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Benefits of Meditation

Daniel Ireland

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“Meditation can transform your life and be profoundly

healing”

Jon Kabat-Zinn

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Meditation helps Depression Sufferers.

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“350 million people suffer from depression globally and the leading cause of disability

worldwide”

World Health Organisation

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“80% of suicides are depressed people”

At the rate of increase, it will be the 2nd most disabling condition in the world by

2020, behind heart disease. 30

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Depression affects:

Sleep & Eating Patterns

Stress Levels

Your relationship

Work performance

Your Energy

Self Compassion

Grey Matter reduction

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So how can meditation and mindfulness possibly be seen as a cure for such a debilitating disease?

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0.3 31

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“Most of the studies included in the review used very short training periods

– often eight weeks or less”

Madhav Goyal MD, MPH– Lead researcher

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2 key benefits shown from the study:

1) Deactivation of the default mode network

2) Different connectivity patterns – during rest and activity

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Shifting from mind wandering or day dreaming to being present

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“Meditation has been a central part of philosophical and contemplative

practices for thousands of years: it helps the practitioner to be mindful of the

present moment.”Brewer, MD

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“A Wandering Mind is an Unhappy Mind”

Harvard University Study

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Depression affects V

Sleep & Eating Patterns

Stress Levels

Your relationship Work performance

Your Energy

Self Compassion

Grey Matter reduction

Improved Sleep (Melatonin) 16,17 & Food Cravings 18

Reduction in Stress/Anxiety & Cortisol 3,4

Increases cognitive skills and creativity 8,9,10

Improves Resilience (pain/adversity) 11

Raises your information processing ability 13, 14,15

Improves immune systems 5,6,7

Raises awareness and relaxation levels 12

Increased grey matter density 19

Meditation Aids

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What does that mean?

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTCRdM71j2E

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Thank you all so much for your time

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1. Seligman, M. E. P. (1990) Learned Optimism.

2. JAMA Intern Med. 2014;174(3):357-368. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2013.13018

3. Springer Link. 2004. The Effects of Mindfulness Meditation on Cognitive Processes and Affect in Patients with Past Depression. [ONLINE] Available at:http://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/B:COTR.0000045557.15923.96. [Accessed 27 October 15].

4. The Mindfulness Initiative. 2015. Mindful Nation UK . [ONLINE] Available at: http://themindfulnessinitiative.org.uk/images/reports/Mindfulness-APPG-Report_Mindful-Nation-UK_Oct2015.pdf. [Accessed 21 October 15].

5. UCLA News Room. 2008. Practice of mindfulness meditation slows the progression of HIV, study shows. [ONLINE] Available at:

http://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/mindfulness-meditation-slows-progression-53819. [Accessed 21 October 15].

6. Psychomatic Medicine. 2003. Alterations in Brain and Immune Function Produced by Mindfulness Meditation. [ONLINE] Available at:http://journals.lww.com/psychosomaticmedicine/Abstract/2003/07000/Alterations_in_Brain_and_Immune_Function_Produced.14.aspx. [Accessed 27 October 15].

7. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2008. Effect of compassion meditation on neuroendocrine, innate immune and behavioral responses to psychosocial stress. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.psyneuen-journal.com/article/S0306-4530(08)00219-9/abstract. [Accessed 27 October 15].

8. Vestergaard-Poulsen, P., van Beek, M., Skewes, J., Bjarkam, C. R., Stubberup, M., Bertelsen, J., & Roepstorff, A. (2009). Long-term meditation is associated with increased gray

matter density in the brain stem. Neuroreport, 20(2), 170-174.  

9. Luders, E., Toga, A. W., Lepore, N., & Gaser, C. (2009). The underlying anatomical correlates of long-term meditation: larger hippocampal and frontal volumes of gray matter. Neuroimage, 45(3), 672-678.

10. Hölzel, B. K., Carmody, J., Vangel, M., Congleton, C., Yerramsetti, S. M., Gard, T., & Lazar, S. W. (2011). Mindfulness practice leads to increases in regional brain gray matter density. Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, 191(1), 36-43.

11. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. 2011. Effect of Meditation on Stress-Induced Changes in Cognitive Functions. [ONLINE] Available at:http

://online.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/acm.2010.0142. [Accessed 27 October 15].

12. Frontiers Journal. 2012. Effects of meditation experience on functional connectivity of distributed brain networks. [ONLINE] Available at: http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnhum.2012.00038/full. [Accessed 27 October 15].

13. Tang, Y. Y., Lu, Q., Fan, M., Yang, Y., & Posner, M. I. (2012). Mechanisms of white matter changes induced by meditation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 109(26), 10570-10574.

References

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14. Lazar, S. W., Kerr, C. E., Wasserman, R. H., Gray, J. R., Greve, D. N., Treadway, M. T., … & Fischl, B. (2005). Meditation experience is associated with increased cortical thickness. Neuroreport, 16(17), 1893-1897. [pdf]

15. Link Springer. 2007. Mindfulness training modifies subsystems of attention. [ONLINE] Available at:http://link.springer.com/article/10.3758/CABN.7.2.109#page-1. [Accessed 27 October 15].

16. JAMA Network. 2015. Mindfulness Meditation and Improvement in Sleep Quality and Daytime Impairment Among Older Adults With Sleep Disturbances. [ONLINE] Available at: http://archinte.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=2110998. [Accessed 21 October 15].

17. Eco Institue. 2015. Discover the limitless Benefits of Meditation. [ONLINE] Available at: http://eocinstitute.org/meditation/dhea_gaba_cortisol_hgh_melatonin_serotonin_endorphins/. [Accessed 21 October 15].

18. Mindfulness Training for smoking cessation: results from a randomized controlled trial. Drug and Alcohol Dependence. 119(1-2):72-80

19. Vestergaard-Poulsen, P., van Beek, M., Skewes, J., Bjarkam, C. R., Stubberup, M., Bertelsen, J., & Roepstorff, A. (2009). Long-term meditation is associated with increased gray matter density in the brain stem. Neuroreport, 20(2), 170-174.