Meditation: Process and effects

Sharma, Hari

doi:10.4103/0974-8520.182756

Cited by 65 publications

(51 citation statements)

References 63 publications

(79 reference statements)

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“…Meditation is a practice where an individual uses different techniques, including mindfulness, to cultivate a mentally clear and emotionally stable sense of being. The term “meditation” is now commonly used to refer to several different techniques including contemplation, concentration, use of nature sounds such as the ocean, guided meditation, meditative movement exercises such as yoga and tai chi, qigong, breathing exercises, and mantra . These techniques work to influence the senses, mind, intellect, and emotions .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The term “meditation” is now commonly used to refer to several different techniques including contemplation, concentration, use of nature sounds such as the ocean, guided meditation, meditative movement exercises such as yoga and tai chi, qigong, breathing exercises, and mantra . These techniques work to influence the senses, mind, intellect, and emotions . Systematic reviews have found that mindfulness meditation has an effect on psychological aspects on living with chronic pain and is associated with improving depression and quality of life .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Virtual Reality–Based Biofeedback and Guided Meditation in Rheumatology: A Pilot Study

Venuturupalli

Chu²,

Vicari³

et al. 2019

ACR Open Rheumatology

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Objective. As technology continues to improve, it plays an increasingly vital role in the practice of medicine. This study aimed to assess the feasibility of the implementation of virtual reality (VR) in a rheumatology clinic as a platform to administer guided meditation and biofeedback as a means of reducing chronic pain.Methods. Twenty participants were recruited from a rheumatology clinic. These participants included adults with physician-diagnosed autoimmune disorders who were on a stable regimen of medication and had a score of at least 5 on the pain Visual Analog Scale (VAS) for a minimum of 4 days during the prior 30 days. VAS, part of most composite outcome measurements in rheumatology, is an instrument used to assess pain that consists of a straight line with the endpoints ranging from "no pain at all" and "pain as bad as it could be." Patients were randomized into two groups that differed in the order in which they experienced the two VR modules. One module consisted of a guided meditation (GM) environment, whereas the other module consisted of a respiratory biofeedback (BFD) environment. Data on pain and anxiety levels were gathered before, during, and after the two modules.Results. The three most common diagnoses among participants were rheumatoid arthiritis (RA), lupus, and fibromyalgia. There was a significant reduction in VAS scores after BFD and GM (P values = 0.01 and 0.04, respectively). There was a significant reduction in Facial Anxiety Scale after the GM compared with the BFD (P values = 0.02 and 0.08, respectively).Conclusion. This novel study demonstrated that VR could be a feasible solution for the management of pain and anxiety in rheumatology patients. Further trials with varying treatment exposures and durations are required to solidify the viability of VR as a treatment option in rheumatology clinics.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Virtual Reality–Based Biofeedback and Guided Meditation in Rheumatology: A Pilot Study

Venuturupalli

Chu²,

Vicari³

et al. 2019

ACR Open Rheumatology

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“…One study claimed that 30 min of meditation is enough for a beginner to reduce stress (Sharma, 2015). Peacefulness and the reduction of stress are important for improving brain functions, especially cortical brain functions (Hankey and Shetkar, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Brain Responses to a 6-Hz Binaural Beat: Effects on General Theta Rhythm and Frontal Midline Theta Activity

Jirakittayakorn

Wongsawat

2017

Front. Neurosci.

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A binaural beat is a beat phenomenon that is generated by the dichotic presentation of two almost equivalent pure tones but with slightly different frequencies. The brain responses to binaural beats remain controversial; therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate theta activity responses to a binaural beat by controlling factors affecting localization, including beat frequency, carrier tone frequency, exposure duration, and recording procedure. Exposure to a 6-Hz binaural beat on a 250 Hz carrier tone for 30 min was utilized in this study. Quantitative electroencephalography (QEEG) was utilized as the recording modality. Twenty-eight participants were divided into experimental and control groups. Emotional states were evaluated by Brunel Mood Scale (BRMUS) before and after exposing to the stimulus. The results showed that theta activity was induced in the entire cortex within 10 min of exposure to the stimulus in the experimental group. Compared to the control group, theta activity was also induced at the frontal and parietal-central regions, which included the Fz position, and left hemisphere dominance was presented for other exposure durations. The pattern recorded for 10 min of exposure appeared to be brain functions of a meditative state. Moreover, tension factor of BRUMS was decreased in experimental group compared to control group which resembled the meditation effect. Thus, a 6-Hz binaural beat on a 250 Hz carrier tone was suggested as a stimulus for inducing a meditative state.

