Meditation helps, it’s as easy as sitting down
Nancy Muriello, 37, decided a few years ago that she wanted to “empty all the junk” from her mind. So she began studying meditation techniques and practising breathing and mindfulness, or being aware of the present moment. Now Muriello spends 15 minutes per day clearing her head of clutter. “You can really picture it as a reversal,” says Muriello, who owns Big Apple Power Yoga in New York City. “All the junk, all the stimuli are pouring out of you, so you’re left with a clearer, lighter mind and body. You feel very refreshed, very relaxed, and you have more capacity to take on new things.” Recent studies have shown meditation can yield a host of health benefits, from increased concentration to some relief from depression. Hospitals and clinics are including meditation as therapy, and medical schools are including it in their curricula.
Brain-imaging research has shown that meditation reduces stress and can enhance one’s sense of well-being. Novice practitioners have increased activity in the left prefrontal cortex, a part of the brain that can produce positive feelings and lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol, says Richard J. Davidson, a professor of psychology and psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin and the director of its Lab for Affective Neuroscience. Long-term practitioners are able to better focus their attention and cut down on a psychological effect called the “attentional blink” that causes people to overlook rapidly changing visual stimuli.
Wallace, who is currently studying how meditation can be used to treat attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), says the practice can also lower anger levels and act as a supplementary treatment for depression, heart disease and social-anxiety disorders.