Meditation is a powerful tool for maintaining mental and physical health. A new study shows that it may have another advantage: to help learn from past experiences faster.
Does meditation help you learn better?
Scientists at the University of Surrey in the United Kingdom have focused on conscious concentration meditation. They tried to figure out how focused attention affects learning.
Researchers worked with people who did or did not do meditation. There were 35 participants in total, of which 9 were identified as Buddhist monks. 12 people practiced attention meditation, two qigongs, and the rest did not meditate.
For the purposes of this study, scientists explained the rules of the exercise to participants. They needed to choose images that were likely to bring them a certain reward. In this exercise, participants saw pairs of images with different probability of receiving a reward.
Researchers noticed that meditation practitioners had a higher level of success in selecting award-related images.
Professor Opitz and Knitl explain that this suggests that practitioners often learn from positive results. People who do not meditate are more likely to learn from negative results.
People have been meditating for over 2000 years, but the neural mechanisms of this practice are still relatively unknown. Current results show that at a deeper level, meditation practitioners respond to feedback more impartially. This may help explain some of the psychological benefits of meditation.
The effect of meditation on the brain
In a new study, the team also measured participants' brain activity during tasks. Scientists used an electroencephalogram (EEG), a method that records electrical activity in the human brain.
EEG showed that those who did not meditate had a more intense response to negative results. Meditators reacted more often to positive results than to negative ones.
Professors believe that regular meditation can affect dopamine levels in the brain. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that plays an important role in regulating mood and physical dexterity. This, in turn, can make meditators less susceptible to negative feedback.
People with Parkinson's disease, whose dopamine levels are much lower than normal, usually do not cope with such tasks. They respond poorly to learning through positive outcomes.
The effect of meditation on mood
Until 2018, 10 controlled studies were conducted that examined the long-term effects of meditation on mood. 4 studies were significantly positive, and 6 had mixed results.
Kanter and Ernst noted that in four significantly positive studies, subjects had strong changes in mood. As for the thesis that meditation improves mental performance, they did not see strong evidence in 10 studies.
Several studies have shown a significant reduction in post-traumatic stress disorder among war veterans.
In 2012, the U.S. Department of Defense allocated $ 2.4 million to study the effects of meditation on patients with the disorder. Scientists have concluded that meditation practices can significantly reduce stress response.
Will meditation help the physical body?
The American Heart Association (AHA) recommended in 2013 to use meditation to lower blood pressure.
In 2008, the American Journal of Hypertension published a study in which it revealed the antihypertensive effect of meditation.
On average, regular meditation practice lowered blood pressure by 10 mmHg. Art.
Regular meditation will help relieve stress, improve mood and the ability to learn from your own mistakes. Clinical effectiveness has been proven, therefore meditation practices are recommended for patients with hypertension and learning disabilities..
