{"id":75380,"date":"2018-03-07T16:10:48","date_gmt":"2018-03-07T23:10:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=75380"},"modified":"2018-03-07T16:10:48","modified_gmt":"2018-03-07T23:10:48","slug":"the-neuro-physio-biology-of-meditation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2018\/03\/07\/the-neuro-physio-biology-of-meditation\/","title":{"rendered":"The Neuro- Physio -Biology of Meditation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr Ruwan M Jayatunge\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n

In general terms\u00a0meditation\u00a0is the non-judgmental observation of the ongoing stream of internal experiences as they arise. However\u00a0meditation\u00a0is a complex mental process involving changes in cognition, sensory perception, affect, hormones, and autonomic activity (Newberg & Iversen, 2003).\u00a0Grabovac and team (2011) indicate that focused attention, decentering, and emotion regulation as mechanisms of mindfulness. Nonetheless\u00a0meditation\u00a0has a huge impact on body and brain physiology, besides\u00a0meditation\u00a0has enhanced neuroplastic potential. Jevning and colleagues (1992) view meditation\u00a0as an integrated response with peripheral circulatory and metabolic changes subserving increased central nervous activity.<\/p>\n

Neuroimaging studies with positron emission tomography and functional magnetic resonance imaging have been used to study the neurological effects of\u00a0meditation.\u00a0Neuroimaging studies demonstrate the functional up-regulation of brain regions of affect regulation and attention control (Rubia, 2009). Neuroimaging studies showed that mindfulness\u00a0meditation\u00a0practice activates the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) (Chiesa & Serretti, 2010).<\/p>\n

The prefrontal cortex is the cerebral cortex that covers the front part of the frontal lobe (Murray et al., 2016). The\u00a0prefrontal cortex\u00a0is essential for attentional control, manipulation of stored knowledge and modulation of complex actions, cognition, emotion and behavior (Allegri & Harris,\u00a0\u00a0\u00a02001).\u00a0\u00a0The prefrontal cortex has the ability to represent information not currently in the environment and intelligently guide thought, action, and emotion, including the inhibition of inappropriate thoughts, distractions, actions, and feelings\u00a0(Goldman-Rakic ,1996).<\/p>\n

Activation of the prefrontal cortex improves working memory. Working memory is responsible for the short-term storage and online manipulation of information necessary for higher cognitive functions, such as language, planning and problem-solving\u00a0(Cohen et al, 1997). Prefrontal\u00a0neuropsychology emphasizes conscious, goal-directed behavior guided by past experience (Weinberger, 1993). Mindfulnessmeditation\u00a0activates prefrontal cortex and\u00a0enhances cognitive functioning (Stillman et al., 2016).<\/p>\n

The anterior cingulate cortex involves in attention, decision-making, ethics and morality.\u00a0\u00a0Anterior cingulate cortex has an important role in emotional self-control as well as focused problem-solving, error recognition, and adaptive response to changing conditions\u00a0(<\/strong>Allman et al., 2006).<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>The anterior cingulate cortex activation signifies better emotional awareness.\u00a0Therefore Gu and colleagues (2013) defined the\u00a0anterior cingulate cortex\u00a0as the conscious experience of emotions<\/p>\n

Allman and group (2006) proposed that the anterior cingulate cortex is a specialization of neocortex. (The neocortex, also called the neopallium and isocortex, is the part of the mammalian brain involved in higher-order brain functions such as sensory perception, cognition, and generation of motor commands, spatial reasoning and language-Wikipedia).\u00a0The\u00a0British neuroscientist, Francis Crick\u00a0identifies\u00a0anterior cingulate cortex\u00a0as the center of free will in humans. Chiesa and Serretti (2010) state that mindfulness\u00a0meditation\u00a0practice activates the prefrontal cortex.<\/p>\n

Young and team (2018) found increased insular cortex (insula) activity following mindfulness-based interventions.\u00a0 Insular cortex is involved in consciousness mainly compassion, empathy, perception, self-awareness, cognitive functioning, and interpersonal experience. Laneri and team (2017) hypothesized that\u00a0 \u00a0mindfulness\u00a0meditation\u00a0regulates anterior insula activity. The insular cortex dysfunctions are associated with anxiety disorders (Paulus & Stein, 2006).<\/p>\n

A Brodmann area is a region of the cerebral cortex that has unique structure and functions.\u00a0Brodmann’s\u00a0maps of the cerebral cortex are universally used to locate neuropsychological functions\u00a0(Strotzer , 2009).\u00a0Meditation\u00a0experts have highly activated brain areas especially Brodmann area 39, 40, 44 and 45\u00a0(Gundel et al., 2018).<\/p>\n

