Mindfulness meditation research
It has been evaluated from different research studies that mindfulness mediation has a beneficial role in the treatment of mood disorders. Neural mechanism through which mindfulness mediation plays its role is still unclear to the researchers. In a study effect of mindfulness on the neural pathway was evaluated with the help of functional magnetic resonance imaging. The main purpose of this study was to evaluate how the emotionally laden stimuli of the neural pathway were affected by mindfulness meditation.
Total of 22 subjects were studied for this research. 12 out of 22 were practicing mindfulness meditation for 6 months and the rest were beginners. They all were studies for the positive, negative and neutral pictures of awareness in mindfulness meditation. The results were studies under the magnetic resonance imaging records. Results showed that mindfulness meditation state attenuate emotional intensity and distinct neural mechanism was involved in the whole process. It was evaluated in the study that in experienced meditators, mindfulness meditation practice induced a deactivation of neural default network areas and did not provoke responses in brain which are involved in emotional reactivity during any mood change. The beginner meditators showed a down regulation of the left amygdale during any mood change. This research study helped in evaluating the effects of long term practice of mindfulness meditation. Mindfulness mediation for long term leads to emotional stability and enhance the present moment awareness. These results have been used to manage psychological disorders.
Sensory, cognitive and the affective processes work together to construct our subjective experience of the environment. It has been accepted for centuries that meditation influences these factors and enable a non evaluative representation of environment. In a research study, scientist tried to evaluate the mechanism through which the meditation influences our sensory experiences. The scientist used arterial spin labeling magnetic resonance imaging technique for this purpose. To study the interaction between meditation and pain- related brain activation, researchers used a two-factor repeated- measures ANOVA. A 4 days of mindfulness meditation exercises were practiced by subjects under study and were given a noxious stimulation. Meditation significantly reduced pain unpleasantness by almost 57% and reduced pain intensity by 40%. The results were compared with the subjects at rest. It was evaluated that mindfulness mediation reduced the pain related stimulation of the cortex at the contralateral primary somatosensory center. Different levels of pain related activation centers in the neural pathway were evaluated during the mindfulness meditation for pain reduction. Typically the pain unpleasantness was reduced with orbitofrontal cortex activation. This is an area for the contextual evaluation of all sensory events we passed through in our daily life. It was studied that thalamic deactivation also helped in pain unpleasantness. This involvement of the thalamic processes reflects the mechanism of limbic gating during mindfulness meditation to modify interaction between afferent pathways and different brain areas. This study helps in identifying the role of different brain centers in altering the pain experiences with the help of mindfulness meditation.
Reference:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21679770
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21471390
Author: Dr Rubinamushtaq
skype: drrubina1