The Uncertain Science of Meditation
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Meditation is big business, but just how much does the brain affect the body? For years, mindfulness has been promoted as a near panacea. However, the science behind it isn’t so clear. Various studies have suggested that meditation and mindfulness can help reduce and improve pain management, lending some credence to the notion that the brain can affect the body. Such results have helped the field grow into a multibillion-dollar industry, populated by meditation apps, guided workshops, and upscale retreats.
Yet the field has also faced sharp criticism from psychologists and researchers who say the health benefits are overstated and some of the research methodologically flawed. Meanwhile, claims that alternative approaches, including meditation, can, by themselves, cure serious illnesses have been called dangerous by medical experts, who fear a true believer might forego a life-saving treatment.
In a recent article published in Undark, Caren Chesler explores the uncertain science of meditation. Chesler highlights that the influential idea that meditation is a panacea isn’t supported by the available evidence. The article suggests that the field of meditation has been dominated by the “Man the Hunter” theory, which is wrong. Hunting was not the only driver of human evolution. The fossil and archaeological records, as well as ethnographic studies of modern-day hunter-gatherers, indicate that women have a long history of hunting game. Furthermore, exercise science indicates that women are physiologically better suited than men to endurance efforts such as running marathons.
The article also discusses the case of Debra Halsch, a life coach from Piermont, New York, who was diagnosed with smoldering multiple myeloma, a rare blood and bone marrow disorder that can develop into a type of blood cancer. Her doctors recommended chemotherapy, but she feared the taxing side effects the drugs might wreak on her body. Instead, she tried meditation. A friend had told Halsch about Joe Dispenza, who holds week-long meditation retreats that regularly attract thousands of people and carry a $2,299 price tag. Halsch signed up for one in Cancun, Mexico and soon became a devotee.
Much of the mindfulness research over the last two decades has focused on mental health and well-being, and studies suggest the practice can help with both.A seminal review assessing the impact of mindfulness meditation was published back in 2014: Researchers at Johns Hopkins University analyzed 47 randomized clinical trials involving more than 3,500 participants and found that there was moderate evidence meditation improved symptoms of anxiety, depression, and pain.
Meditation Is Big Business. The Science Isn’t So Clear.
She now meditates for at least two hours a day and says her health has improved as a result. Dispenza, a chiropractor who has written various self-help books, has said he believes the mind can heal the body. After all, he says he healed himself back in 1986, when a truck hit him while he was bicycling, breaking six vertebrae. Instead of surgery, Dispenza says he spent hours each day recreating his spine in his mind, visualizing it as healthy and healed. After 11 weeks, the story goes, he was back on his feet. Halsch said she believes she can do the same for her illness. “If our thoughts and emotions can make our bodies sick, they can make us well, too,” she said.
The article concludes that while no scientific findings suggest that meditation can go so far as to cure cancer, some researchers are interested in precisely how the brain affects the body’s immune system. As researchers investigate meditation’s effect on nearly everything from chronic pain to ADHD to brain function post-stroke to emotional regulation, the practice continues to be popular among converts and curious alike.
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