Meditation can have positive effects on your gut and overall health.meditation

It’s a favorite practice of Lena Dunham, Tom Hanks, and Lady Gaga to help them stay focused and calm in their busy, distracted world.

Now, researchers have found evidence that years of frequent meditation can help transform the human gut, boost the body’s immune system, and reduce the risk of anxiety, depression, and heart disease.

In a small study of Buddhist monks, researchers found deep meditation helped regulate the gut microbiome and reduce the risk of physical and mental health conditions. Findings Featured in the Journal General Psychiatrypublished by the British Medical Journal.

“The abundant microbiota in monk is associated with lower risk of anxiety, depression, and cardiovascular disease, and may boost immune function,” the researchers wrote. , these results suggest that meditation plays a positive role in mind-body state and well-being.”

Meditation is increasingly used to treat substance abuse, traumatic stress, eating disorders, and chronic pain. However, until now it was not clear whether it could alter the composition of the gut microbiota.

To find out, researchers led by the Shanghai Department of Psychiatry health The Shanghai Jiao Tong University Medical School Center analyzed stool and blood samples from 37 Tibetan Buddhist monks from three temples and 19 secular residents from neighboring areas.

Tibetan Buddhist meditation, which has its roots in the ancient Indian medical system known as Ayurveda, is a form of psychological training, researchers say. The monks in this study practiced it for at least two hours a day for between three and thirty years.

None of the participants used drugs (antibiotics, probiotics, prebiotics, or antifungals) that could alter the abundance and diversity of gut microbes during the past 3 months. Both groups were matched for age, blood pressure, heart rate and diet.

Analysis of fecal samples revealed significant differences in microbial diversity and abundance between monks and their neighbors.

“Bacteria enriched in the meditation group at the genus level had positive effects on human physical and mental health,” the researchers wrote. It may reduce the risk of anxiety and depression and improve immune function in the body.

“Together, some bacteria enriched in the meditation group [have been] It has been associated with a reduction in mental illness, suggesting that meditation may affect certain bacteria that may be involved in mental health.

Researchers have applied advanced analytical techniques to predict chemical processes that microbes may influence. This indicates that, in addition to metabolism, several protective anti-inflammatory pathways were enhanced in monks practicing meditation.

The findings also show that meditation may lower the risk of cardiovascular disease, researchers say.

Analysis of blood samples revealed that monks had significantly lower levels of pathogens associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease than their secular neighbors.

The researchers cautioned that the study was observational, had few participants, were all male and lived at high altitudes, making it difficult to draw firm or general conclusions. could only be inferred from previously published studies, they added.

However, based on their findings, the researchers said the role of meditation in helping prevent or treat mental and physical illness deserves further study.

“These results suggest that long-term deep meditation may have beneficial effects on the gut microbiota, helping the body maintain optimal health,” the team concluded. I got

Earlier this month, Hanks, 66, revealed that he had comedian Jerry Seinfeld thank him for his love of meditation.Two-time Academy Award-winning actor On NBC’s Today show, Seinfeld, 68, told how he first encouraged him to practice.

“I was like, ‘Oh, I’ve been working. [because] I’m really tired Hanks recalled Seinfeld, 68, before suggesting meditation.

“He said, ‘No, I have to. I’ve been doing it since college. He put me in with his teacher, and it’s weird, it’s simple, it’s life-changing.

“And everyone should do it [meditate]? of course? ” Added Hanks.