Regardless of their religious beliefs, many people try to meditate during particularly stressful moments in their lives. Now, a new study claims that meditation activates areas of the brain that remain inactive with simple relaxation.
During meditation, people process more thoughts and feelings than when they simply rest. Allowing your mind to wander is more effective than focusing on emptying your head from unnecessary thoughts.
Researchers at St. Olavs Hospital in Trondheim, Norway, believe their findings, published in the journal Neuroscience, suggest meditation is more than just a way to relieve stress.
There are countless methods such as Zen, Buddhist and Transcendental Meditation. They can all be divided into two main groups, known as concentration meditation, where the person focuses on the breath and specific thoughts, and undirected, which allows the mind to wander at will.
All participants in the study practiced the second type of meditation, which in Norway is called ASEM. Using an MRI scanner during the experiment showed that the part of their brain responsible for processing associated thoughts and feelings was more active than at rest. When the subjects performed concentration meditation, the activity in this part of the brain was almost the same as during simple rest.
I was surprised! Brain activity was greatest when participants let go of their thoughts, allowing them to wander on their own, rather than when the brain worked to achieve maximum concentration,”Dr. Jian Xu said in an interview with British tabloid Mail Online.
Professor Sven Davenger of the University of Oslo said: “Research has shown that indirect meditation expands the space for processing memories and emotions much more than concentration meditation.
According to the scientist, this area of the brain is most active when a person is resting and is a kind of basic operating system that takes over control when external tasks do not require our attention. Professor Davenger is the only member of the research team who meditates regularly and, in his opinion, good research depends on having a team that can combine personal meditation experience with a critical attitude towards the results.
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»Millions of people practice meditation. It is important that we find out how it really works, he added.