(25-11-10) Meditation linked to happiness and positive behavior

by Carolanne Wright, citizen journalist


(NaturalNews) A study at the University of Wisconsin confirms meditation can
alter the structure of the brain, fostering a brighter outlook and increased
empathy. Since positive thinking and emotions affect health, meditation can
contribute to overall wellness.

Richard Davidson, a trained psychologist who has practiced meditation for
decades, believes meditation can strengthen brain circuits connected with
happiness and positive attitude in a similar way we strengthen muscles with
exercise. Davidson and his colleagues have produced scientific evidence that
this form of mental exercise permanently changes the brain for the better.

Using MRI technology, contemplative neuroscientists were able to view the area
of the brain, the left-sided anterior region, believed to be associated with
positive thoughts. The researchers documented increased activity in this region
of novice meditators who participated in an eight week mindfulness meditation
course.

Davidson's team discovered that the practice of compassion meditation also
stimulates the limbic system (the brain's emotional network) while increasing
positive emotions. Expert meditators with more than 10,000 hours of practice
showed the greatest activity in the limbic systems and appeared to have
permanently altered their brains to generate positive thoughts. Even outside of
meditation, committed meditators permanently changed the way their brains
operated.

Positive emotions and optimism are good for your health as well. Evidence
shows that optimists take proactive steps to ensure wellness whereas a
pessimist tends to engage in health-damaging behaviors. Research further
validates that individuals with a positive outlook have less hypertension,
diabetes, and respiratory tract infections. Positive emotions also increase
immunity and resistance to colds and flu, while reducing cortisol, incidence of
stroke, and inflammation. As an added bonus, optimism increases longevity.

According to Health and Wellness by Gordon Edlin and Eric Golanty:

Advances in identifying the biological mechanisms of mind-body communication
confirm that the mind can affect health in powerful ways. Joy, creativity, and
contentment lead to a state of harmony, which we experience as bodily health
and subjective well-being.

Nerve cells in the brain's thought and feeling centers connect to other nerve
cells in the brain and body, to hormone-producing tissues and organs and to
immune cells. In this way, mental activity is able to influence many of the
body's physiological processes.

Meditation isn't just for monks anymore. Use this powerful tool to strengthen
a favorable mind-body connection that supports health and watch the mind become
illuminated with positive outlook.

Sources for this Article:

"Positive Affect and the Complex Dynamics of Human Flourishing", Barbara L.
Fredrickson, University of Michigan, Marcial F. Losada Universidade Catolica de
Brasilia, October 2005, American Psychologist, 677-686

"The Broaden-and-Build Theory of Positive Emotions", Barbara L. Fredrickson,
Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci, Volume 359, September 2004, 1367-1378

"Optimism", Clinical Psychology Review, Volume 30, Issue 7, November 2010, 879-
889, Positive Clinical Psychology

Health and Wellness, Gordon Edlin and Eric Golanty, Jones and Bartlett
Publishers, 2007

"The Health Benefits of Writing About Intensely Positive Experiences". Chad M.
Burton and Laura A. King, Journal of Research in Personality, Volume 38, Issue
2, April 2004, 150-163

News

---

In evidenza

"L'informazione presente nel sito serve a migliorare, e non a sostituire, il rapporto medico-paziente."

Per coloro che hanno problemi di salute si consiglia di consultare sempre il proprio medico curante.