How Meditation Affects Your Brain

In this article we will look at the processes that occur in the brain during meditation and how it changes the daily lives of practitioners. We will not talk about a specific type of meditation, although mindfulness meditation is the most studied in the scientific world. All types of meditation have common features and offer to work on different levels of consciousness. The goal of any practice is to help you find your own way back to your Self and free yourself fr om stress, fears and worries. It also means experiencing self-sufficiency and independence fr om external objects that may change over time.

By the 1970s, the wave of popularity of meditative practices came to Europe and America, and it became clear that meditation was not a passing hobby, but a serious activity that had become a part of people's lives for a long time. Scientists became interested in this phenomenon and began to study the behavioral and neurophysiological effects of meditation, its influence on mood improvement, stress reduction, and its impact on various cognitive functions.

The last decade has shown that meditation is the cause of long-term structural changes in the brain. For example, one of the experiments proves that in just eight weeks, participants experienced improvements related to memory, perception, empathy, and stress.¹

The result of another study showed that meditators had an increase in gray matter volume, which was associated with emotion regulation and increased self-control. The loss of brain gray matter and cellular connections is an indicator of aging. Only 10% of the elderly are genetically protected from memory decline and brain cell loss, the other 90% will inevitably lose their memory. Perhaps now there is hope for preserving cognitive function in old age?²

To understand the effects of meditation on a person, you need to know how it works and what parts of the brain are responsible for.

The amygdala is a small almond-shaped part of the brain that activates the alert system in the presence of stimuli and stressors. The amygdala is connected to the prefrontal cortex, which helps control the chain reaction of brain signals.

The prefrontal cortex regulates the stress response, which began in the amygdala. When signals received by the amygdala are perceived as a threat, the prefrontal cortex helps to make a reasonable, unemotional assessment of the situation and keep calm. The connection between the amygdala and the prefrontal cortex does not develop until late adolescence, so it is more difficult for a child or adolescent to calm down during times of stress. Meditation improves the ability to slow down reactions and process more information.

The cerebral cortex is responsible for more complex thought processes such as introspection and abstract thinking. Experienced meditation practitioners live through stress much more easily. Calmness and a sober assessment of the situation eliminate the causes of anxiety, which helps to release stress.

The hippocampus is a memory center that affects cognitive abilities. Studies have shown that people who practice meditation increase the size of this area by 15%.

The temporoparietal node is connected with perspective taking, empathy and compassion.

Whether we are busy doing something, resting or sleeping, the brain always has activity that can be recorded as frequencies or waves: gamma, beta, alpha, theta, delta.

Gamma waves are the fastest. They are associated with increased mental activity involving perception, learning, awareness, and problem solving.

Beta waves are present during concentration, conversation, or focused work. The electroencephalogram showed a small amount of beta waves during meditation.

Alpha waves are active in a calm, relaxed, yet alert state of mind: creative activity, the state before falling asleep, and during meditation. The normal state of the brain in the calm state is assumed to be a silent stream of thoughts, images, and memories that spontaneously appear and are not enhanced by deliberate reasoning or stimulation of sensory systems. Such a spontaneously wandering mind is one of the brain states during meditation that is often underestimated. It is essentially "mental processing" of residual experiences and emotions. Immersing yourself in alpha vibrations through meditation can fuel creativity. It is the beginning of accessing a calmer and more creative life experience.

Theta waves are measured during deep meditation, daydreaming or REM sleep. They can also be detected when performing automatic repetitive tasks that turn off the brain, such as washing dishes. During meditation, theta waves are more active in the frontal and middle parts of the brain.

Delta waves occur during deep restorative sleep, when body awareness is completely lost. During meditation, delta waves are inactive, confirming the difference between meditation and sleep.

Stress is the body's natural defense against danger caused by an event or thought. It manifests itself as frustration, aggression, nervousness. During a stressful event, the body produces hormones to avoid or resist danger.

Chronic stress causes chemical changes in the body that increase blood pressure, heart rate, and blood sugar levels.

Prolonged stress or high levels of stress can lead to mental health problems.

Ignoring, denying stress or distracting yourself for a short time has a short-lived effect, but can undermine health in the long term. Stress research suggests that being aware of the present moment, a key feature of mindfulness, increases stress tolerance and leads to overcoming stress. The tendency to stay in the present moment reduces anxiety and depression and improves mood and well-being.³

How does meditation reduce stress?

