Monday, November 17, 2014

Meditation Can Change Your Cells



Benefitting your health with beliefs of being happy, mindful, and meditating have always been skeptical. Recently researchers in Canada found evidence that suggests that support groups for cancer survivors who encouraged yoga and meditation can actually affect the cancer survivors at the cellular level.

The study recently posted in the journal Cancer suggests that there is actually a connection between the mind and they body. They found that the telomeres of the survivors stayed the same length in those who meditated or went to support groups over a three-month period. Those survivors who did not participate clearly showed shorter telomeres within the three-month study.

It is still unknown whether or not telomeres are actually involved in regulating disease, but early evidence can suggests that shortened telomeres are linked to surviving some diseases as well as aging the cells. The longer the telomeres are thought to help protect individuals from disease.

"We already know that psychosocial interventions like mindfulness meditation will help you feel better mentally, but now for the first time we have evidence that they can also influence key aspects of your biology," said Linda Carlson, the lead investigator at the Tom Baker Cancer Centre and psychosocial researcher. She and scientists from the University of Calgary conducted the study. Carlson was surprised that differences in the telomere length was shown at all. It is still early in the research and further investigation into this potential health benefits are needed.


Eighty-eight breast cancer survivors who completed their treatment over three months ago were monitored during the research. Their average age was 55 and all seemed to have high levels of emotional distress which was required to be able to participate in the study. These survivors were split into three groups. One group attended 8 weekly 90-minute group sessions which provided instructions on mindfulness meditation and gentle yoga. They were also asked to practice at home for 45 minutes daily. The second group met up 90 minutes every week for three months and were encouraged to speak about their thoughts/concerns and feelings. And the third group only attended one six-hour stress management seminar.

The participants had their blood analyzed as well as their telomere length measured both before and after the study. The two groups who regularly attended support groups maintained their telomere length over the three-month period as well as lower stress levels and better moods. The third group showed shortened telomeres. It is not known if these benefits will be long term or what is truly causing the biological effects. More research is to be done to see whether or not the results are replicable with larger numbers of participants and what the long-term health benefits there will be (if any).

This is a huge first step towards understanding more about how our mental state affects our physical state. This is one part of the growing body of research currently going on in the world. Although the research is still skeptical to many, I believe it will be very interesting to see what comes out of further trials.

Article: http://www.sciencealert.com/world-first-evidence-suggests-that-meditation-alters-cancer-survivors-cells

Related Article: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-11/ahs-ssc103114.php

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