WETENSCHAPPELIJK ONDERZOEK
Tactus verslavingszorg
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Door: Madari ERP
Traditional medicine-inspired approaches to drug discovery:
can Ayurveda show the way forward?
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Bhushan Patwardhan
and Raghunath Anant Mashelkar
1
Interdisciplinary School of Health Sciences, University of Pune, Pune 411
007, India
2
National Chemical Laboratory,
Pune 411 008, India
Evidence Report/Technology Assessment
Number 155, download here
Meditation Practices for Health: State of the Research
Maharishi Ayurveda Wetenschappelijk onderzoek
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Evidence that the Transcendental Meditation
program prevents or decreases diseases of the nervous system and is
specifically beneficial for epilepsy.
191 Dalton Dr. Seagrove Beach, FL 32459, USA.
davidoj@gnt.net
Although meditation has been practiced worldwide for centuries, there are no
reports that it causes epilepsy or increases the predisposition to it.
Medical care utilization statistics and clinical studies indicate that
individuals who regularly practice the Transcendental Meditation technique
have fewer problems of the nervous system and specifically show decreased
symptoms of epilepsy. The frequency, amplitude, areas of activation, and
effects of the EEG during the Transcendental Meditation technique are
completely different from those of epilepsy. There is no evidence that the
Transcendental Meditation technique increases glutamate, which has been
associated with epilepsy. With regard to serotonin, the relationship of
serotonin to epilepsy has to be viewed in the context of the abnormal brain
tissue that causes epilepsy. The serotonin increases that may occur through
meditation have been associated with only beneficial effects.
PMID:
16723189 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Transcendental meditation: a double-edged
sword in epilepsy?
Iowa
Comprehensive Epilepsy Program, Department of Neurology, University of Iowa
Hospital and Clinics, Iowa City, IA, USA.
drlansky@netvision.net.il
Transcendental Meditation (TM) is derived from ancient yogic teachings. Both
short- and long-term physiological correlates of TM practice have been
studied. EEG effects include increased alpha, theta, and gamma frequencies
and increased coherence and synchrony. Neuronal hypersynchrony is also a
cardinal feature of epilepsy, and subjective psychic symptoms, apnea, and
myoclonic jerking are characteristic of both epileptic seizures and
meditative states. Clinical vignettes have highlighted the potential risk of
human kindling from repetitive meditation in persons practicing TM, but
clinical studies of similar techniques suggest that meditation may also be a
potential antiepileptic therapy. Future clinical studies of meditating
subjects using video/EEG monitoring are warranted to determine whether
behavioral phenomena have an underlying epileptic basis, and prospective
clinical trials of TM in subjects with well-delineated epilepsy syndromes
are necessary to establish the safety of this technique and its potential
efficacy for seizure reduction and improvement of quality of life.
PMID:
16931164 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Meditation experience is associated with
increased cortical thickness.
Lazar SW,
Kerr CE,
Wasserman RH,
Gray JR,
Greve DN,
Treadway MT,
McGarvey M,
Quinn BT,
Dusek JA,
Benson H,
Rauch SL,
Moore CI,
Fischl B.
Psychiatric Neuroimaging Research Program, Massachusetts General Hospital,
Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
lazar@nmr.mgh.harvard.edu
Previous research indicates that long-term meditation practice is associated
with altered resting electroencephalogram patterns, suggestive of long
lasting changes in brain activity. We hypothesized that meditation practice
might also be associated with changes in the brain's physical structure.
Magnetic resonance imaging was used to assess cortical thickness in 20
participants with extensive Insight meditation experience, which involves
focused attention to internal experiences. Brain regions associated with
attention, interoception and sensory processing were thicker in meditation
participants than matched controls, including the prefrontal cortex and
right anterior insula. Between-group differences in prefrontal cortical
thickness were most pronounced in older participants, suggesting that
meditation might offset age-related cortical thinning. Finally, the
thickness of two regions correlated with meditation experience. These data
provide the first structural evidence for experience-dependent cortical
plasticity associated with meditation practice.
PMID:
16272874 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
PMCID:
PMC1361002
Long-term meditation is associated with
increased gray matter density in the brain stem.
Vestergaard-Poulsen P,
van Beek M,
Skewes J,
Bjarkam CR,
Stubberup M,
Bertelsen J,
Roepstorff A.
Center for Functionally Integrative Neuroscience, Aarhus University, Aarhus,
Denmark.
peterv@pet.auh.dk
Extensive practice involving sustained attention can lead to changes in
brain structure. Here, we report evidence of structural differences in the
lower brainstem of participants engaged in the long-term practice of
meditation. Using magnetic resonance imaging, we observed higher gray matter
density in lower brain stem regions of experienced meditators compared with
age-matched nonmeditators. Our findings show that long-term practitioners of
meditation have structural differences in brainstem regions concerned with
cardiorespiratory control. This could account for some of the
cardiorespiratory parasympathetic effects and traits, as well as the
cognitive, emotional, and immunoreactive impact reported in several studies
of different meditation practices.
PMID:
19104459 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Meditation states and traits: EEG, ERP, and
neuroimaging studies.
Cahn BR,
Polich J.
Department of Neurosciences and Medical School, University of California,
San Diego, CA, USA.
Neuroelectric and imaging studies of meditation are reviewed.
Electroencephalographic measures indicate an overall slowing subsequent to
meditation, with theta and alpha activation related to proficiency of
practice. Sensory evoked potential assessment of concentrative meditation
yields amplitude and latency changes for some components and practices.
Cognitive event-related potential evaluation of meditation implies that
practice changes attentional allocation. Neuroimaging studies indicate
increased regional cerebral blood flow measures during meditation. Taken
together, meditation appears to reflect changes in anterior cingulate cortex
and dorsolateral prefrontal areas. Neurophysiological meditative state and
trait effects are variable but are beginning to demonstrate consistent
outcomes for research and clinical applications. Psychological and clinical
effects of meditation are summarized, integrated, and discussed with respect
to neuroimaging data.
PMID:
16536641 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
The
neurobiological dimension of meditation--results from neuroimaging studies]
[Article in German]
Neumann NU,
Frasch K.
Klinik für Psychiatrie,
Psychotherapie und Psychosomatik am Bezirkskrankenhaus Günzburg, Abt.
Psychiatrie II der Universität Ulm.
Meditation in general can be understood as a state of complete and
unintentional silent and motionless concentration on an activity, an item or
an idea. Subjectively, meditative experience is said to be fundamentally
different from "normal" mental states and is characterized by terms like
timelessness, boundlessness and lack of self-experience. In recent years,
several fMRI- and PET-studies about meditation which are presented in this
paper have been published. Due to different methods, especially different
meditation types, the results are hardly comparable. Nevertheless, the data
suggest the hypothesis of a "special" neural activity during meditative
states being different from that during calm alertness. Main findings were
increased activation in frontal, prefrontal and cingulate areas which may
represent the mental state of altered self-experience. In the present
studies, a considerable lack of scientific standards has to be stated making
it of just casuistic value. Today's improved neurobiological examination
methods - especially neuroimaging techniques - may contribute to enlighten
the phenomenon of qualitatively different states of consciousness.
PMID:
17160792 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Is meditation associated with a potential
risk of addiction? Warranting a greater insight.
Jaseja H.
Physiology Department, G.R. Medical College, Gwalior 474001, MP, India; 8,
C-Block, Near Paliwal Health Club, Harishanker-puram, Lashkar, Gwalior
474009, MP, India.
PMID:
19236955 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
