Benefits of meditation

Highlights:

• Meditation techniques based on the secular mindfulness approach demonstrate numerous beneficial effects, such as stress reduction, improved socialization, and increased psychological adaptivity
• Key skills that meditation helps to develop are awareness, nonjudgmental acceptance of one’s experience, and compassion
• Some studies suggest that meditation may influence health and longevity through neuroplasticity and telomere regulation

Introduction

Meditation is an umbrella term for the variety of practices stemming from Buddhism and Hinduism. Interestingly, initially word “meditation” was only a synonym of “contemplation” and was not used outside the Western philosophical tradition. Within, for example, Theravada Buddhism the practices, which we call meditation, are divided into two types named “samatha” (calming the mind) and “vipassana” (gaining insight). 

Meditation types

During their adoption in the Western medical practice, various meditative techniques became secularized and transformed to be accessible for the wider public as well as quantifiable in research. John Kabat-Zinn was one of the first USA medical practitioners who brought meditation to the West and transformed it into the mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) approach, one of the many mindfulness approaches that further emerged. Mindfulness, according to Kabat-Zinn, can be defined as an awareness that arises through “paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally” (1). The meditation within mindfulness can be roughly divided into three main techniques:

• Concentrative, or focused-attention, meditation
• Diffuse, or open-monitoring, meditation
• Metta – compassion meditation or loving-kindness meditation 
  

At the moment variety of approaches exist within the mindfulness field – MBSR mentioned above, MBCT (mindfulness-based supportive therapy), unified mindfulness approach by Shinzen Young, integrative body-mind training (IBMT), and many others. Regular meditation is aimed to develop several skills, namely awareness of one’s emotions and states, nonjudgmental acceptance of moment-to-moment experiences (or equanimity), and compassion to oneself and other living beings (2,3). 

Chronic pain

Initially, the medical group-based intervention program MBSR was designed as an adjunct treatment to help patients living with chronic pain. MBSR consists of an eight-to-ten week intensive meditation training course, where participants meditate in groups (up to 30 people) for approximately two hours per week under the supervision of an instructor. This program is based on the idea that with the repetitive training in mindfulness meditation the individual reactivity and judgment towards their experiences will subside, while they will be more able to recognize maladaptive thinking patterns.

Since the first MBSR implementation, various mindfulness-based interventions positively influenced symptom burden and pain management in seriously ill patients (4–6). Some studies also observed small but significant changes in levels of inflammation and immune markers in oncology patients (7).

Psychological health and stress management

A frequent starting point for many practitioners of meditation nowadays is not chronic pain but high levels of stress in their lives and a need to manage it. The multiple studies show the reverse relation between regular meditations and the intensity of the stress (8,9). Baer (10) in the meta-analysis computed the mean effect of mindfulness-based approaches from 21 studies and found medium to large effects for stress, anxiety, depression, and psychological functioning. 

These findings lead us to the question of whether meditation can generally improve psychological health and well-being. Many randomized clinical trial studies reported a correlation between MBSR and reduction of self-reported levels of anxiety (11) and depression (11,12) while increasing levels of general satisfaction with life and quality of life (13). It is thought that regular meditation positively influences one’s well-being by increasing a psychological ability to adapt. Like many psychotherapeutic approaches, regular meditation disaccustoms oneself to maladaptive tendencies such as avoiding, suppressing, or over-engaging with distressing thoughts and emotions. Reviews analyzing nonclinical populations found evidence of the positive effect of mindfulness meditation on adaptive psychological functioning (14,15). But the mechanisms might differ for various types of meditation due to different skills developed. Studies show that the positive effect of metta meditation as an intervention for depression can mainly contribute to an increased feeling of social connectedness (16,17).

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​​Sleep

One of the most common health complaints is sleep disturbance, which by estimate affects up to 25% of the population. Sleep deficiency is also connected with risk for anxiety disorders, cognitive impairment, and a variety of medical conditions including cardiovascular disease. A range of first-line treatments exist, but they include some undesirable side effects, such as the potential for addiction, interaction with other drugs, behavioral changes, and headaches.

Mindfulness meditation demonstrated evidence of improving sleep quality in people with sleep disturbance that is comparable to evidence-based treatment. Rusch et al. (18) analyzed 18 trials with 1654 participants and concluded that meditation interventions significantly improved sleep quality in most cases, but more research is needed to study meditation influence on sleep in detail.

