Nov. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Scientists are getting close toproving what yogis have held to be true for centuries -- yogaand meditation can ward off stress and disease.
John Denninger, a psychiatrist at Harvard Medical School,is leading a five-year study on how the ancient practices affectgenes and brain activity in the chronically stressed. His latestwork follows a study he and others published earlier this yearshowing how so-called mind-body techniques can switch on and offsome genes linked to stress and immune function.
While hundreds of studies have been conducted on the mentalhealth benefits of yoga and meditation, they have tended to relyon blunt tools like participant questionnaires, as well as heartrate and blood pressure monitoring. Only recently have neuro-imaging and genomics technology used in Denningers lateststudies allowed scientists to measure physiological changes ingreater detail.
There is a true biological effect, said Denninger,director of research at the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind BodyMedicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, one of HarvardMedical Schools teaching hospitals. The kinds of things thathappen when you meditate do have effects throughout the body,not just in the brain.
The government-funded study may persuade more doctors totry an alternative route for tackling the source of a myriad ofmodern ailments. Stress-induced conditions can includeeverything from hypertension and infertility to depression andeven the aging process. They account for 60 to 90 percent ofdoctors visits in the U.S., according to the Benson-HenryInstitute. The World Health Organization estimates stress costsU.S. companies at least $300 billion a year through absenteeism,turn-over and low productivity.
Seinfeld, Murdoch
The science is advancing alongside a buddingmindfulness movement, which includes meditation devoteessuch as Bill George, board member of Goldman Sachs Group andExxon Mobil Corp., and comedian Jerry Seinfeld. News Corp.Chairman Rupert Murdoch recently revealed on Twitter that he isgiving meditation a try.
As a psychiatrist specializing in depression, Denningersaid he was attracted to mind-body medicine, pioneered in thelate 1960s by Harvard professor Herbert Benson, as a possibleway to prevent the onset of depression through stress reduction.While treatment with pharmaceuticals is still essential, he seesyoga and meditation as useful additions to his medical arsenal.
Exchange Program
Its an interest that dates back to an exchange program heattended in China the summer before entering Harvard as anundergraduate student. At Hangzhou University he trained with atai chi master every morning for three weeks.
By the end of my time there, I had gotten through mythick teenage skull that there was something very importantabout the breath and about inhabiting the present moment, hesaid. Ive carried that with me since then.
His current study, to conclude in 2015 with about $3.3million in funding from the National Institutes of Health,tracks 210 healthy subjects with high levels of reported chronicstress for six months. They are divided in three groups.
One group with 70 participants perform a form of yoga knownas Kundalini, another 70 meditate and the rest listen to stresseducation audiobooks, all for 20 minutes a day at home.Kundalini is a form of yoga that incorporates meditation,breathing exercises and the singing of mantras in addition topostures. Denninger said it was chosen for the study because ofits strong meditation component.
Participants come into the lab for weekly instruction fortwo months, followed by three sessions where they answerquestionnaires, give blood samples used for genomic analysis andundergo neuro-imaging tests.
Immortality Enzyme
Unlike earlier studies, this one is the first to focus onparticipants with high levels of stress. The study published inMay in the medical journal PloS One showed that one session ofrelaxation-response practice was enough to enhance theexpression of genes involved in energy metabolism and insulinsecretion and reduce expression of genes linked to inflammatoryresponse and stress. There was an effect even among novices whohad never practiced before.
Harvard isnt the only place where scientists have startedexamining the biology behind yoga.
In a study published last year, scientists at theUniversity of California at Los Angeles and Nobel Prize winnerElizabeth Blackburn found that 12 minutes of daily yogameditation for eight weeks increased telomerase activity by 43percent, suggesting an improvement in stress-induced aging.Blackburn of the University of California, San Francisco, sharedthe Nobel medicine prize in 2009 with Carol Greider and JackSzostak for research on the telomerase immortality enzyme,which slows the cellular aging process.
Build Resilience
Not all patients will be able to stick to a daily regimenof exercise and relaxation. Nor should they have to, accordingto Denninger and others. Simply knowing breath-managementtechniques and having a better understanding of stress can helpbuild resilience.
A certain amount of stress can be helpful, said SophiaDunn, a clinical psychotherapist who trained at Kings CollegeLondon. Yoga and meditation are tools for enabling us to swimin difficult waters.
To contact the reporter on this story:Makiko Kitamura in London at mkitamura1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:Phil Serafino at pserafino@bloomberg.net
Nov. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Scientists are getting close to proving what yogis have held to be true for centuries -- yoga and meditation can ward off stress and
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Harvard yoga scientists find proof of meditation benefit. Scientists are getting close to proving that yoga and meditation can ward off stress and disease
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Harvard Yoga Scientists Find Proof of Meditation Benet By Makiko Kitamura - Nov 21, 2013 Scientists are getting close to proving what yogis have held to be true
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Harvard Yoga Scientists Find Proof of Meditation Benefit
Scientists are getting close to proving what yogis have held to be true for centuries yoga and meditation can ward off stress and disease.
Harvard Yoga Scientists Find Proof of Meditation Benefit
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