The Electroencephalography (EEG) studies of the\u00a0meditating\u00a0brain have been done in the past few decades. Electroencephalographic studies have revealed a significant increase in alpha and theta activity during\u00a0meditation\u00a0(Chiesa & Serretti, 2010; Lomas et al., 2015).\u00a0 The alpha state is an intensely pleasurable and relaxed state of consciousness essential to stress reduction and high levels of creativity. The alpha brain waves are associated with\u00a0meditative\u00a0states.<\/p>\n

Lomas, Ivtzan and\u00a0Fu\u00a0(2015) indicated that mindfulness is associated with increased theta power.\u00a0\u00a0Theta brain waves are commonly linked to enhanced levels of creativity, emotions, and spontaneity. Theta brain waves occur most often in sleep but are also dominant in the deepmeditation. Lagopoulos and team (2009) state that nondirective\u00a0meditation\u00a0techniques alter theta and alpha EEG patterns significantly more than regular relaxation..<\/p>\n

Meditation\u00a0can produce measurable changes in the brain regions that involved in memory, learning, and emotion. There is a positive correlation between\u00a0meditation\u00a0practice and brain gray matter density. H\u00f6lzel and team (2008) indicate that greater gray matter concentration for meditators in the right anterior insula, which is involved in interoceptive awareness. In addition\u00a0meditation\u00a0practice could increase\u00a0gray matter concentration in left hippocampus, posterior cingulate cortex,temporo-parietal junction and cerebellum.\u00a0(H\u00f6lzel et al., 2011)<\/p>\n

Esch (2014) points out that\u00a0Meditation\u00a0can cause structural alterations in grey and white matter, particularly in areas related to attention and memory.\u00a0\u00a0Meanwhile\u00a0Leung and team (2013) found greater gray matter volume in the left temporal lobe in the loving-kindness\u00a0meditationexperts.\u00a0Meditation-related neuroplasticity is crucially associated to a functional reorganization of activity patterns in prefrontal cortex and in the insula (Manna et al., 2010).<\/p>\n

Luders and team (2013) found structural changes in the corpus callosum (the corpus callosum is important in communication between brain hemispheres) among long term meditators and they surmise greater connectivity, possibly reflecting increased hemispheric integration during cerebral processes involving (pre) frontal regions.<\/p>\n

Evidence suggests that mindfulness practice is associated with neuroplastic changes in the anterior cingulate cortex, insula, temporo-parietal junction, fronto-limbic network, and default mode network structures (H\u00f6lzel et al., 2011). The cingulate cortex involved with emotion formation and processing, learning and memory (Kozlovskiy et al, 2012). Insula plays a complex role in emotion, homeostasis (including error detection), autonomic function, sensation, salience, and awareness (Nieuwenhuys, 2012). The temporoparietal junction is an area of the brain where the temporal and parietal lobes meet, at the posterior end of the Sylvian fissure and mainly involved in information processing and perception. Frontostriatal circuits are neural pathways that connect frontal lobe regions with the basal ganglia (striatum) that mediate motor, cognitive, and behavioural functions within the brain (Alexanderet al., 1986).The fronto-limbic network is important in emotion processing. The brain’s “default mode network plays a role in internally focused processes as autobiographical memory, imagining the future, and social cognition (Spreng et al. 2009).<\/p>\n

Some experts believe that mindfulness\u00a0meditation\u00a0enhances cognitive control or cognitive flexibility. According to Scott (1962) cognitive flexibility is the mental ability to switch between thinking about two different concepts and to think about multiple concepts simultaneously. Moore and Malinowski (2009) state that mindfulness is intimately linked to improvements of attentional functions and cognitive flexibility.\u00a0 Mindfulness\u00a0meditation\u00a0can increase the function of control networks (Tang et al., 2015). Wimmer and team (2016) found that mindfulness training\u00a0improved cognitive inhibition and data-driven information processing. As described by MacLeod (2007) cognitive inhibition is the mind’s ability to tune out stimuli that are irrelevant to the task\/process at hand or to the mind’s current state.<\/p>\n

According to Tomasino and\u00a0 Fabbro (2016)\u00a0meditation\u00a0increase\u00a0 activation in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and in the left caudate\/anterior insula and decreased activation in the rostral prefrontal cortex and right parietal area 3b. The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is one of the most recently evolved parts of the human brain and it is important in cognitive processes (Elliott, 2003). The head of the caudate nucleus is concerned with multi-modal information processing and inhibition. The anterior insular cortex is defined as the conscious experience of emotions (Gu et al’, 2013) and important in emotional awareness. The rostral prefrontal cortex is important in executive functions.<\/p>\n

