Meditation practices associated with Buddhism bring positive impact to human physiology and behavior, new research shows.
Experts at the National University of Singapore explained that meditation practiced in the Vajrayana and Theravada sects of Buddhism improve cognitive performance.
Previous research has shown that meditation relaxes the mind, but few studies have categorized meditation based on focused or distributed attentional systems. Additionally, none of the positive aspects of these kinds of meditation have been proven scientifically.
In this study, researchers focused on four kinds of meditation practices: two types of Vajrayana meditations (Tibetan Buddhism) practices (visualisation of self-generation-as-Deity and Rig-pa) and two types of Theravada practices (Shamatha and Vipassana).
The research team gathered electrocardiographic and electroencephalographic responses to measure behavioral performances for cognitive tasks in those who practiced these meditations.
Researchers found that physiological responses during the Theravada meditation had stark variations from the Vajrayana meditation. Theravada meditation induced enhanced parasympathetic activation - also known as relaxation. Vajrayana meditation triggered the activation of the sympathetic system despite not showing any evidence of parasympathetic activity.
The findings showed Vajrayana meditation could be especially useful in situations where an individual requires to perform best, such as during competition or in states of urgency. The Theravada style of meditation also reduces stress, releases tension and promotes deep relaxation.
"Vajrayana meditation typically requires years of practice, so we are also looking into whether it is also possible to acquire the beneficial effects of brain performance by practicing certain essential elements of the meditation. This would provide an effective and practical method for non-practitioners to quickly increase brain performance in times of need," said associate professor Maria Kozhevnikov.
The study has been published in the journal PLOS One.
