MEDITAÇÃO FAZ BEM? O QUE DIZ A NEUROCIÊNCIA | Claudia Feitosa-Santana

There are different types of meditation and scientific studies show that meditation improves the quality of life of its practitioners. Meditation is an exercise of observing the present state, whether watching our breathing or the thoughts that invade our mind. Contrary to what many think, meditation is not synonymous with emptying the mind because the invasion of thoughts is very often.

There is no scientific doubt that meditation is associated with improved quality of life, but the studies about meditation effects on disorders and diseases. . .

they are just beginning. We have more than five thousand papers and I will try to highlight the most relevant points. .

. In the case of depression, there is a scientific consensus that meditation helps in reducing symptoms or even in their remission . .

. and what does that mean? In practice, it is almost like using drugs.

It doesn't necessarily work for everyone or if it works may be that for someone in a few sessions he can already feel the benefits and for others . . .

they need a lot more sessions . . .

and why is there so much difference from one patient to another? because in fact and not only for patients but even when we meditate with no purpose . .

. why? the effects of meditation depend a lot on personality and temperament but that's still very little understood by science.

And most importantly, the meditation is good as prevention. It helps to not increase symptoms of depression and to not install the disease. Also, it helps patients who had depression to avoid a relapse.

In the case of anxiety disorders studies indicate that there are benefits and may reduce symptoms but there is no scientific consensus about the remission. It seems. .

. that the effects of meditation on anxiety appear to be smaller than on depression. For people with TAG - generalised anxiety disorder, is good to be more careful and to try learning meditation with supervision.

In the case of depression, meditation helps to evolve symptoms and also to prevent the installation of an anxiety disorder. . .

most likely because meditation seems to help attention. A study on the relationship between meditation and attention found that meditators were more efficient than non-meditators in an attentional load task . .

. but note that this group of meditators were used to meditate on average for more than eight years, and more! - using artificial intelligence the learning machine looked at all the brain images of the group of mediators and non-meditators not knowing who was who and was able to identify and separate non-meditators from meditators with almost 100% certainty .

. . and what does that mean?

that people who meditate for a long time have a brain structure different from those who do not meditate, but this was found in this group. . .

we may find evidence that it works for everyone. Another study, shows that women who practice yoga and are over 60 have a cortical thickness in a region of the brain that is larger than in women with same age but do not practice yoga . .

. these women who practice yoga have been practicing for at least 8 years and what this study suggests that they have higher cognition. .

. what does it mean? These studies along with many more studies show that long-term meditation can bring changes to the brain structure and to neural connections improving the way we function.

Meditation retreats bring well-being and improve symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress . . .

One Brazilian study in particular shows improved attention. In case of abuse of substances, there is a recommendation - people should practice with supervision of specialists on substance abuse along with many other interventions because there is a scientific consensus that without acting on many dimensions, meditation has no effect. There is enough evidence to show that yoga helps to improve the psychological symptoms of adult cancer patients, but for pediatric patients there is no consensus and it is necessary to be careful when recommending meditation for these children we don't know if it really brings benefits.

. . It's the same case for children diagnosed with ADHD - attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder, there is no consensus that it really should be recommended meditation.

So I'm not going to talk about the studies on meditation programs for business organizations, for chronic pain, post-traumatic stress syndrome, biological markers of inflamação, stress hormone, among many others. Although it seems obvious that meditation generally has positive effects, When all the studies are evaluated together - meta-analysis, what happens? we realize that the her effect is relatively small or moderate, but think with me.

. it's kind of obvious because in general, when people seek meditation, they seek an attitude toward life that encompasses other things like, for example, eat healthy, a good night's sleep and exercise. So what is truly important is to pursue a healthy life.

Meditation is an act that requires discipline. but seems to be very helpful for our lives. I've been doing zazen for 20 years and you?

what's your type of meditation? Tell us here . .

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