Ng\u00f4\u00a0\u00a0(2013) identifies following brain structures are associated with\u00a0meditation;\u00a0 attention regulation (anterior cingulate cortex), body awareness (insula, temporoparietal junction), emotion regulation (modulation of the amygdala by the lateral prefrontal cortex), cognitive re-evaluation (activation of the dorsal medial prefrontal cortex or diminished activity in prefrontal regions), exposure\/extinction\/reconsolidation (ventromedial prefrontal cortex, hippocampus, amygdala) and flexible self-concept (prefrontal median cortex, posterior cingulated cortex, insula, temporoparietal junction).<\/p>\n

Mindfulness has been associated with enhanced performance monitoring\u00a0(Saunders et al., 2016). According to Teper and Inzlicht (2013) meditators showed greater executive control.\u00a0(Executive controls are\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0set of cognitive processes that are necessary for the cognitive control of behavior: selecting and successfully monitoring behaviors that facilitate the attainment of chosen goals)\u00a0Meditation\u00a0experience has been linked to increased functional coupling between the posterior cingulate, dorsal anterior cingulate, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, which are regions that have been consistently implicated in processes of attention and executive control (Brewer et al., 2011; Zanesco et al., 2013).\u00a0Meditation\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0can improve executive attention\u00a0(Elliott et al., 2014). In addition mindfulness practice facilitates critical thinking (Noone & Hogan, 2016).<\/p>\n

In neuroscience, the default mode network (DMN), also default network, or default state network, is a large scale brain network of interacting brain regions known to have activity highly correlated with each other and distinct from other networks in the brain (Buckner et al., 2008). The default mode network is active in mind-wandering.<\/p>\n

Meditation\u00a0has been associated with relatively reduced activity in the default mode network, a brain network implicated in self-related thinking and mind wandering (Garrison et al., 2016). Following mediation the deactivation of the default mode network that generates spontaneous thoughts can be observed with the activation of the temporoparietal junction which assumes a central role in empathy and compassion (Ng\u00f4, 2013). Taylor and team (2013) suggest that\u00a0meditation\u00a0training leads to functional connectivity\u00a0changes\u00a0between core default mode network regions possibly reflecting strengthened present-moment awareness.<\/p>\n

Studies suggest that\u00a0meditation\u00a0can increase empathy.\u00a0Empathy\u00a0is the ability to experience and understand what others feel without confusion between oneself and others (Decety & Lamm , 2006). According to Dr. Nassir Ghaemi \u2013 Psychiatrist and the author of the famous book “A First-Rate Madness: Uncovering the Links Between Leadership and Mental Illness” empathy is not a mere concept but a neurobiological fact.<\/p>\n

Empathy\u00a0involves not only the affective experience of the other person’s actual or inferred emotional state but also some minimal recognition and understanding of another’s emotional state (Decety &, Jackson, 2004)\u00a0The social neuroscientific investigation of\u00a0empathy\u00a0has revealed that the same neural networks engaged during first-hand experience of affect subserve empathic responses (Engen &\u00a0\u00a0Singer , 2013). Bruneau and colleagues (2012) studied the networks in processing others’ emotional suffering and found dorsomedial prefrontal cortex responds selectively to emotional pain. Bruneau and colleagues (2015) showed the amygdala activity to the control of other-focused empathy.\u00a0\u00a0Bird and colleagues (2010) state that empathic brain responses to the suffering of others are associated with increased activation in left anterior insula.<\/p>\n

Mindfulness\u00a0meditation\u00a0increase compassionate behavior toward others (Laneri et al., 2017).\u00a0Meditation\u00a0has observable changes in brain structure related to\u00a0empathy\u00a0(Sorrell, 2015). Compassion\u00a0meditation\u00a0is accompanied by activation in brain areas involved with\u00a0empathy\u00a0i.e., the left medial prefrontal cortex and the anterior cingulate gyrus (Engstr\u00f6m & S\u00f6derfeldt, 2010).<\/p>\n

Meditation\u00a0is commonly thought to induce physiologically quiescent states (Khalsa\u00a0et al., 2015).\u00a0Meditation\u00a0has efficient relaxation response(Buttle, 2015). According to Professor Herbert Benson,\u00a0the relaxation response is a physical state of deep rest that changes the physical and emotional responses to stress and the opposite of the fight or flight response. In other words\u00a0the relaxation response is the mind-body intervention that offsets the physiological effects caused by stress (Benson, 1974).\u00a0\u00a0Krygier and team (2013) explicate that Vipassana\u00a0meditationshows some evidence of altered sympatho-vagal balance.<\/p>\n

