, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1...and by penis grow I meant get an erection. I wanted to make the clear to illustration the power of thoughts and the effect they have on the body.
- MrGeneric, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Insight Meditation is the form of meditation referred to in the study.
Essentials of Insight Meditation Practice — Ven. Sujiva.
http://www.buddhanet.net/filelib/pdf/essentials.zip - tijer, on 10/12/2007, -4/+5It's a proven fact that size of the brain does not necessarily relate to the intelligence (or any form thereof).
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I guess this brings a new meaning to the term 'thick headed'.
- FuManchu, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Good link, since this article/study specifically used only people doing vipassana. [Or so I read it: it was not as detailed an article as I'd like.]
Thanks. - viet, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3For those of you want to learn how to meditate, I found this link to be extremely useful http://www.dharmaweb.org/index.php/Mindfulness_In_Plain_English_by_Venerable_Henepola_Gunaratana
- quasipalm, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@hoeken
The point is they were already meditating before the study. A better study design would be to have two groups, neither of which had mediated, and have one of them mediate and see if their brain grows. Of course, this type of a study would take longer to administer. - lakshmisims, on 05/31/2008, -0/+0I have been experiencing my own mind healing myself. I met a teacher and healer named Dr. Sha. I first learned of him through a movie screening named "Soul Masters. www.soulmasters.com Which is a documentary about his work and his teacher in China Dr. Guo.
I was very moved by the real life examples they showed in the movie. So I started to read some of his books and then attenended some of his trainings. Every day my life is getting better and better. I am learning techniques that are simple and dont take much time and that work. He teaches things to help heal not only myself, but to help other people as well. His web site is www.drsha.com. Go read more.
He is amazing. I feel joy bubbling up inside my heart, and I find I am looking forward to each day and to the future. Also I am finding more and more peace inside myself so less worry is taking over.
Thank You Amritam for sharing. - rohi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Everything you think has to involve a physically change to your brain. If you practice music, juggling, throwing a knuckle ball, learning french, or meditating, the areas in your brain responsible for these activities will have to change - that is what enables you to learn the activity.
As a thought experiment imagine we could copy and reproduce a brain exactly. So make a copy of your brain. Then learn to play pool. Then make another copy. These two copies cannot be physically identical. The one that plays pool has to have subtle differences otherwise it couldn't play pool.
So of course meditating (or any activity) produces subtle physical changes to the brain. Does "it helps the brain grow"? That's kind of meaningless. A big brain isn't better, whales and elephants have big brains. So does Hulk Hogan. But it certainly will produce some sort of change.
What's interesting is that our technology is getting good enough to spot things like this.
I hope technology never gets to the point where they can measure physical changes in the brains of people who spend too much time masturbating or worrying about penis size. That would be really embarrassing for me.. ;) - shmatt, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2Medititation does NOT involve concentration, it's the exact opposite. you attempt to clear your mind of all conscious thought to achieve a state of peace/relaxation/body-mindfulness etc.
And its really hard to do that, but if you succeed there are quite a few benefits. Try it, you won't regret it. - DeepZen, on 11/12/2008, -0/+0It's like working a muscle, growing and developing with use.
http://www.deep-zen.com - Mutton, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3Juggling also increases brain size, so what?
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=5615 - hoeken, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1@quasipalm FTFA: Study participants meditated an average of about 40 minutes a day. Some had been doing it for only a year, others for decades. Depth of the meditation was measured by the slowing of breathing rates. Those most deeply involved in the meditation showed the greatest changes in brain structure. "This strongly suggests," Lazar concludes, "that the differences in brain structure were caused by the meditation, rather than that differences in brain thickness got them into meditation in the first place."
- smoothly, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0meditation is about mind discipline. the more you do physical training, difficult tasks become effortless. so too with mental training. if you can still your mind, you can also still your tongue see: http://digg.com/health/Yoga_Meditation_Podcast_HowTo_Architect_Your_Life_With_Mantras
- alky, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Have they done studies on how doing math problems and such affects the brain? How does it compare?
- AlexCequea, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0At my university(mum.edu), everyone is taught Transcendental Meditation when they arrive. Most of the research out there about the benefits of meditation are done at our university, so basically we're like enlightened lab rats. I do it because it gives me clarity and focus, plus I feel awesome. Nevertheless, scientific research should always be scrutinized and investigated, even scientists can get caught up in their own beliefs and experiences.
Support the Public Meditation Project! http://PublicMeditationProject.blogspot.com - SoniaGallagher, on 05/20/2009, -0/+0Fantastic post and incredible news. This study is cutting edge and has an incredible impact on modern day medicine in the US.
- transcends, on 03/11/2008, -0/+0I have recently got back into meditation having purchased some mp3 downloads. I now combine the use of hypnosis cds and meditation recordings. They seem to complement each other
- tection99, on 02/19/2009, -0/+0check out http://www.dayspaforthemind.com online meditation and hypnosis
- antron, on 10/12/2007, -4/+3So basically meditation gives you encephalitis?
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