Study - Effect of Meditation on Genes

UNITED STATES, July 6, 2008: Researchers say they have taken a significant stride forward in understanding how relaxation techniques such as meditation, prayer and yoga improve health - by changing patterns of gene activity that affect how the body responds to stress. These changes were seen both in long-term practitioners and in recent beginners.

“It’s not all in your head,” said Dr. Herbert Benson, president emeritus of the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind/Body Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. “What we have found is that when you evoke the relaxation response, the very genes that are turned on or off by stress are turned the other way. The mind can actively turn on and turn off genes. The mind is not separated from the body.” Benson first described the relaxation response 35 years ago. Mind-body approaches that elicit the response include meditation, repetitive prayer, yoga, tai chi, breathing exercises, progressive muscle relaxation, biofeedback, guided imagery and Qi Gong.

“Previously, we had noted that there were scores of diseases that could be treated by eliciting the relaxation response — everything from different kinds of pain, infertility, rheumatoid arthritis, insomnia,” Benson said.

He believes that this study is the first comprehensive look at how mind states can affect gene expression. It also focuses on gene activity in healthy individuals.

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/02/AR2008070200973.html

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