Funny, isn't it? Watchtower management insists that meditation opens the mind to satanic occupation, or at the least, demonic influence. Yet, science is showing it's health benefits, such as lowering blood pressure, reducing stress. It actually causes physical changes in the brain. Work of demons? Here are clips from the article which appeared in the boston globe http://www.boston.com/yourlife/health/the_power_of_om/ .
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Meditation seems to energize the sleep-deprived. It seems to help with concentration. It even seems to bolster the very structure of the brain as we age.
Neuroscientists presenting their latest research at a convention of 34,000 colleagues last week
Now, using the latest high-tech tools of neuroscience and biochemistry, they are teasing out how those benefits work. And increasingly, they are focusing on how meditation may help not only the body but the brain.
''If we're going to make extraordinary claims, and claim that certain individuals can break the rules we have about human performance, the methodology has to be absolutely airtight," said Sam Moulton, a psychology graduate student at Harvard.
Among the studies presented last week was one by Massachusetts General Hospital researchers, who scanned the brains of 20 people who meditated regularly. These people had four regions of cortex -- the rind of the brain, associated with higher functions like memory and decision making -- that were thicker than in 15 subjects who didn't meditate. In addition, the researchers found signs that one area of the cortex seemed to have aged less quickly than it did in nonmeditators. The study did not look at whether those brain differences had a noticeable impact on behavior, but researchers are now doing follow-up work to assess that.
Another new study, from the University of Kentucky, found that meditation could offset the sluggishness of sleep deprivation better than a nap.
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