If you’re like most people, you probably see meditation as a form of organizing your thoughts and achieving some sort of spiritual enlightenment.
But don’t underestimate how amazing this can be for your life. Meditation is the first step in disarming the negative thoughts that may keep us trapped in unhealthy behaviors.
Meditation has always been rumored as an efficient way to rewire your brain to achieve happiness. Unfortunately, there was an absence of serious studies gauging how much it can actually change your brain.
Until now.
A New Study
A group of experienced neuroscientists at Harvard University decided to explore how meditation really affected the human body, specifically the human brain. The results were nothing short of mind blowing.
The study’s senior author, Sara Lazar, says that her study looked to verify the claims, from most meditation practitioners, that the benefits of meditation went far beyond of increased feelings of peacefulness and into the realm of increasing cognitive and psychological health.
How It Went Down
Before this study, no serious effort was made to scientifically verify that meditation actually had palpable benefits in the human brain. Lazar and her colleagues made sure they had the right method to measure the most minimal change.
The study lasted roughly two months and took full advantage of the state of the art equipment located at the Massachusetts General Hospital to keep track of any minute changes in the participant’s brains.
During the study’s duration, participants were required to spend an average of twenty-seven minutes, per day, spent in mindful and relaxing meditation exercises. More importantly, senior researchers were gauging any changes in the participants’ grey matter.
What They Discovered
The study actually proves that there are changes in brain structure that demonstrate that the claims of improved cognitive function and psychological health are real.
To be precise, the study showed that meditation was all that was necessary to stimulate the human brains to increase their density in the hippocampus. An added bonus is that this part is related with your ability to feel compassion, self-awareness, and introspection.
Turns out it could actually make you a better person.
More importantly, it proves that these claims are not only the result of people claiming to be more relaxed and stress free. It’s not all just in their heads. Well it is, but in a profoundly palpable and empirical way.
The best part was that another scientist concluded that meditation was one of the most active ways you could increase your brain’s plasticity, your overall well-being, and your quality of life.
If you’re wondering what happened to the control group, nothing is the answer. They did not gain a single benefit to their brains.
Except maybe a slight sense of jealousy.
What’s Your Next Step?
Meditating is easier said than done. Trust me, for some of us it can be lifelong journey to achieving moment of inner peace.
However, don’t despair, you can use my guide to learn how to meditate here.
Sources:
Harvard Unveils MRI Study Proving Meditation Literally Rebuilds The Brain’s Gray Matter In 8 Weeks
