What can we do today? Science has discovered a powerful connection between meditation and brain health. Through mindfulness and other meditation practices, research shows that meditators can effectively reverse the tendency to decline and, in fact, increase their brain cells, gray matter. In studies, this brain structure appears to be larger in those who have meditated for some time compared to those who have never meditated before. They discovered that a meditation practice essentially thickens the hippocampus.
Educators and researchers have shown a growing interest in bringing meditation and yoga to school-age children, who are dealing with common stressors within school and often with additional stress and trauma outside of school. A review study conducted last year at Johns Hopkins looked at the relationship between mindfulness meditation and its ability to reduce symptoms of depression, anxiety and pain. This study also suggests that meditation may help alleviate anxiety symptoms, although only in combination with other treatments. Studies have confirmed the cognitive and emotional benefits of meditation for schoolchildren, but it's likely that more work will need to be done before it becomes more widely accepted.
It's also important to provide the brain with adequate nutrition and a sufficient blood supply through regular exercise. In fact, a follow-up study by Lazar's team found that, after meditation training, changes in areas of the brain related to mood and arousal were also related to improvements in the way participants said they felt. Some researchers have warned that meditation can cause adverse effects under certain circumstances (known as the “dark night phenomenon”), but for most people, especially if you have a good teacher, meditation is beneficial, rather than harmful. When you can fully focus on the present and train yourself to do so consistently, the structure of your brain actually changes.
They found that the group of SKY practitioners had a significantly higher mental concentration, indicated by an EEG, a brain wave pattern called beta, than the control group made up of doctors and researchers, and they also had an increase in alpha waves that are in the slow and relaxing meditative state. And even when the mind begins to wander, due to the new connections that form, meditators are better at getting out of it.
