![]() ![]() More recently, investigations have continued finding reductions in physiological parameters such as heart rate and blood pressure occur during the acute meditation practice ( Telles et al., 1995 Barnes et al., 1999 Solberg et al., 2004) as well as following practice over longer periods of time ( Barnes et al., 2004 Harinath et al., 2004). Early researchers described this pattern of autonomic responses as an integrated “relaxation response” ( Benson et al., 1974). ![]() This was based on initial reports of decreases in autonomic parameters such as heart rate, respiratory rate, blood pressure, skin conductance, and adrenergic reactivity, as well as increased levels of alpha activity in the electroencephalogram during the practice of meditation ( Wallace et al., 1971 Orme-Johnson, 1973 Beary and Benson, 1974 Farrow and Hebert, 1982 Hoffman et al., 1982 Jevning et al., 1992 Travis and Wallace, 1997 Aftanas and Golocheikine, 2002 Aftanas and Golosheykin, 2005). Traditional philosophies emphasize that anyone can learn to meditate ( Taimni, 1961), and that through repeated practice meditation provides long-term effects that outlast the confines of individual meditative states ( Nyanaponika, 1969 Ahir, 1999 Burley, 2000).Ī central tenet of early investigations into the effects of meditation has been that meditation induces a physiologically quiescent bodily state. Meditation has also been defined as involving a process of intentional self-regulation of attention, in which attention is directed from a combination of external and internal stimuli to a primarily internally perceptive state ( Astin et al., 2003 Bonadonna, 2003). Meditation is a form of mental training that has been practiced for thousands of years, and that can be conceptualized as a family of complex emotional and attentional regulatory training regimens developed for various ends, including the cultivation of well-being and emotional balance ( Davidson et al., 1976 Ekman et al., 2005 Brefczynski-Lewis et al., 2007). These results suggest that meditation is not associated with increased regulation of elevated cardiac adrenergic tone. There was no evidence at the group or individual level suggesting that meditation reduced the cardiovascular response to isoproterenol, across all measures. Heart rate was continuously measured throughout all infusions, and several measures of heart rate were derived from the instantaneous cardiac waveform. Participants received four series of infusions in a pseudorandomized order: isoproterenol while meditating (or during a relaxation condition for the non-meditators), isoproterenol while resting, saline while meditating (or during a relaxation condition for the non-meditators), and saline while resting. A total of 15 meditators and 15 non-meditators individually matched on age, sex, and body mass index were recruited. The current study was designed to explore this phenomenon empirically in a group of formally trained meditators. This effect was no longer observed when the individual received isoproterenol infusions while not meditating. ![]() In that study, while meditating, a self-taught meditator exhibited unexpected decreases in heart rate while receiving moderate intravenous doses of the beta adrenergic agonist isoproterenol. Preliminary empirical support for this idea was provided in a case report by Dimsdale and Mills (2002), where it was found that meditation seemed to regulate increased levels of cardiovascular arousal induced by bolus isoproterenol infusions. Meditation is commonly thought to induce physiologically quiescent states, as evidenced by decreased autonomic parameters during the meditation practice including reduced heart rate, respiratory rate, blood pressure, skin conductance, and increased alpha activity in the electroencephalogram. ![]()
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