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“…Meditation is "a form of mental training that aims to improve an individual's core psychological capacities, such as attentional and emotional self-regulation" 18 , which has gained popularity as a focus of research over the past decade 19 . Meditation has a wide range of types such as loving kindness meditation (taught by spiritual leaders or experts versed in the Buddhist tradition, focused on silent repetition of phrases based on Buddhist teachings, and incorporated into holistic health and group support programs) and mindfulness meditation (increasingly taught by trained clinical psychologists, focused on emotional self-regulation and focusing attention, and incorporated into cognitive therapy and clinical care).…”

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confidence: 99%

Mindfulness Meditation Activates Altruism

Iwamoto

Alexander

Torres

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

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Clinical evidence suggests that mindfulness meditation reduces anxiety, depression, and stress, and improves emotion regulation due to modulation of activity in neural substrates linked to the regulation of emotions and social preferences. However, less was known about whether mindfulness meditation might alter pro-social behavior. Here we examined whether mindfulness meditation activates human altruism, a component of social cooperation. Using a simple donation game, which is a real-world version of the Dictator's Game, we randomly assigned 326 subjects to a mindfulness meditation online session or control and measured their willingness to donate a portion of their payment for participation as a charitable donation. Subjects who underwent the meditation treatment donated at a 2.61 times higher rate than the control (p = 0.005), after controlling for socio-demographics. We also found a larger treatment effect of meditation among those who did not go to college (p < 0.001) and those who were under 25 years of age (p < 0.001), with both subject groups contributing virtually nothing in the control condition. Our results imply high context modularity of human altruism and the development of intervention approaches including mindfulness meditation to increase social cooperation, especially among subjects with low baseline willingness to contribute.Cooperation is an essential behavior in constructing and maintaining human societies and the past two decades of cognitive neuroscience and behavioral economics experiments have improved our understanding of neurophysiological bases of such behavior. Neuroimaging suggests that cooperation is associated with reward-processing brain areas including rostral anterior cingulate cortex (rACC) 1 , which is known to modulate fear processing in amygdala 2 ; as well as the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), nucleus accumbens (NACC), and caudate 3-5 . Recent research gives us an even more granular view of the pathways involved, showing that "pay-it-forward" indirect reciprocity (altruism without expectation of returned favor, which underlies large-scale cooperation, specifically based on empathy and other-regarding social preferences rather than reputation) is associated with activation of the anterior insula (AI), which in turn regulates the caudate 6 .Cooperation can be generally defined as individual behavior whereby "one individual pays a cost for others to receive a benefit" 7 . Cooperation can be further modelled as equilibrium of games where subjects still act in their self-interest but their utility function (a function that defines individual preferences of given scenarios) includes social preferences that have been modelled in various ways, such as inequity aversion, a second utility function over others ' well-being, etc 8-10 . In the present study we focus on the act of making a private decision regarding what proportion of payment to keep for oneself and what proportion to make as a charitable donation, which is a form of indirect reciprocity or generalized altruism....

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Meditation: Process and effects

Cited by 65 publications

References 63 publications

Virtual Reality–Based Biofeedback and Guided Meditation in Rheumatology: A Pilot Study

Virtual Reality–Based Biofeedback and Guided Meditation in Rheumatology: A Pilot Study

Brain Responses to a 6-Hz Binaural Beat: Effects on General Theta Rhythm and Frontal Midline Theta Activity

Mindfulness Meditation Activates Altruism

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