Hey Steemians

I have read a lot of headlines and stories about scientific studies with regard to the positive effects of meditation.

Chill (shot in Georgetown, Malaysia)

“According to studies by researcher of the university so and so meditation has these awesome effects”

If you know a little bit about how scientific studies are usually conducted and how many manipulative studies or just simply wrong assertions are out there, you become very cautious when reading statements like this. Just think of the many studies which are financed by certain lobbies. The result will be what they want the result to be.

Since meditation is a topic which I am happen to be interested in I went and looked for some answers on my own. First I looked at some papers. But the amount of papers being published on this topic are just rapidly increasing. And if you are not willing to take the time to actually study this subject intensively you do not really stand a chance. But luckily there some people who recently did exactly this (compare e.g. Sedlmeier) and looked at so called meta-studies – studies that compare and evaluate many studies in one comprehensive study. They even did meta-meta studies.

So what's the answer?

In the last article I described how there is not “the one meditation”. But rather different approaches that all go under the very broad term meditation. In fact most meditations combine different approaches. In general it can be stated though that meditation indeed has positive effects. Some people do not need studies for this. But still I think it is very interesting to look at it from a scientific angle as well. More specific results among others are:

• meditation is more than just relaxing
• the effects of meditation are rather broad; effects on many aspects of the human experience (feelings, assumptions etc.)
• it appears that meditation combined with moving (e.g. yoga) is more effective, except for cultivating mindfulness
• meditation influences emotions more than cognitive aspects
• the brain changes; the interpretation is scientifically unclear
• stress can be reduced
• meditation serves rather as a preventive measure than as therapy
• different meditations have different effects

I think it's important to not always just take ideas that are presented as given. There are many famous advocates of meditation and its effects. But especially if something has the potential power to influence our brain, the way we behave and our personality in general it should not be taken lightly. Especially if you are having some mental issues and want to try some active forms of meditation it would be wise to contact an expert first.

I hope you could gain some new insights into this topic.

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