Exploring the Role of Melatonin in Meditation on Cardiovascular Health
Biointerface Research in Applied Chemistry February 2, 2022 DOI: 10.33263/briac131.064 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Intervention | Meditation |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Keywords | Melatonin Circadian rhythm Endocrinology Disease Cardiovascular health Mechanism biology |
| Citations | 4 |
| Key points | Proposes that meditation improves cardiac health by inducing melatonin, which regulates circadian rhythm and acts as an antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and DNA repair agent. |
Abstract
Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of disease burden globally. Sleep and cardiovascular connection represent a two-way lane. Recently, many reports have suggested that meditation practices have a beneficial effect on cardiovascular diseases. But the exact mechanism was not known. Several reports suggest that meditation induces the secretion of melatonin. The rhythm of melatonin follows a sleep pattern. Thus, the present hypothesis correlates the plausible mechanisms involved in meditation with enhancing cardiac health through melatonin synthesis. An altered modern lifestyle decreases the level of melatonin which disrupts the circadian rhythm, and subsequently, there is a high incidence of cardiovascular diseases. The disrupted cardiac energy metabolism is distorted due to altered circadian rhythm with elevated ROS. The increased level of ROS activates the inflammatory mediators' cytokines and damages the DNA, resulting in altered cardiac physiology. Melatonin regulates the circadian rhythm and acts as a silent regulator for the cardiac energy balance. Melatonin is the central player of circadian rhythm, and it protects cardiomyocytes by acting as an antioxidant, anti-inflammatory mediator, and repairing DNA damage. Meditation induces melatonin and improves cardiac health through the aforementioned mechanisms.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mindfulness: A proposed operational definition. | 2004 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Mechanisms of mindfulness | 2005 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| How Does Mindfulness Meditation Work? Proposing Mechanisms of Action From a Conceptual and Neural Perspective | 2011 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for depression | 2006 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Self-awareness, self-regulation, and self-transcendence (S-ART): a framework for understanding the neurobiological mechanisms of mindfulness | 2012 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
Citations in the library
Cites 23
- Mindfulness Meditation, Anxiety Reduction, and Heart Disease Family & Community Health 2003
- Meditation Increases the Entropy of Brain Oscillatory Activity Neuroscience February 4, 2020
- Web-Based Mindfulness Intervention in Heart Disease: A Randomized Controlled Trial PLoS One December 7, 2015
- Endogenous theta stimulation during meditation predicts reduced opioid dosing following treatment with Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement. Neuropsychopharmacology September 12, 2020
- Resting State Functional Connectivity Associated With Sahaja Yoga Meditation Frontiers in Human Neuroscience March 16, 2021
and 18 more in the library