April 4, 2015—The evidence is piling up. In study after study, researchers are finding that mindfulness meditation not only promotes overall well being, but can actually improve outcomes for people suffering from certain conditions such as depression or HIV infection.
The studies out of Carnegie Mellon University are another remarkable testament to how body and mind are directly related.
The question in the case of disease is how meditation works to achieve this. The Carnegie Mellon researchers believe it may have to do with stress levels. In a 2014 paper published in Current Directions in Psychological Science, J. David Creswell and Emily Lindsay suggest that mindfulness is effective therapy for certain conditions because it provides a kind of buffer against stress.
As people become more mindful, the authors say, they often become less emotionally reactive. But how does that help disease? The authors say that stress exacerbates certain conditions, such as depression or HIV infection. Lower the stress response, and you help keep the disease in check. For example, some studies have shown that levels of cortisol, a hormone that causes stress to rise in the body stay lower in people who meditate. Lower cortisol levels could in turn protect against progression of these diseases that are aggravated by stress.
Much work is still needed to understand exactly how mindfulness acts as a stress buffer. Creswell and Lindsay suggest several mechanisms. Physiological changes that include circulating levels of hormones such as cortisol are one. Evidence suggests that meditation may change the shape of the amygdala, which is involved in emotional processing and fight or freeze responses. Or it could be more about how the brain processes information. Stress can feel like you’re fighting something you can’t control. Increasing awareness, Creswell and Lindsay say, increases acceptance for whatever is happening in your life. And that, it seems, may be good for your health.
