MIT and Harvard neuroscientists
explain why the practice helps tune out distractions and relieve pain.
(May 5, 2011) Studies have shown that meditating regularly
can help relieve symptoms in people who suffer from chronic pain, but the
neural mechanisms underlying the relief were unclear. Now, MIT and Harvard
researchers have found a possible explanation for this phenomenon.
In a study published online April
21 in the journal Brain Research Bulletin, the researchers found that people
trained to meditate over an eight-week period were better able to control a
specific type of brain waves called alpha rhythms.
“These activity patterns are
thought to minimize distractions, to diminish the likelihood stimuli will grab
your attention,” says Christopher Moore, an MIT neuroscientist and senior
author of the paper. “Our data indicate that meditation training makes you
better at focusing, in part by allowing you to better regulate how things that
arise will impact you.”
There are several different types
of brain waves that help regulate the flow of information between brain cells,
similar to the way that radio stations broadcast at specific frequencies. Alpha
waves, the focus of this study, flow through cells in the brain’s cortex, where
sensory information is processed. The alpha waves help suppress irrelevant or
distracting sensory information.