Patients with COPD who practice yoga can improve their lung function, according to a study by researchers at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Department of Pulmonary Medicine and Sleep Disorders

The study found that lung function, shortness of breath, and inflammation all showed significant improvement after patients completed 12 weeks of training. An estimated 24 million Americans may have COPD, which includes chronic bronchitis, emphysema, or both. Patients with COPD have trouble pushing used air out of their lungs, making it difficult to take in healthy new air. Although there is no cure for COPD, a patient’s quality of life can be improved by controlling symptoms, such as shortness of breath. COPD, most commonly caused by cigarette smoking, affects both men and women, and often, symptoms are seen in people in their 40s. “COPD is a systemic inflammatory disease that causes difficulty breathing,” said study presenter Randeep Guleria, MD, professor and head, department of pulmonary medicine and sleep disorders. “We investigated to see whether simple, structured yoga training affects the level of inflammation, shortness of breath, and quality of life in patients with stable COPD.” The study included 29 stable patients with COPD who received yoga training in a format that included the use of physical postures (asanas), breathing techniques (pranayama), cleansing techniques, (kriyas), meditation, and a relaxation technique (shavasan) for 1 hour, twice a week, for 4 weeks. Following the 4-week period, patients were trained for 1 hour every 2 weeks, with the remaining sessions completed at home. Patients were evaluated on assessment of lung function, breathing, quality of life, and inflammation status. A repeat assessment was done at the end of the 12-week training session. All parameters showed significant improvement at the end of the 12-week period. “We found that yoga can be a simple, cost-effective method that can help improve quality of life in patients with COPD,” stated Dr. Guleria.

The latest medical advances show that accepting and exploring sensations of pain and illness can bring more powerful relief than the most commonly prescribed painkillers

Being in pain is not only physical but also a mental battle against the painful sensations, wishing them away and trying to endure them. But doctors now think that struggling like this actually makes your suffering worse. Many doctors now advocate a new treatment based on the ancient practice of meditation, which clinical trials show can reduce chronic pain by 57%. Accomplished meditators can reduce their pain by more than 90%. Brain imaging studies show that meditation not only soothes the brain patterns underlying pain but alters the structure of the brain itself, so patients no longer feel such intense pain. Such is its effectiveness that pain clinics now prescribe meditation to help patients with diseases such as cancer (and chemotherapy side effects), heart disease, diabetes and arthritis, as well as other conditions such as migraine, celiac disease and multiple sclerosis.

Scientists are getting close to proving what yogis have held to be true for centuries - yoga and meditation can ward off stress and disease

John Denninger, a psychiatrist at Harvard Medical School, is leading a five-year study on how the ancient practices affect genes and brain activity in the chronically stressed. His latest work follows a study he and others published earlier in 2013 showing how mind-body techniques can switch on and off some genes linked to stress and immune function. While hundreds of studies have been conducted on the mental health benefits of yoga and meditation, they have tended to rely on blunt tools like participant questionnaires, as well as heart rate and blood pressure monitoring. Only recently have neuro-imaging and genomics technology used in Denninger’s latest studies allowed scientists to measure physiological changes in greater detail. “There is a true biological effect,” said Denninger, director of research at the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, one of Harvard Medical School’s teaching hospitals. “The kinds of things that happen when you meditate do have effects throughout the body, not just in the brain.” The government-funded study may persuade more doctors to try an alternative route for tackling the source of a myriad of modern ailments. Stress-induced conditions can include everything from hypertension and infertility to depression and even the aging process. They account for 60% to 90% of doctor’s visits in the United States, according to the Benson-Henry Institute. The World Health Organization estimates that stress costs U.S. companies at least $300 billion a year through absenteeism, turn-over and low productivity.

