Kathryn Devaney, a neuroscientist who studies meditation at the University of California, Berkeley, says, “Twenty years ago, if I told people I meditated, people thought I was in a cult or something.” “Sho,” he points out. “About six years later, something changed. Now, when I talk to people about meditation, the most common response I get is, ‘Oh, I know you should do that.’ .”
What modern meditation enthusiasts are learning is that breathing for just a few minutes a day has real health benefits, and research is beginning to back it up.
meditation relieves stress and anxiety
Harvard psychologist Sarah Lazar and her colleagues conducted a study to find out how meditation reduces anxiety, which has symptoms similar to stress.
In one study, researchers compared stress reduction programs. One was mindfulness-based, during which 42 volunteers learned mindful meditation and yoga practices over eight weeks, and the other was exercise-based, during which 25 volunteers performed light aerobic exercise.
The researchers administered a fear conditioning task to both groups, in which anxiety-provoking stimuli were presented to the patients repeatedly until they no longer caused anxiety. The volunteer was shown images of lamps glowing blue, red, and yellow, during which he received a mild electric shock in the two colors. The same image was then presented to them without shock.
