There is growing evidence that meditation has beneficial effects on the body. A new study conducted in Wisconsin (USA), as well as in Spain and France provides the first documented evidence of specific molecular changes in the body after a period of concentration and meditation.The effects of one day of intensive mindfulness meditation practice were studied in a group of experienced meditators and compared with a control group of untrained people who did not practice. After eight hours of mindfulness practice, the meditators showed a number of genetic and molecular differences, including changes in the levels of regulatory genes and a decrease in the levels of pro-inflammatory genes, which, in turn, correlates with rapid physical recovery after a stressful situation.
“To our knowledge, this is the first paper to show rapid changes in gene expression within subjects associated with mindfulness meditation practice,” says Richard J. Davidson, founder of the Center for the Study of Mental Health and William James and Vilas, professor of psychology and psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
“The most interesting thing is that the changes were observed in genes that are currently the targets of anti-inflammatory and pain medications,” says Perla Kaliman, first author of the paper and a researcher at the Institute of Biomedical Research in Barcelona, Spain (IIBB-CSIC -IDIBAPS), where the molecular analyses were performed.
The study was published in the Journal of Psychoneuroendocrinology.
Mindfulness meditation training has shown beneficial effects on inflammatory diseases in previous clinical studies and has been approved by the American Heart Association as a preventative preventive measure. The new findings provide an opportunity to find biological mechanisms for therapeutic applications.
The results show downregulation of genes (RIPK2 and COX2, as well as several HDAC genes) that have been implicated in inflammation. Moreover, some of these genes were associated with faster cortisol recovery in a social stress test conducted among participants involving improvised speech and solving tasks requiring mental calculations performed in front of an audience and a video camera.
To our knowledge, this is the first paper to show rapid changes in gene expression within subjects associated with the mindfulness meditation practice. /Richard J. Davidson/
According to the scientists, there was no difference in the genes studied between the two groups of people at the beginning of the study. The observed effects were noticed only after mindfulness practice meditation. In addition, several other DNA modification genes showed no differences between the groups, suggesting that mindfulness practices specifically affect certain regulatory pathways.
The main result is that the meditators experienced genetic changes after practicing mindfulness, which was not seen in the control group after other quiet activities.
This confirms the result that the meditative practice of mindfulness can lead to epigenetic changes in the genome.
Previous studies in rodents and humans have shown that there is a dynamic epigenetic response to physical stimuli such as stress, diet, or exercise over a period of several hours.
“Our results have laid the foundation for future research and further evaluation of meditation strategies for the treatment of chronic inflammatory conditions.”
The study was conducted at Investigating Healthy Minds at UW-Madison Waisman.