Meditation\u00a0is a positive emotional experience. It is a Focused internalized attention. Focused internalized attention gives rise to emotionally positive “blissful” experience which is accompanied by increased anterior frontal and midline theta synchronization\u00a0(Aftanas & Golocheikine , 2001).\u00a0\u00a0Meditation\u00a0state can decrease the amplitude of neurophysiologic processes that subserve\u00a0\u00a0attentional engagement elicited by unexpected and distracting stimuli\u00a0(Cahn & , Polich\u00a0\u00a02009).\u00a0Emotional regulation appears to be accompanied by increased activation in prefrontal cortex (PFC) and\/or decreased activation in regions such as the amygdala and insula (Stein, 2008).Mindfulness\u00a0meditation\u00a0improves emotion regulation (Tang, 2016). Hanley et al (2014) identify\u00a0meditation\u00a0as a positive emotion regulatory strategy.<\/p>\n

Zeidan and team (2014) hypothesized that mindfulness\u00a0meditation\u00a0attenuates anxiety through mechanisms involved in the regulation of self-referential thought processes. They tend to state that\u00a0meditation-related anxiety relief was associated with activation of the anterior cingulate cortex, ventromedial prefrontal cortex and anterior insula.\u00a0Mindfulness\u00a0training may improve well-being via changes in emotional information processing (Roberts-Wolfe et al., 2012). In addition\u00a0meditation\u00a0practices have possible long-term changes in the brain and their positive effects on empathy, meta cognitive skills and health (Gundel et al., 2018).<\/p>\n

Saunders and team (2016) highlight that mindfulness\u00a0meditation\u00a0boosts early neural performance monitoring through\u00a0meditation’s influence on affective processing. Long-term practice of mindfulness leads to emotional stability by promoting acceptance of emotional states and enhanced present-moment awareness, rather than by eliciting control over low-level affective cerebral systems from higher-order cortical brain regions(Taylor et al, 2011). Mindfulness\u00a0meditation\u00a0has been shown to promote emotional stability\u00a0(Taylor et al, 2013).\u00a0Crosswell\u00a0\u00a0and team (2017) state that\u00a0mindfulness\u00a0training may lead to an enhanced emotional experience coupled with the ability to recovery quickly from negative emotional states.<\/p>\n

Mindfulness\u00a0meditation\u00a0reduces pain in experimental and clinical settings and mindfulness\u00a0meditation-induced pain relief activated higher-order brain regions, including the orbitofrontal and cingulate cortices. (Zeidan et al., 2015). According to Brown and Jones (2010)\u00a0meditation\u00a0reduces the anticipation and negative appraisal of pain. Mindfulness\u00a0meditation-related pain relief may share a common final pathway with other cognitive techniques in the modulation of pain (Zeidan et al., 2012). Zeidan and team (2011) state that reductions in pain and unpleasantness associate with thalamic deactivation. They further explain that\u00a0meditation\u00a0engages multiple brain mechanisms that alter the construction of the subjectively available pain experience from afferent information.\u00a0Mindfulness\u00a0meditation\u00a0has most prominent effect on psychological aspects on living with chronic pain, improving associated depression and quality of life (Ball et al., 2017).<\/p>\n

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging\u00a0Ives-Deliperi and team (2011) observed significant signal decreases during mindfulnessmeditation\u00a0in midline cortical structures associated with interoception, including bilateral anterior insula, left ventral anterior cingulate cortex, right medial prefrontal cortex, and bilateral precuneus.\u00a0\u00a0In contrast they observed significant signal increase in the right posterior cingulate cortex.\u00a0Hence Ives-Deliperi and team (2011) concluded that mindfulness achieves its positive outcomes through a process of dis-identification.<\/p>\n

Mindfulness, as a metacognitive form of awareness, involves the process of decentering, a shifting of cognitive sets that enables alternate appraisals of life events (Garland\u00a0\u00a0et al.,2009). Mindfulness\u00a0meditation\u00a0facilitates present moment awareness and emotional acceptance. Teper and Inzlicht (2013) state that meditators show greater executive control. Mindfulness is associated with brain regions involved in executive attention, emotion regulation, and self-referential processing (Lu et al ., 2014).<\/p>\n

