Meditation has been known for a long time to be beneficial to stroke recovery. Hasn't your competent? doctor create a protocol on it yet? So an incompetent doctor for over a decade and your stroke hospital still hasn't fired them?
meditation (60 posts to January 2012)
The Effects of Prayer and Meditative Practices on Neuroplasticity
By Masooma Hyder Baig
Throughout our lives, our brains are constantly changing and adapting to our environments. Neuroplasticity is our brain’s ability to reorganize itself by continually forming new neural connections at all life stages: good and bad. This article explores how prayer and meditative practices act as internal stimuli that impact these abilities, where research highlights the changes in brain function.
Understanding Neuroplasticity
Neuroplasticity is defined as the ability of the nervous system to change its activity in response to intrinsic or extrinsic factors by reorganizing its structure, functions, or connections (Mateos-Aparicio and Rodríguez-Moreno, 2019). This often involves the formation of new neural pathways, the strengthening of existing ones, and/or pruning of unused connections. Thus, neuroplasticity is fundamental in determining our ability to learn, memorize, and even recover from brain injuries. It enables the brain to compensate for decreased function and simultaneously maximizes the remaining function if there is damage.
Meditation and Brain changes
Meditation can refer to several mindful practices involving the individual training themselves to focus on a present moment, object, or situation, allowing them to feel peace and connected to themselves. Studies have shown that long-term meditation practices have been linked to increased cortical thickness in certain brain areas. Primarily, areas related to attention, the perception of the body’s internal conditions, and sensory processing that enable positive habits and practices in individuals. However, one should consider factors like age, sex, genetics, and health status which may also influence cortical thickness alongside the effects meditation may have (Lazar et al., 2005).
Meditation has also been linked to larger hippocampal volumes in the right hemisphere of the brain (Luders et al., 2009). The hippocampus has numerous functions, that are proven to be vital in learning and memory, emotional behavior, and spatial navigation (Dhikav and Anand, 2012). Thus, it suggests these findings explain why meditators maintain emotional stability and form positive emotions.
Prayer
Prayer encompasses many different practices which can include meditation, deep thought, and/or certain physical movements to demonstrate one’s submission to a superior being or particular way of life. Newburg’s study on the Franciscan nuns performing a contemplative prayer that involved pondering over a Bible phrase demonstrated increased frontal lobe activity and decreased parietal lobe activity (Newberg et al., 2003). The frontal lobe is associated with focused attention, emotional regulation, and decision-making (Kinaan Javed and Forshing Lui, 2019) while the parietal lobe is associated with spatial awareness and sensory perception (Vandenberghe et al., 2001). A case series study on Islamic prayer observed similar results with decreased parietal lobe activity. However, decreased frontal activity was also documented. Newburg suggested that this was due to the centering prayer of the nuns being similar to meditation, where participants were actively focused on a particular religious phrase (Newberg et al., 2015). These different practices correlate with the feeling of submission individuals may experience when in prayer, with anecdotal accounts highlighting how many feel less attached to their current surroundings and more aligned with a presence they assume to be greater than them: providing a sense of comfort during prayer.
Conclusion
To summarise, prayer and meditation both have profound effects on neuroplasticity. Regular meditation enhances cortical thickness and hippocampal volume contributing to increased attention, emotional stability, and better memory. Prayer produces similar effects to invoking different brain responses where increased frontal lobe activity may be observed. Especially in prayer practices similar to meditation that require deep focus. Other prayer practices that emphasize movement may observe decreased frontal lobe activity as one works to submit to God. Yet, these different practices reiterate the idea of relinquishing control, allowing individuals to find peace. Thus, it is evident that through prayer and meditation, one can reap both spiritual and cognitive benefits: an area of modern neuroscience proving to be abundant in further exploration.
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