Meditation might make you smarter

Although often associated with religion – Buddhism, in particular – meditation can be done for personal improvement and as a spiritual practice. It is a simple yet powerful technique that trains you to observe the activity of your mind without becoming involved in it.

Many meditation techniques also train you to observe other aspects of sensory experience, such as breathing

All you need to do is sit in a quiet place, eyes closed, breathing steadily and watching your thoughts come and go in a non-judgmental way. Sounds easy, right? In practice, it might be one of the most difficult things you’ll ever attempt.

Dr. Stephane Treyvaud is a psychiatrist who teaches mindfulness meditation at The Mindfulness Centre in Oakville, Ont. His students include bank directors, company owners, lawyers and other professionals.

“Meditation is a way of harnessing the power of the brain to observe the arising and passing of inner subjective experience without getting caught up in it,” he says. “We learn to use the mind to rewire the brain by working with attention and an attitude of curiosity and openness to all experiences.”

Research has shown that meditation has many positive effects, says Treyvaud: “It harmonizes the heartbeat, improves the immune system and lowers stress hormones. Anxiety and phobias disappear or become manageable, panic attacks melt away, chronic pain improves or disappears, and relationships improve significantly. Ultimately, meditation is about discovering an internal peace that’s independent of circumstances.”

People who meditate realize significant benefits in the workplace as well as in their personal lives. “They get along better with their bosses, co-workers and those who report to them,” Treyvaud says. “They become more productive and better organized, so they experience less stress. And they learn to focus on the big picture. It can be very transformative.”

Scientific research supports these assertions. A 2009 study published in the Journal of Neuroscience found that three months of intensive meditation training led to improvements in a person’s ability to sustain attention without frequent lapses.

A University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) study published in another journal, Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, in March 2012 found that meditation might make you smarter. It found that people who practised meditation techniques over the long term have larger amounts of gyrification, or folding, of the brain’s cortex than those who don’t meditate. The extra folds may allow meditators to process information faster than others.

Another UCLA study found that people who meditate have stronger connections between the regions in their brains, which also show less age-related brain shrinkage.

Mindfulness meditation has been shown to help practitioners steer clear of mental traps that inhibit problem-solving, enabling them to think in new and more effective ways. Members of the psychology department at Israel’s Ben-Gurion University of the Negev found that, after only a few weeks of training, volunteers who learned mindfulness practice were better at changing strategies for problem-solving than those who were not taught the technique.

When it comes to choosing a meditation practice, remember that one size does not fit all. There are thousands of approaches to meditation, and finding the one that best suits you may take some effort. There’s plenty of good information out there in the form of online talks and videos, as well as in books such as Buddha’s Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love and Wisdom, by Rick Hanson, and books by Vietnamese monk Thich Nhat Hanh.

Treyvaud recommends you find a good introductory class, either online or through word of mouth, to get started. Many classes are available through community resources at no charge.

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