Last week I was commenting on an article in a post that said that meditating was good for the brain, being able to be neuroprotective and improve intelligence, and I came to the conclusion that it was not true that the article showed that. Some of the comments to the post said that, at least, meditation was beneficial as a means of relaxation. In addition, there are people who think that meditation could have cardiovascular benefits, improve cognitive abilities, or be effective in the treatment of psychiatric disorders, asthma, arthritis, or pain. What is true in all that?
Before continuing, I will try to explain what meditation is. In general, it can be considered a technique or set of techniques for self-regulation of the body and mind that seeks to reach a state of rest, attention, alertness, clarity, concentration ... There are different types of meditation, some of them linked to certain religions (Buddhism, Hinduism) with specific characteristics. It is common in many forms of meditation to adopt a comfortable posture, to have a deep breath, to perform it in a quiet place, etc. Perhaps one of the most famous meditation methods is Transcendental Meditation ©, created by the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. This is a type of meditation that uses mantras, which practitioners define as sounds that help the mind travel to a more relaxed state. Controversy exists around this movement, but that is not the purpose of this post. Whoever wants to know something else can look at the Transcendental Meditation® entry in the Skeptic Dictionary
Most of the different currents of meditation imply that the main benefit is the reduction of stress, which they point to as one of the great evils of industrialized societies. Many people will hear the image of the Buddhist monk with a smile from ear to ear, happier than a partridge. But there are those who have wanted to see other benefits in meditation, and there are numerous studies that try to prove them. The main problem with these studies is that they are methodologically very poor (as pointed out by Ospina et al, J Altern Complement Med. 14: 1199-213, 2008). In my opinion, one of the main failures in clinical trials is that there is no adequate control group. Thus, when systematic reviews and meta-studies of published articles are carried out,Vipassana meditation: it is one of the oldest types of meditation. All studies conducted to date to see if it has any beneficial effect are of very poor quality (Chiesa J Altern Complement Med. 16: 37-46, 2010)
Qigong for the treatment of pain: qigong is a healing art that uses body and mind exercises to restore the energy flow of chi. Obviously, this magufada does not work for the treatment of pain (and for nothing else, for sure) (Lee et al., J Pain, 10: 1121-1127, 2009).
Meditation to treat rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis: Ernst and Pozadski rate clinical trials as very poor (Curr Pain Headache Rep. 15: 431-437, 2011)
Meditation to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): due to the low number of studies, the few subjects in them and the high risk of bias in these, it can not be concluded that it is effective (Krisanaprakornkit et al., Cochrane Database Syst Rev. CD006507, 2010)
Meditation to treat asthma: there is no evidence that it is effective in the treatment of asthma (Huntley et al., Thorax, 57: 127-31, 2002)
Cognitive therapy based on meditation for the treatment of psychiatric disorders: the studies are very poor, without randomized design, with small sample sizes, and without an appropriate control group (Chiesa and Serretti, Psychiatry Res. 187: 441-53, 2011).
Transcendental Meditation © improves cognitive function and increases intelligence: there are no randomized clinical trials to support this claim (Canter and Ernst, Wien Klin Wochenschr 115: 758-66, 2003).
Transcendental Meditation © lowers blood pressure: there is no evidence in favor. All the clinical trials carried out have methodological flaws and are potentially biased by the affiliation of the authors to the Transcendental Meditation movement © (Canter and Ernst, J Hypertens., 22: 2049-54, 2004)
As you can see, all statements have been conveniently dismantled. The affirmation that with a high degree of training in Transcendental Meditation © can be achieved, I do not think it is necessary to try to dismantle it in a scientific study.
However, and despite all this madness to try to seek benefits of any kind, we will always have the effect of greater relaxation and inner peace that meditation provides, right? Remember the Buddhist monks ..
Neither. A 2007 randomized clinical trial (Jain et al., Ann Behav Med. 33: 11-21) showed that meditation is no better than simple relaxation to reduce stress levels or improve mood. A meta-study of 2009 (Krisanaprakornkit et al., Cochrane Database Syst Rev. CD004998) concluded that Transcendental Meditation © is no more effective than any other form of relaxation in reducing anxiety.