Alzheimer's disease and meditation

A new pilot study led by researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center suggests that the brain changes associated with meditation and stress reduction may play an important role in slowing the progression of age-related cognitive disorders like Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia. "We know that approximately 50% of people diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment – the intermediate stage between the expected declines of normal aging and the more serious cognitive deterioration associated with dementia – may develop dementia within five years. And unfortunately, we know there are currently no FDA approved medications that can stop that progression," says Rebecca Erwin Wells, MD, MPH, who conducted her research as a fellow in Integrative Medicine at BIDMC and Harvard Medical School. "We also know that as people age, there's a high correlation between perceived stress and Alzheimer's disease, so we wanted to know if stress reduction through meditation might improve cognitive reserve." Wells, currently a neurologist at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, N.C. evaluated adults between the ages of 55 and 90 in BIDMC's Cognitive Neurology Unit. Fourteen adults diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment were included in the study. Participants were randomized two to one either to a group who participated in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) using meditation and yoga, or a control group who received normal care. The study group met for two hours each week for eight weeks. They also participated in a day-long mindfulness retreat, and were encouraged to continue their practice at home for 15 to 30 minutes per day. All participants underwent a functional MRI (fMRI) at baseline and then again after eight weeks to determine if there were any changes in the structures of the brain or in brain activity. The neuro-imaging was conducted at Massachusetts General Hospital's Martinos Center. "We were particularly interested in looking at the default mode network (DMN) – the brain system that is engaged when people remember past events or envision the future, for example – and the hippocampus – the part of the brain responsible for emotions, learning and memory – because the hippocampus is known to atrophy as people progress toward mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease," says Wells. Previous studies have shown that the hippocampus is activated during meditation and that mediators have more hippocampal gray matter concentration. "So the big question is, is it possible for MBSR to help attenuate the decline of individuals already experiencing some memory problems?" asks Wells. The results of fMRI imaging showed that the group engaged in MBSR had significantly improved functional connectivity in the areas of the default mode network. Additionally, as expected, both groups experienced atrophy of the hippocampus, but those who practiced MBSR experienced less atrophy.

Meditation may help prevent brain aging and improve brain function

A 2005 breakthrough study found that meditation increased the thickness of the brain's prefrontal cortex. Normally, as the brain ages the cortex thins and the brain shrinks. The prefrontal cortex is associated with attention, higher thought and planning. Researchers at Harvard Medical School in Boston took MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) brain scans of 20 experienced meditators and 15 non-meditators. During scanning the meditators did meditation while the non-meditators thought about whatever they wanted. The meditators practiced meditation for about six hours weekly for an average of nine years. The researchers found that meditators had thicker right anterior insula and prefrontal cortex brain regions than non-meditators of the same age. Furthermore, older meditators had more pronounced thickness in the brain's outer layer or cortex. This suggests that meditation practice may decrease age-related thinning of the brain. "Our initial results suggest that meditation may be associated with structural changes in areas of the brain that are important for sensory, cognitive and emotional processing," the study authors conclude. "The data further suggest that meditation may impact age-related declines in cortical structure." In 2011, UCLA researchers reported that meditators have stronger connections throughout the entire brain and less brain shrinkage. In 2012, the same UCLA team found that meditators have larger amounts of cerebral cortex folding called gyrification. Increased folding is associated with faster brain processing and memory formation. Researchers at UCLA analyzed MRI brain scans of 50 experienced meditators and 50 non-meditators. The meditators practiced various meditation types for an average of 20 years. The researchers found that meditators had increased gyrification across the cortex including the left and right anterior dorsal insula, compared to the non-meditators. There was a direct correlation between the amount of gyrification and the number of meditation years. "Moreover, given that meditators are masters in introspection, awareness, and emotional control, increased insular gyrification may reflect an integration of autonomic, affective, and cognitive processes," the study authors write.

Paralysis and meditation

Yoga and meditation may help paralyzed people learn how to link their brain with a computer, according to a new study. Systems that connect brains with computers are increasingly used to help patients with physical disabilities like paralysis. But the length of training has been a major obstacle to success, study lead author Bin He, director of the Center for Neuroengineering at the University of Minnesota, said. "This research tells us that we can significantly cut this time with practices like yoga and meditation to make these tools more successful for more patients who need these devices," He said. Researchers studied 12 people who practiced techniques such as yoga and meditation and a control group of 19 people who did not. All of the participants were trained to use an electroencephalography-based brain computer program, which used sensors on the scalp to pick up electrical impulses from the brain. The volunteers imagined moving their hands and the computer program translated that brain activity into the movement of a cursor on the computer screen. The participants who practiced yoga and meditation learned the brain-computer interface faster than the control group. Also, 75% of them became competent with the program, compared to 42% of people in the control group. The researchers said their findings suggest that training in yoga and meditation techniques could help people master the computer-assisted technology in order to help them regain functions lost to injury or disease.