Healthy aging and longevity

General cognitive decline and neurodegenerative diseases present one of the most disturbing risks of aging. And one of the most prominent effects of long-term mindfulness practice is the morphological changes in the brain of a practitioner due to the inherent brain quality of neuroplasticity. Functional neuroimaging methods showed that regular meditation is connected not only to self-reported measures of psychological well-being but also to differences in brain activity (18). The association between meditation and the amygdala and prefrontal cortex activity suggests that meditation practitioners may better regulate and respond to their emotions. A study of metta and breathing meditation in previously depressed individuals also observed the change in electroencephalography prefrontal α-asymmetry (assymetry between activity in alpha brain waves in left and right parts of a brain), which can indicate approach-versus-withdrawal motivation and related affective state (19). Similar changes were observed in the study of older adults - MBSR produced small but significant changes in executive function and sustained left frontal α-asymmetry (20). IBMT study of two groups of older adults with 10 years of mindfulness meditation (IBMT) or physical exercise showed that the meditating group had lower cortisol levels, higher immunoglobulin A levels, and greater gray matter volume in the striatum (21). The increase in gray matter volume in several brain regions was also shown in other long-term meditation studies (14,22,23).

Even more captivating prospect is the positive influence of meditation practice on longevity. The range of recent findings suggests that regular meditation may have a significant impact on telomere length. Some healthy habits and behaviors were related to longer telomere length or reduced telomere shortening, while stress has been consistently associated with leukocyte telomere erosion (24–26). In the case of cancer patients, MBCT was associated with maintaining the telomere length (27) and an increase in telomerase activity (28). Mendioroz et al. (29) observed a positive relationship between meditation practice and longer telomere length in peripheral blood cells. Though a number of mechanisms have been suggested to explain the effect of meditation on telomeres (such as reduction in oxidative stress or modulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis), the biological basis for this connection remains unknown at the moment.

Mindfulness instructor certification

To become a mindfulness instructor one has to be a meditation practitioner with more than six month of regular practice. The format of personal practice does not matter (it can be an experience of solo-practice, group practice, or practice with a meditation app). To receive a recognized certification there are a variety of  options including already mentioned MBSR, MBST, IBMT, or other techniques, and some of these certifications may require additional expertise. Full certification program might take one or two years, and include several in depth retreats, theoretical information on neurophysiology and meditation, and the necessarily large number of practice hours. 

Conclusions

Mindfulness meditation is a set of techniques that show positive results in relation to multiple psychological and physiological states. However, many of these effects require additional studies and systematization due to the high variability of practices and subjectivity of estimated improvement. The results of available studies vary in their scientific rigor, but the prospects of including mindfulness-based techniques into the healthy lifestyle framework are promising. As of today, mindfulness-based meditation continues to be one of the most straightforward and stabilizing approaches to self-regulation, and it steadily gains popularity in the modern world. 

References

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18.       Rusch HL, Rosario M, Levison LM, Olivera A, Livingston WS, Wu T, et al. The effect of mindfulness meditation on sleep quality: a systematic review and meta‐analysis of randomized controlled trials. Ann NY Acad Sci. 2019 Jun;1445(1):5–16.

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20.       Barnhofer T, Chittka T, Nightingale H, Visser C, Crane C. State Effects of Two Forms of Meditation on Prefrontal EEG Asymmetry in Previously Depressed Individuals. Mindfulness. 2010 Mar;1(1):21–7.

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22.       Tang Y-Y, Fan Y, Lu Q, Tan L-H, Tang R, Kaplan RM, et al. Long-Term Physical Exercise and Mindfulness Practice in an Aging Population. Front Psychol. 2020 Apr 2;11:358.

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24.       Tang Y-Y, Hölzel BK, Posner MI. The neuroscience of mindfulness meditation. Nat Rev Neurosci. 2015 Apr;16(4):213–25.

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29.       Schutte NS, Malouff JM. A meta-analytic review of the effects of mindfulness meditation on telomerase activity. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2014 Apr;42:45–8.

30.       Mendioroz M, Puebla-Guedea M, Montero-Marín J, Urdánoz-Casado A, Blanco-Luquin I, Roldán M, et al. Telomere length correlates with subtelomeric DNA methylation in long-term mindfulness practitioners. Sci Rep. 2020 Dec;10(1):4564.