August 25, 2003 – Meditation would increase the efficiency of the immune system for months, say American researchers.
They asked half of the 48 volunteers they recruited for their study to take meditation classes once or twice a week.1. They also provided them with meditation exercises to do at home one hour a day, six days a week.
The researchers then found that the immune response generated by a flu shot was significantly greater in people doing meditation than in others. In addition, these benefits on the immune system, rather than being fleeting, in some cases lasted for four months.
Scientists cannot clearly explain the link between meditation and a more vigorous immune system, but an electroencephalogram allowed them to determine that the volunteers who did the meditation had increased activity in the area of the brain associated with positive emotions.
This link between state of mind and body health is supported by other research. For example, researchers at Georgetown University in Washington have discovered2 that a fit of anger could clog the arteries of 30% to 60% of patients already suffering from cardiovascular problems. Here again the exact link remains obscure, but scientists note that anger elicits an immune response that could cause the plaques that already partially block the arteries to detach themselves.
Finally, relaxation techniques taught to children suffering from chronic abdominal pain – often without apparent medical explanation – led, in two months, to a 67% decrease in the number of days when pain was felt.3.
Jean-Benoit Legault – PasseportSanté.net
According to WebMD; August 5, 18 and 22, 2003.
1. Richard J. Davidson, PhD, Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD, Jessica Schumacher, MS, Melissa Rosenkranz, BA, Daniel Muller, MD, PhD, Saki F. Santorelli, EdD, Ferris Urbanowski, MA, Anne Harrington, PhD, Katherine Bonus, MA and John F. Sheridan, PhD. Alterations in Brain and Immune Function Produced by Mindfulness Meditation. Psychosomatic Medicine 65: 564-570 (2003). www.psychosomaticmedicine.org
2. Kop WJ. The integration of cardiovascular behavioral medicine and psychoneuroimmunology: new developments based on converging research fields.Brain Behav Immun 2003 Aug; 17 (4): 233-7.
3. Ball TM, Shapiro DE, Monheim CJ, Weydert JA. A pilot study of the use of guided imagery for the treatment of recurrent abdominal pain in children.Clin Pediatr (Phila). 2003 Jul-Aug; 42 (6): 527-32.