The Physical and Psychological Effects of Meditation
April 10, 2025 DOI: 10.58445/rars.2440 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Review |
|---|---|
| Interventions | Meditation Mindfulness meditation Zen meditation |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Citations | 14 |
| Key findings | The paper argues that meditation has both physical and psychological benefits, citing moderate evidence for reduced anxiety, stress, depression, and pain, lower blood pressure in hypertensive individuals, and improved sleep, heart function, and focus. It reports that Zen meditators had lower pain sensitivity than controls, associated with a thicker cortex, and that mindfulness meditation was linked to lower anxiety and depression. |
Abstract
The Physical and Psychological Effects of MeditationPari Patel Meditation has many physical and psychological effects on the human body.Meditation originated from ancient Eastern culture and has been practiced for centuries.Meditation back then was considered a religious practice; however, it is not necessary to be religious to meditate.Trials conducted and respected research show that meditation had moderate evidence on improving emotional symptoms such as anxiety, stress, depression, and physical symptoms such as pain (Goyal et al., 2014).Meditation was also found as an effective method of lowering hypertensive blood pressure (Hi Park & Sun Han et al., 2017).People with high blood pressure can benefit from meditation as it aids in bringing it down to a healthy level.Meditation is also proven to bring improvements on better sleep, heart function, and improved focus (Cleveland Clinic, 2024).The focus of this paper will be to explore the effects that meditation has on the human body both physically and psychologically.Meditation is an exercise which can be performed in numerous ways.The exercise is composed of an individual who focuses and expatiates on a certain material (West, 1979).That material could be a certain sound, concept, or experience (West, 1979).Originally, meditation was practiced to connect to a higher deity.Though, that has changed, allowing non-religious people to practice meditation too.Many meditation beginners use apps to help guide the journey.The most generic form of meditation is focusing on a sound or mantra.Focusing one's attention on the mantra helps exclude outside thoughts and emotions, allowing one to focus better.According to Vedic Science, meditation is when one's mind goes beyond the inner changing consciousness, which in turn, provides inner peace and calmness (Sharma, 2015).Through the process of meditation, one can achieve the liberation of pain.This pain can be both physical and psychological (Sharma, 2015).Zen meditation, a meditation technique rooted from Buddhist psychology, is associated with low sensitivity with the sensory dimensions of pain (Grant et al., 2010).In a study conducted to test how pain is affected by meditation, a group of meditators and a control group were utilized.Using the correct temperature to inflict pain, the results showed that the meditators had a lower pain sensitivity than the controls (Grant et al., 2010).The lower pain sensitivity was associated with having a thicker cortex.The cortex, or gray matter, is the brain's outer layer of nerve cells.The cortex is responsible for sensory impulses, directing motor activity, and the controlling of the higher intellectual functions (Akre, 2024).The thicker cortex in meditators was predicted because of the high number of years and hours of practice, which resulted in more gray matter.Having a thicker cortex suggests that lower pain sensitivity is present in the human body (Grant et al., 2010).Which in turn, means meditating helps to have a higher pain threshold which is useful in life.As previously mentioned, the effect of meditation can reduce pain physically.However, meditation is not only exclusive to the physical state of the body.Meditation can help reduce mental pain as well (Sharma, 2015).Mental pain can range from anxiety, depression, grief, stress, and more.As people of all ages and backgrounds can suffer from psychological pain, the effects of meditation can ease those feelings.Mindfulness meditation has been confirmed to benefit psychological pain (Myers & DeWall, 2020).Mindfulness meditation is where one attends the inner state of the body.It involves sitting down and mentally scanning the body from head to toe, focusing on each breath.A study conducted resulted in lower levels of anxiety and depression in individuals who received mindfulness meditation than those who did not (Myers & DeWall, 2020).Also, many up-to-date studies and reviews report a moderate effect of different meditation techniques on reducing emotional symptoms such as stress (Goyal et al., 2014).
Comparable studies
Other narrative reviews on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mindfulness training as a clinical intervention: A conceptual and empirical review. Clinical populations | 2003 | Review | |
| Mindfulness: Theoretical Foundations and Evidence for its Salutary Effects | 2007 | Review | |
| Mindfulness Interventions | 2016 | Review | |
| Mind the Hype: A Critical Evaluation and Prescriptive Agenda for Research on Mindfulness and Meditation | 2017 | Review | |
| Mindfulness and acceptance: expanding the cognitive-behavioral tradition | 2005 | Review |