The study is the first to link meditation to changes in brain activity associated
with positive feeling and the first to demonstrate that mediation can affect
immune function, say Richard J. Davidson, Ph.D., of the University of Wisconsin
and colleagues.
“Our findings indicate that a short training program in mindful meditation
has demonstrable effects on brain and immune function and underscores the need
for additional research on the biological consequences of this intervention,” Davidson
says.
Some of the biological effects seen in the study continued up to four months
after the end of meditation training; a valuable insight since most previous
research has focused on meditation’s immediate effects.
“Whereas these studies have been informative,” Davidson says, “they
tell us little about changes that are potentially more enduring.”
Forty-eight employees at a biotechnology company participated in the study,
with half receiving weekly meditation training. The meditation employees were
also encouraged to mediate at home for an hour a day, six days a week, with
the help of instructive audiotapes. All participants also received a flu vaccine
during the study.
Davidson and colleagues recorded electrical activity in areas in the left
and front portion of the brain that become more active when individuals experience
certain forms of positive emotion and reductions in anxiety.
At several points during the study, the researchers measured brain activity
as the employees rested or wrote about positive and negative emotional experiences
from their lives. Davidson and colleagues also tracked immune responses among
the employees by measuring the level of antibodies produced by the flu vaccination.
After the intervention, the meditators had more electrical activity in the
relevant areas of the brain and higher levels of antibodies than the employees
who received no meditation training. The increased brain activity was also
significantly related to the antibody increase among meditators.
The researchers note that their study “examined the impact of a relatively
brief intervention delivered in a demanding work environment during regular
business hours,” and suggest that more work needs to be done to find
out what effects more intensive meditation training might have.
