Meditation may improve both motor and non-motor symptoms in Parkinson's disease, but evidence on non-motor effects remains inconclusive. This randomized controlled trial at the National Hospital of Sri Lanka will compare an 8-week meditation program with weekly guided sessions against usual care in patients with Hoehn and Yahr stages I–III Parkinson's disease. Outcomes include motor symptoms, non-motor symptoms, cognitive function, quality of life, gait performance, and peripheral motor nerve function. The study aims to determine whether meditation can induce neuroplastic changes and enhance quality of life, potentially supporting its integration into Parkinson's disease management.
Long-term meditators in Sri Lanka, who practiced 5-25 hours per week for 3.5-25 years, showed higher mindfulness (observing, non-reactivity, acting with awareness, and total mindfulness), greater psychological resilience, and better perceived psychological and environmental quality of life compared to non-meditators matched for age, gender, and education. Meditators also reported significantly lower depression levels. The findings suggest a meditation-based lifestyle in a Sri Lankan context may be linked to improved psychological well-being, supporting further research into integrating meditation into psychotherapeutic interventions.
The nature of consciousness and the mind-body problem remain unsolved, with conventional neurophysiological methods and theories like Orchestrated Objective Reduction (Orch-OR), Higher Order Theory, Global Workspace Theory, and Integrated Information Theory having serious limitations. This theoretical work explores the connection between Quantum Mechanics and Statistical Physics by integrating Orch-OR theory and Self-Organized Criticality (SOC). SOC explains how complex systems naturally tend toward critical states, while Orch-OR posits that consciousness arises from quantum computations in neuronal microtubules. The integration proposes that microtubules function as quasi-critical systems undergoing second-order phase transitions, generating objective reduction and conscious experience. This provides a framework for how microtubules may orchestrate consciousness by integrating quantum coherence and criticality.