The Meditation Conundrum - The Lack of Good Science, but an Ancient Practice that Feels Good Anyway

Last week, I wrote about the body’s exquisite homeostasis and how we need to question what we put in our body and how we use our body and mind. We need to be cognizant about what we put inside our bodies, especially when it comes to drugs and supplements…as also what we do with our body and mind.

That physical activity is a cornerstone of healthful ageing, allowing us to live long, healthy has been proven multiple times over with well-conducted studies, both observational and randomized controlled. Like with drugs, even physical activity can have adverse events, mainly in the form of injuries, and we need to be judicious and careful about how much we push our body…but push we must.

A year ago, I wrote about how positive psychological well-being is supposed to improve cardiovascular health. The mind and the body are both connected, a concept of dualism that has been known to man since time immemorial but underwent a split in the Western world in the 17^th century starting with Rene Descartes and then laid the ground for modern medicine that for many decades assumed that the mind and body were two separate systems to be managed independently, as against most traditional medicine concepts that have always managed people holistically.

So how do we keep our mind healthy? Physical activity makes a big difference, as does increasing cognitive reserve with education and learning. To some extent, exercising the mind with puzzles and games along with reading, also help.

And then comes meditation.

Meditation has many forms, ranging from “Samatha” meditation to vipassana meditation, to mindfulness, Zen, raja yoga, loving kindness, chanting, transcendental meditation and others. Meditation, especially since the 1960s, when it hit the Western world with the Beatles and other celebrities and then was re-exported to India has been touted to be able to do many things…from reducing stress, to treating addictions, to controlling blood pressure and blood sugar levels, to improving overall health and to allowing us to live long and healthy.

If we use the same parameters of data and science that we use to question the efficacy of supplements, meditation falls short significantly [1]. Most so-called scientific studies quoted in the literature have been biased and badly designed. Popular books have been more influential, but again are based on unclear science and the power of suggestion of the author…the more famous the author, the more likely that the benefits of meditation impress themselves on the person reading the book.

Virtually all the suggestions and recommendations that I make as part of our atmasvasth quest to live long, healthy are based on reasonable robust science and data. With meditation, I will need to fall back on the Lindy effect that I alluded to during the discussion on vitamin B12, to say that if a practice has existed for a few thousand years, it is likely to exist for a few thousand more and that while we may not have the data to show us clearly the health benefits of meditation, maybe that is the fault of our science that has been unable to perform the studies correctly, rather than the fault of meditation.

I meditate almost everyday, using an app called Headspace, doing a 15-minutes semi-guided session that incorporates a body scan and a series of positive affirmations and then focussed meditation. The meditation session helps get my day started well, pushes down negative thoughts and helps me work well through the day. Sometimes, if the day has been tough, I may add a second session in the evening, often coupled with light yoga.

But has it helped me with blood pressure control (I have normal blood pressure) or my blood sugar? I have no way of knowing. Is the meditation going to improve my healthspan and lifespan? I hope so, but I don’t know. Is my feeling good a placebo effect? Do I feel good, because I believe that meditation is supposed to make me feel good and so I feel good mentally simply because I sit down still for 15 minutes? I don’t have answers.

Meditation in some form or the other has been around for at least 2600 years if not more. If it didn’t help, it would have petered off, like so many practices that haven't survived beyond a few years or decades. This is the one time that I would disregard the lack of robust data and accept the fact that because modern medicine is so reductionist and does not deal with humans holistically the way many forms of traditional medicine do, perhaps we need to accept meditation and its potential benefits and use it regularly as part of our atmasvasth quest to live long healthy and hope for a day when the science catches up with our beliefs that it works.

Like with everything we do, meditation too can have adverse effects and if you find your behavior changing for the worse, you need to stop or change your method of meditation.

So what should you and I do? You should try to meditate, preferably with a teacher.  If it works for you and improves your life, even if it is just a subjective feeling of mental or even physical well-being, then go for it. If it doesn’t seem to work initially, give it time and meditate for at least a few months before deciding either way.

If however, even for a second, you find that meditation is worsening your physical or mental well-being, then you need to stop, without feeling guilty.

It may also help to try and find a teacher or “guru”, who really knows what they are doing and can guide you through the practice. I haven’t found one as yet, but hey…who knows what the future will bring.

Footnotes

1. Van Dam NT et al.Mind the Hype: A Critical Evaluation and Prescriptive Agenda for Research on Mindfulness and Meditation. Persp Psychol Sci 2018;13:36