Blood pressure and meditation

A small study of patients with borderline high blood pressure found that meditation helped improve the condition, according to research from Kent State University. The study, of 56 patients with pre-hypertension - elevated blood pressure between 120/80 mmHg and 139/89 mmHg - involved the use of a combination of meditation, body awareness and gentle yoga which has been shown to be effective in treating some forms of chronic pain and in reducing anxiety. Patients in the study practiced the meditation, body awareness and yoga combination for eight weeks, led by an instructor for 2 ½ hours a week and up to an hour a day on their own. They were compared to pre-hypertensive patients who received another therapy, called progressive muscle relaxation, which involves tensing and then relaxing muscle groups in a prescribed order. Although this is not a treatment for high blood pressure, it is considered a credible placebo to compare with the targeted treatment, the researchers said. Those who used the meditation, body awareness and yoga combination lowered their blood pressure measurements - an average drop of 4.8 points for the systolic blood pressure or “top” number, and an average drop of 1.9 points for the diastolic, or “bottom” number - which is comparable to modified diet and exercise programs, the study authors noted.

Education and meditation

Practicing a little meditation before class can lead to better grades, according to a new experimental study by George Mason University professor Robert Youmans and University of Illinois doctoral student Jared Ramsburg. The pair of researchers conducted three classroom experiments at a California university to see if meditation might help students focus better and retain information. A random selection of students followed basic meditation instructions before a lecture, and the students who meditated before the lecture scored better on a quiz that followed than students who did not meditate. In one experiment, the meditation even predicted which students passed and which students failed the quiz. Interestingly, the researchers also showed that the effect of the meditation was stronger in classes where more freshmen students were enrolled, showing that meditation might have a bigger effect on freshmen students. The researchers speculate that freshmen courses likely contain the types of students who stand to benefit the most from meditation training. "One difficulty for researchers who study meditation is that the supposed benefits of meditation do not always replicate across different studies or populations, and so we have been trying to figure out why. This data from this study suggest that meditation may help students who might have trouble paying attention or focusing. Sadly, freshmen classes probably contain more of these types of students than senior courses because student populations who have difficulty self-regulating are also more likely to leave the university," says Youmans, an assistant professor of psychology.

Anxiety and meditation

A new meta-analysis has found meditation has a large effect on reducing trait anxiety for people with high anxiety. Trait anxiety is a measure of how anxious a person usually is, as opposed to state anxiety, which refers to how anxious we are at the moment. A meta-analysis is an objective means to draw conclusions from all the research in a field. This meta-analysis covered 16 randomized controlled trials, the gold standard in medical research, and included 1,295 subjects from various walks of life, age groups, and life situations. Meditation was compared with various control groups, including treatment-as-usual, individual and group psychotherapy, and various relaxation techniques. Studies on high stress groups, such as veterans suffering from PTSD and prison inmates, showed dramatic reductions in anxiety from meditation, whereas studies of groups with only moderately elevated anxiety levels, such as normal adults and college students, showed more modest changes. Individuals with anxiety levels in the 90th percentile (higher than 90% of the rest of the adult population) showed dramatic reductions in anxiety down to the 57th percentile from meditation. This is just a little higher than the average anxiety level, which is the 50th percentile. Study groups that started in the 60th percentile, a little above average, showed more modest reductions, to the 48th percentile, a little below average. Meditation was also found to produce significant improvements in other areas worsened by anxiety, such as blood pressure, insomnia, emotional numbness, family problems, employment status, and drug and alcohol abuse.

Compassion and meditation

Hi! Welcome to my new blog. My main focus here will be the issue of meditation and the benefits that it offers both mentally and physically. For example, a recent study looked at what impact meditation has on interpersonal harmony and compassion. In this study, a team of researchers from Northeastern University and Harvard University examined the effects meditation would have on compassion and virtuous behavior, and the results were fascinating. The study invited participants to complete eight-week trainings in two types of meditation. After the sessions, they were put to the test. Sitting in a staged waiting room with three chairs were two actors. With one empty chair left, the participant sat down and waited to be called. Another actor using crutches and appearing to be in great physical pain, would then enter the room. As she did, the actors in the chair would ignore her by fiddling with their phones or opening a book. The question that the team wanted to answer was whether the subjects who took part in the meditation classes would be more likely to come to the aid of the person in pain, even in the face of everyone else ignoring her. Among the non-meditating participants, only about 15% of people acted to help. But among the participants who were in the meditation sessions the researchers were able to boost that up to 50%. This result was true for both meditation groups thereby showing the effect to be consistent across different forms of meditation. These results appear to prove what the Buddhists have long believed - that meditation is supposed to lead you to experience more compassion and love for all sentient beings.