MEDITATION - RESEARCH

MEDITATION RESEARCH 2009-2018

The accompanying list of peer-reviewed, scientific publications gives some indication of the health benefits of meditation and the scientific methods currently being utilised to investigate them. It is by no means an exhaustive list, but does reflect the breadth of research undertaken in this bourgeoning area. A range of meditation techniques are cited, from mindfulness meditation to transcendental meditation, as well as studies reporting either on the effects of long-term meditation or more short-term meditation training. The health benefits of meditation highlighted in the cited studies include, but are not limited to, reductions in psychological strain and depressive feelings, attenuation of age-related cognitive decline, higher acceptance of chronic pain, improvements in working memory capacity, and perhaps most notably, potentially slowing biological ageing.

List compiled by Dr Elizabeth Levay PhD, BBSc (Hons)

For further reading search for scientific articles using the following databases:

PubMed https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/

And/or PsychINFO http://www.apa.org/pubs/databases/psycinfo/index.aspx

DETAILED LIST OF LINKS

2016-2018

Lopez, G., et al. (2018). A pragmatic evaluation of symptom distress after group meditation for cancer patients and caregivers: a preliminary report.Journal of Pain and Symptom Management (ahead of print).
Ooi, S.L., et al. (2017). Transcendental meditation for lowering blood pressure: An overview of systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Complementary Therapies in Medicine, 34, 26-34.
Spadaro, K.C., et al. (2017). Effect of mindfulness meditation on short-term weight loss and eating behaviors in overweight and obese adults: A randomized controlled trial. Journal of Complementary and Integrative Medicine (ahead of print).
Chaix, R., et al. (2017). Epigenetic clock analysis in long-term meditators. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 85, 210-214.
Brandmeyer, T., Delorme, A. (2016). Reduced mind wandering in experienced meditators and associated EEG correlates. Experimental Brain Research, Nov, 1-10.
Zeidan, F., Vago, D.R. (2016). Mindfulness meditation-based pain relief: a mechanistic account. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1373(1), 114-127.

2014-2015

Tomasino, B., Fabbro, F. (2015). Increases in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and decreases the rostral prefrontal cortex activation after 8 weeks of focused attention based mindfulness meditation. Brain and Cognition, 102, 46-54.
Zeidan, F., et al. (2015). Mindfulness meditation-based pain relief employs different neural mechanisms than placebo and sham mindfulness meditation-induced analgesia. The Journal of Neuroscience, 35(46), 15307-15325.
Quach, D., et al. (2015). A randomized controlled trial examining the effect of mindfulness meditation on working memory capacity in adolescents. The Journal of Adolescent Health (ahead of print).
Cash, E., et al. (2015). Mindfulness meditation alleviates fibromyalgia symptoms in women: results of a randomized clinical trial. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 49(3), 319-330.
la Cour, p., Peterson, M. (2015). Effects of mindfulness meditation on chronic pain: a randomized controlled trial. Pain Medicine, 16(4), 641-652.
Britton, W.B., et al. (2014). A randomized controlled pilot trial of classroom-based mindfulness meditation compared to an active control condition in sixth-grade children. Journal of School Psychology, 52(3), 263-278.
Creswell, J.D., et al. (2014). Brief mindfulness meditation training alters psychological and neuroendocrine responses to social evaluative stress. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 44, 1-12.
Gard, T., Hözel, B.K., & Lazar, S.W. (2014). The potential effects of meditation on age-related cognitive decline: a systematic review. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1307, 89-103.

2009-2013

Hoge, E.A., et al. (2013). Randomized controlled trial of mindfulness meditation for generalized anxiety disorder: effects on anxiety and stress reactivity.The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 72(8), 786-792.
Sedlmeier, P., et al. (2012). The psychological effects of meditation: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 138, 1139–1171.
Manocha, R., Black, D., Wilson, L. (2012). Quality of life and functional health status of long-term meditators. Evidence Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine: eCam, 350674.
Jacobs, T.L., et al. (2011). Intensive meditation training, immune cell telomerase activity, and psychological meditators. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 36(5), 664-681.
Luders, E., Clark, K., Narr, K.L., Toga, A.W. (2011). Enhanced brain connectivity in long-term meditation practitioners. Neuroimage, 57(4), 1308-1316
Manocha, R., et al. (2011). A randomized, controlled trail of meditation for work stress, anxiety and depressed mood in full-time workers. Evidence Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine: eCam, 960583.
Brown, C.A., Jones, A.K. (2010). Meditation experience predicts less negative appraisal of pain: electrophyisiological evidence for the involvement of anticipatory neural responses. Pain, 150(3), 428-438.
Kaul, P., et al. (2010). Meditation acutely improves psychomotor vigilance, and may decrease sleep need. Behavioural and B rain Function: BBF, 6, 47.
Luders, E., et al. (2009). The underlying anatomical correlates of long-term meditation: larger hippocampal and frontal volumes of gray matter.Neuroimage, 45(3), 672-678.

Read next - Ongoing Support

Master one thing to master all, and to lose everything try to master all. The meditation is the master key to all measures and full realization - Sri Santananda Saraswati (1913 – 1997)

The ultimate end of the meditation is to reach this total immobility or the profound stillness and this is very deep. No meter could measure it, it is without end - Sri Santananda Saraswati (1913 – 1997)