Meditation is a spiritual practice from Asia that tends more and more to westernize. Regardless of its religious dimension, it seduces many people by its supposed health benefits as a whole. What should we think ? Does meditation have the power to heal?
What are the effects of meditation on the body?
Before knowing if meditation can cure diseases, it is necessary to wonder about the influence that it can have on the body.
According to several studies1-4, the brain has a certain plasticity, that is to say that one could train it as a muscle. By focusing on one's ability to concentrate, on the observation of one's own interior, that is, our thoughts and emotions, meditation is part of these mental trainings. Practicing it would increase the concentration of gray matter in many areas of the brain, such as the left hippocampus or the cerebellum. In addition, people with long experience in meditation have a thicker cerebral cortex than comparable people who do not practice meditation. This difference is even more marked in the elderly, whose cortex is gradually refined with age.
It is now scientifically proven that a purely spiritual activity can have a certain power over the body, especially the brain. But what do these brain changes imply about the functioning of the body and the treatment of diseases in general?
What is the role of meditation in the treatment of certain diseases?
What is the role of meditation in the treatment of certain diseases?
Meditation as a supplement to conventional treatments
Today, many public and private health facilities - the majority of which are in the United States - incorporate meditation into their therapeutic program1. The proposed meditation technique is generally Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), which is stress reduction based on mindfulness meditation. This technique was introduced by the American psychologist Jon Kabat-Zinn2. This meditation technique encourages to welcome and observe the daily stressful moments without judging them. The usual reaction is to want to flee negative emotions by being absorbed in an activity or thinking about something else, but that would tend to aggravate them. Practicing MBSR on a daily basis would stimulate the parts of the brain that play a role in the process of memorization, the regulation of emotions, or the ability to step back, so that patients can enjoy life, regardless of circumstances3 .
Meditation as a treatment in its own right
In general, meditation would stimulate the activity of the left prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain that is responsible for positive feelings such as empathy, self-esteem, or happiness, while decreasing negative feelings such as stress. anger or anxiety. In addition, it reduces pain sensations through its action on the anterior cingulate cortex, insula and thalamus. For example, experienced Zen meditators have developed increased resistance to pain2. This supposes that nothing prevents a sick person from practicing meditation independently and autonomously, but this requires a great regularity, a great motivation and especially time.
In fact, it must be remembered that meditation makes it possible especially to accompany the patient towards the acceptance of his illness to support it in the most comfortable way possible. Reducing sensitivity to pain or stress, for example, does not eliminate the cause of the pain or the disease. It does not cure the disease directly, but it can give another look at it, a state of mind that can promote healing. It can hardly be a substitute for conventional treatment, especially since these do not always allow access to "healing", in the sense of returning to the state that preceded the disease. Both approaches are complementary.
The meditation indicated for physical diseases
Studies have shown the effectiveness of meditation (mindfulness, especially1) in skin problems, chronic pain, respiratory problems, or heart problems.
A study conducted at the University of Calgary2 found that cancer patients would have experienced significant improvements in mood and other stress-related symptoms, as well as reduced feelings of fatigue. Other studies examining the positive effects of meditation on cancer patients are also available3,4. Another study conducted in Pittsburgh5 on patients with chronic low back pain shows that they would have developed a greater tolerance for pain and better physical fitness, knowing that staying still has a tendency to aggravate low back pain. Meditation has also been reported to improve the efficacy of ultraviolet treatments in patients with psoriasis. This is probably due to the fact that psoriasis is usually the physical manifestation of excessive stress.
It would therefore not only have "curative" but also preventive: another research6 showed that a regular practice of meditation, at a weekly session for 8 weeks, would increase the production of antibodies in the body. This can be explained by the link between positive emotions and immune responses. In addition, meditation improves the interoception (= consciousness that a person has of his own body, his physical sensations) of the person who practices it. Thus, she is more receptive to the various signals - including negative - that sends her body, and can recover more quickly than others in case of disease through the strengthening of its immune system.
The meditation indicated for psychological diseases
Meditation, in view of all the benefits it has on the management of stress, negative emotions, is obviously indicated in psychological disorders such as stress or generalized anxiety. A study of people with generalized anxiety7 showed that 8 weeks of MBSR significantly reduced anxiety compared to a control group.
Observing one's emotions and taking a step back from meditation is therefore a great help against psychological disorders. It would also prevent depressive relapses.
Does meditation have contraindications?
Meditation has almost no contraindications. However, it is not recommended for people suffering from major depression, because they may have more difficulty than others, during a meditation exercise, to let their negative emotions scroll without judgment, because the problem of depression is precisely to dwell on the same black ideas.
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