Mindfulness is associated with enhanced prefrontal cortical regulation of affect through labeling of negative affective stimuli (Creswell, 2007). Vipassana\u00a0meditation\u00a0evokes a brain state of enhanced perceptual clarity and decreased automated reactivity (Cahn\u00a0et al., 2013). Long-term Vipassana\u00a0meditation\u00a0contributes to increased occipital gamma power related to long-term meditational expertise and enhanced sensory awareness (Cahn et al., 2010). However\u00a0different\u00a0meditation\u00a0styles and traditions are characterized by different patterns of neural activation (Tomasino et al., 2014).<\/p>\n

Meditation\u00a0has positive impact on neuronal and molecular bases of the\u00a0changes\u00a0in the\u00a0brain.\u00a0On the molecular level, during\u00a0meditation\u00a0dopamine and melatonin are found to increase, serotonin activity is modulated, and cortisol as well as norepinephrine have been proven to decrease\u00a0(Esch, 2014).\u00a0\u00a0Advanced meditators have higher melatonin levels than non-meditators (Solberg et al., 2004).\u00a0Kruis and team (2016) indicate that\u00a0short-term\u00a0meditation\u00a0practice induces stable changes in baseline striatal dopaminergic functioning.\u00a0Brand and colleagues (2012) found decreased cortisol\u00a0levels\u00a0among the experienced meditators.<\/p>\n

In the brain, dopamine functions as a neurotransmitter. Dopamine is produced in the substantia nigra and the ventral tegmental area in the brain. Dopamine acts as a powerful regulator of different aspects of cognitive brain functions (Nieoullon, 2002).\u00a0\u00a0Low levels of dopamine activity in the brain can cause depression. A substantial body of evidence accrued from animal and human studies indicate that dopamine play an important role in the pathophysiology of depression (Robinson, 2007).\u00a0Meditation\u00a0increase in endogenous dopamine release (Kjaer et al., 2002).<\/p>\n

Serotonin is a monoamine neurotransmitter works as a mood regulator. According to Li and team (2007) low levels of serotonin are highly associated with suicide.\u00a0\u00a0Psychiatric disorders, particularly depression and anxiety, are often associated with impaired serotonergic function(Weinberg-Wolf, et al 2018).\u00a0Meditation\u00a0influence the brain’s production of serotonin levels (Li & He, 2007).<\/p>\n

Meditation\u00a0activates Endorphins and GABA (gamma aminobutyric acid). Endorphins are endogenous opioid peptides that function as neurotransmitters.<\/p>\n

Endorphin seems to be released during\u00a0meditation\u00a0(Rokade, 2011)\u00a0GABA or gamma-Aminobutyric acid is the chief inhibitory neurotransmitter in the mammalian central nervous system. Elias and Wilson (1995) hypothesized that\u00a0 transcendental\u00a0meditation\u00a0 produces changes in pituitary hormone secretion by enhancing hypothalamic GABAergic tone, and its anxiolytic effects by promoting GABAergic tone in specific areas of the brain.<\/p>\n

Meditation\u00a0can lower cortisol level. Sudsuang and team (1991) found after\u00a0meditation, serum cortisol levels were significantly reduced. Similar results were found by Brand and colleagues (2012) and Turakitwanakan and colleagues (2013).\u00a0\u00a0Plasma Arginine vasopressin (AVP) elevation occurs through\u00a0meditation\u00a0(Jevning et al.,1992).<\/p>\n

Mindfulness-based stress reduction may help reducing blood pressure levels and blood pressure reactivity to stress (Nykl\u00ed\u010dek et al., 2013).\u00a0Brand\u00a0and team (2012) highlight that mindfulness practice has a favorable influence both on biomarkers of stress regulation, such as cortisol secretion, and on sleep. Furthermore mindfulness practice is associated with increased experience of momentary positive emotions as well as greater appreciation of, and enhanced responsiveness to, pleasant daily-life activities (Geschwind et al., 2011). Hence\u00a0meditation\u00a0improves positive dimensions of mental health and improves prosociality.<\/p>\n

Meditation\u00a0is a complex process that has neurological, psychological and biological effects. Numerous studies have revealed various neuro-physiological\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0neuro-chemical mechanism of\u00a0meditation. These studies indicate that\u00a0meditation\u00a0has positive influence on cognition, sensory perception, affect and autonomic activity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dr Ruwan M Jayatunge\u00a0 In general terms\u00a0meditation\u00a0is the non-judgmental observation of the ongoing stream of internal experiences as they arise. However\u00a0meditation\u00a0is a complex mental process involving changes in cognition, sensory perception, affect, hormones, and autonomic activity (Newberg & Iversen, 2003).\u00a0Grabovac and team (2011) indicate that focused attention, decentering, and emotion regulation as mechanisms of mindfulness. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-75380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dr-ruwan-m-jayatunge-m-d"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75380","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75380"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75380\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}