• You are more aware of perceived thoughts and understand wh ere the real threat is and wh ere it's just your projection.
• You don't immediately react to a situation, but pause to call upon wisdom and respond appropriately.
• Meditation involves the mode of existence associated with relaxation.
• The meditation state allows you to hear the body's needs better. Therefore, you may notice pain and other signals of ill health sooner.
• You are more aware of the emotions of others, which happens as your emotional intelligence increases. Therefore, you are less likely to get into conflict or find yourself in a stressful situation.
• Your level of compassion for yourself and others increases. A compassionate mind calms and suppresses the stress response.
• Mindfulness practice reduces activity in the brain's amygdala (amygdala), which plays a key role in the emergence of the stress response. Therefore, the background level of stress is markedly reduced.
• Your attitude toward stress changes. Instead of seeing only the negative effects of stress, mindfulness gives you a new perspective on stress itself.

Some studies suggest that meditation in which one refrains from controlling the mind (non-directive meditation) works better with stress. To escape from a stressful situation, you need to let thoughts pass effortlessly without engaging in thought.

Mindfulness is the ability to focus on the present moment and disconnect from distractions or memories. The development of this quality is especially valuable for patients with depression, anxiety, and other disorders. The study found that mindfulness training increases the density of the hippocampus, which plays a key role in both working and long-term memory. In addition, the hippocampus demonstrated plasticity after only a few hours of regular meditation.

The hippocampus is associated with a memory property called "anticipatory interference" - difficulty in remembering new material due to past and currently irrelevant information. The hippocampus structure can be partially reduced by influencing the hippocampus structure during meditation.

Awareness regulates attention to the experience of the present moment and improves encoding of new material. Researchers have found increased hippocampal gray matter density in healthy individuals and adults with Parkinson's disease, and decreased hippocampal atrophy in adults with mild cognitive impairment.

The connection between hippocampal size and working memory is particularly important because working memory affects many other cognitive functions such as problem-solving efficiency, language comprehension, and reasoning ability. The quality of all of these vital brain functions can be improved through mindfulness meditation.

In addition to improving critical cognitive function, mindfulness may be a useful component of treatment for other conditions associated with memory impairment and reduced hippocampal volume, such as post-traumatic stress disorder.⁴

We all experience feelings of anxiety from time to time. But there is a difference between everyday anxiety and clinical anxiety. Ordinary anxiety becomes generalized anxiety disorder when the fear or worry does not subside but grows into panic, a sense of impending doom, or constant thoughts of disaster.

Stress can also cause anxiety, and there are similarities between the two states in terms of physiological responses. Stress is a heightened emotional state that subsides once the stressful situation is over, whereas anxiety tends to persist for a long time.

Diagnosable anxiety disorders:

• General concern.
• Social anxiety.
• Separation anxiety.
• Panic disorder.
• Obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Through meditation, we learn to understand the deceptive nature of anxiety and recognize provoking thoughts. From this state, you can find ways to bypass mental patterns, avoiding falling back into the trap of anxiety. Consistent meditation practice reprograms your perception of reality and improves your ability to regulate your emotions.

How does meditation work with anxiety? Through meditation, we become familiar with anxiety-provoking thoughts and storylines. We learn to see them, analyze them, and let them go. In doing so, you learn two important things: thoughts do not define us, and thoughts are not real. From this new perspective, you can change the way you relate to anxiety, distinguishing between what is an irrational cause and what is true. If you begin practicing authentic meditations, proven over thousands of years, stability in the perception of reality is manifested and the very ground for anxiety disappears.

Brain scans of meditators have shown an increase in the thickness of parts of the brain that are responsible for attention and processing sensory information. Moreover, the increase in gray matter was more pronounced in elderly practitioners than in young people who do not meditate. This fact particularly interested scientists, because these parts of the cerebral cortex usually thin with age.

Meditation causes physical changes in the brain through neuroplasticity - the brain's ability to constantly change. Life forces the brain to constantly make new neural connections, so neurons (nerve cells) actively adapt to respond to changes in the environment.

The way you think and feel changes the neural structures and shape of your brain. Studies have shown that it only takes eight weeks of practice to change the shape and increase gray matter. This type of tissue is important in areas responsible for muscle control, sensory perception, emotions, memory, decision making and self-control.

Meditation can relax and calm your emotions for a short time. But it can also permanently change your brain if you approach the practice as a form of mindfulness training. Different teachers can explain all the different types of meditation, but you'll have to find your own. Science proves that if you make regular efforts to reprogram yourself, it will definitely work and improve not only the quality of your brain, but also change your worldview. The world of thought with which meditation works, it turns out, directly affects both your daily well-being and the events of your future. As we know, what you think about today becomes your tomorrow. Hygiene of thought conditions the future of developed humanity. Please keep your thoughts in a clean place.