Cardiorespiratory and autonomic-nervous-system functioning of drug abusers treated by Zen meditation.
Pei-Chen Lo, Ping-Hsien Tsai, Hui-Jane Kang, Wu Jue Miao Tian
Journal of Traditional and Complementary Medicine September 28, 2018 DOI: 10.1016/j.jtcme.2018.01.005 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 18 |
| Population | Voluntary drug addicts undergoing rehabilitation at the Holistic Detox Association in Taiwan, including one participant with a heart transplant |
| Duration | 10-minute Zen meditation session |
| Measures | SDNN, RMSSD, pNN50, respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), Poincaré Plot Analysis (SD1, SD2, SD2/SD1) |
| Topics | Buddhism Meditation |
| Keywords | Heart rate variability Drug addiction Respiratory sinus arrhythmia Cardiorespiratory interaction Zen meditation |
| Key findings | During a 10-minute abdominal-respiration Zen meditation session, about two-thirds of 18 drug addicts showed significant improvement in autonomic nervous system function. Group-average respiratory sinus arrhythmia increased from 33.43 ms at rest to 69.14 ms during meditation, and Poincaré-plot indices SD1, SD2 and SD2/SD1 improved by 14.7%, 19.8% and 8.8% respectively. The authors propose these cardiorespiratory changes indicate a positive on-site effect of Zen meditation relevant to drug rehabilitation. |
Abstract
Addicted drugs like nicotine affect autonomic nervous system that results in arrhythmia and other cardiovascular diseases. Notable effects of Zen meditation on autonomic nervous system have been reported during the past decade. Holistic Detox Association (HDA) in Taiwan offered Zen-meditation program to drug addicts as the core scheme among a variety of drug addiction treatments. This paper reports the results of quantifying the cardiorespiratory interactions and autonomic nervous system function to evaluate the on-site effect of Zen meditation on drug rehab. Methods and schemes for quantifying time-domain heart rate variability were employed to electrocardiograph and respiratory signals. Peak-valley method was developed to quantify the respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) behavior. Poincaré Plot Analysis was adopted to evaluate the cardiorespiratory functioning. Among 18 voluntary drug addicts during the 10-minute Zen meditation session, about two-third subjects have significant improvement in autonomic nervous system function characterized by heart rate variability (SDNN, RMSSD and pNN50). Group average of RSA increases from 33.43 ms(Rest) to 69.14 ms(AR Zen meditation). Poincaré-plot analysis reveals the improvement of SD1, SD2 and SD2/SD1 by respectively 14.7%, 19.8% and 8.8%. The group averages of all the parameters exhibit significantly positive changes in the 10-minute session of abdominal-respiration Zen meditation. Even the subject with heart transplant showed the improvement of all the quantitative indicators during the AR Zen meditation.
Comparable studies
Other observational and cohort studies on buddhism, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| AN ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAPHIC STUDY ON THE ZEN MEDITATION (ZAZEN) Zen priests and disciples of Zen sects of Buddhism | 1966 | Observational study | n = 48 |
| “Thinking about Not-Thinking”: Neural Correlates of Conceptual Processing during Zen Meditation Regular Zen practitioners and matched control subjects | 2008 | Observational cohort | |
| Individual Trait Anxiety Levels Characterizing the Properties of Zen Meditation Healthy adults who had not previously practiced any form of meditation | 2004 | Observational cohort | n = 22 |
| Zen meditation, Length of Telomeres, and the Role of Experiential Avoidance and Compassion 20 Zen meditation experts and 20 healthy matched non-meditators | 2016 | Observational cohort | n = 40 |
| EEG dynamics of experienced Zen meditation practitioners probed by complexity index and spectral measure Experienced Zen meditation practitioners and matched controls | 2009 | Observational cohort | n = 46 |
Citations in the library
Cited by 3
- Heart rate variability during mindful breathing meditation Frontiers in Physiology January 23, 2023
- Comparison of Spatio-Spectral Properties of Zen-Meditation and Resting EEG Based on Unsupervised Learning Journal of Behavioral and Brain Science 2021
- Immediate Effects of Mindfulness Meditation on the Voice. Journal of voice : official journal of the Voice Foundation May 2025