The Science Behind Meditation
That relaxed, enlightened feeling you get after a meditation session isn’t happening just by chance. There are active changes and processes that occur in your brain during meditation.
One of the main regions of the brain affected by meditation is the Default Mode Network (DMN). This is a network of various brain regions (medial prefrontal cortex, posterior cingulate cortex, and the inferior parietal lobule) that ultimately make up the voice in your head. You know? The one that eats away at your confidence by saying, “I’m a failure,” “None of my clothes fit,” “I can’t do anything right.”
This pesky part of the brain can either lift us up or tear us down, but luckily, we can change that negative path of thinking into a positive one with meditation.
This network fires up when we are awake and gains momentum as we focus on the past and future and the anxiety that comes from not being in the present moment.
Since meditation revolves around centering the self in the present, the DMN is immediately quieted down. Your brain quiets down and enters into a flow state firm in the present when you engage in meditation. So when your yoga teacher tells you to quiet your mind with meditation, they really mean quiet your DMN.
Silencing your internal voice is just one of the many miraculous changes that occur in your brain through meditation.
A study from Harvard found that after eight weeks of meditation, the parts of the brain that control awareness, stress, and empathy changed for the better.
This occurred from new grey matter occupying the cerebral cortex, which controls attention and emotional integration.
With meditation, the mind can slow down the speed at which it processes incoming information, resulting in a calmer mind that aids in significant benefits for the human mind and body.
Meditation can even reduce the pain as shown in the image below.
How Meditation Effects The Brain
What exactly are the benefits that come from meditation? There are many benefits that can positively affect the brain, and thus, the human body.
Here are a few:
- Better Stress Coping Skills- Meditation can help you better react to stress. The mind can recover from stress quicker through meditation. This happens through changing patterns in the amygdala that regulates emotion. You’ll become less reactive and emotionally volatile to stressful situations through mindfulness.
- Better Attention- As we said above, the change in the cerebral cortex results in better attention spans. Studies have even shown that consistent meditation will change the traits in your brain, leading to longer attention spans even after you’ve ended consistent meditation practice (though we encourage you to keep meditation in your daily routine).
- Increased Empathy- Kindness and compassion can seep into the human mind when meditation is practiced. This is partially because the amygdala’s processing is slowed during meditative practice and also because of the reduction of activity in the DMN. When the DMN isn’t engaging in the self, you can focus on easing the suffering of others and experience higher levels of empathy.
- Better Relationships- Mindfulness can lead to stronger relationships. This finding was seen in a 2016 study that measured cortisol levels in 88 couples. Higher cortisol levels are a sign of increased stress. The researchers measured the couple’s cortisol levels before and after an argument. The mindful men and women still saw a spike in their cortisol levels. Still, a normal equilibrium was obtained faster after the argument occurred than the couples who didn’t practice meditation. The stress of the argument didn’t linger after it was done. This finding can be applied to all types of relationships- parent and child, friendships, and other relationships can benefit from meditation.
- Reduced Biases- Our psychological biases can be harmful to others and our own peace of mind. Luckily, meditation can be used as a way to combat these negative associations about people. Adam Lueke and his colleagues made one instance of a study that looked at reducing biases to see if mindfulness could reduce racism. The findings were bright. Lueke discovered a reduction of discriminatory behavior in white participants toward black participants during a trust exercise. Not only did the attitudes and biases of the participants change, their actions changed along with them.
- Less Negative Thinking- A theory of why bias is reduced through meditation links prejudice to reduced negative thinking. Our prejudices stem from hate and negativity. However, when the DMN is quieted in meditation, the negative voice in our head is lowered. Positive thinking overrides negative thinking long after the meditation finishes.
Start Slow
Meditation can be hard to get into for beginners. Our minds are so used to being on red-alert constantly. To slow down and ground yourself in the present moment can be a challenge at first. Start slow and small with short guided meditations and work your way up. The benefits of meditation on the brain are undeniable, and you can start reaping the rewards today with daily meditative practice.