Religious practices associated with prolonged solitude, meditation, and prayer alter the rate at which neurotransmitters in the brain are transported and are capable of generating strong positive emotions. These are the conclusions reached by the authors of a study published in the journal Religion, Brain & Behavior.
The study involved 14 Christian believers from 24 to 76 years old. All of them followed the recommendations set forth in The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius de Loyola, the founder of the Jesuit order and a revered saint in Catholicism. In Loyola's version, a person must go through four stages, during which he first repents of sins, then reflects on the earthly life of Christ, after which he recalls the torment of the cross and crucifixion, and finally plunges into contemplation.
After the morning service, the subjects spent most of the day in silent contemplation, prayer, and meditation. Every day they talked with their spiritual father. At the end of the experiment, they filled out questionnaires, after processing which, the scientists concluded that the subjective assessment of their physical health, the level of fatigue and stress in the subjects changed for the better.
MRI after the end of the experiment showed 5-8% less active binding of membrane transport proteins of dopamine and 6.5% less active binding of membrane transport proteins of serotonin with the corresponding receptors. This change led to the fact that there was more free serotonin and dopamine in the brain, and such changes are associated with a consistently elevated mood; dopamine is responsible for cognitive function, emotion and movement, and serotonin is responsible for the regulation of emotions and mood.
“Our research has generated more questions than answers. Our group is now wondering which practices have changed the transport of neurotransmitters, and whether we could get different results if we resorted to different exercises. We hope that further research will answer these questions, - quotes the words of the lead author of the study, Professor Andrew Newberg, portal EurekAlert!
Anastasia Shartogasheva
