<p>The Buddhist teaching revolves around 2 main pillars:</p>

<ul>
<li>Stress</li>
<li>The way out of Stress</li>
</ul>

<p>So the psychological effect of practicing mindfulness meditation is that your come out of stress. This in turn would have physical benefits also. Also <a href="http://blog.ted.com/2013/01/11/4-scientific-studies-on-how-meditation-can-affect-your-heart-brain-and-creativity/" rel="nofollow">4 scientific studies on how meditation can affect your heart, brain and creativity</a> gives reference to some research on the physiological effects of meditation. Also <a href="http://www.ted.com/playlists/204/slow_down_enjoy_life" rel="nofollow">Slow down! Enjoy life</a> touches on both physiological and psychological benefits. Always the physiological and psychological benefits are always interrelated as we are dealing with Namarupa.</p>

<p>Another aspect of Buddhist meditation is that when you do Vipassana, your old fabrication / conditioning / karma surfaces as sensations and then pass away. If the you have a physical illness which is either psychosomatic in nature or Karmic in nature there is a chance that it might be heal by the passing away of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karma_in_Buddhism" rel="nofollow">Karmic</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sa%E1%B9%85kh%C4%81ra" rel="nofollow">conditioning</a> which might be causing the disorder. </p>

<p>Following additional references also may be of value (This is more on psychology but this has a knock on effect on physiology):</p>

<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.coursera.org/course/psychbuddhism" rel="nofollow">Buddhism and Modern Psychology</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.coursera.org/course/meditation" rel="nofollow">Buddhist Meditation and the Modern World</a></li>
</ul>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-09-04T14:17:39.390Z
Thanks for the answer but it's physiological not psychological so effects on body not mind. Appreciate that might be grey area but more thinking about blood pressure, breathing or perhaps the actual structure of the brain
Crab Bucket
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-09-04T14:57:06.077Z
Is this compatible with the question now?
Suminda Sirinath S. Dharmasena
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-09-04T10:59:14.850Z
2014-12-07T06:08:03.120Z
2014-12-07T06:08:03.120Z
Suminda Sirinath S. Dharmasena
<p>This is a bit technical, but shows the positive effects from meditating in some key hormones we produce related to health and stress. I was discussing it with my girlfriend (she is endocrinologist and not buddhist) and she was quite surprised with it.</p>

<p>If you want you can skip to the end of the text to see the conclusion</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>" Previous studies of the Transcendental Meditation (TM) technique as
  a possible means of countering effects of stress have reported altered
  levels of several hormones both during the practice and longitudinally
  after regular practice of this technique. In this prospective, random
  assignment study, changes in baseline levels and acute responses to
  laboratory stressors were examined for four hormones-cortisol, growth
  hormone, thyroid-stimulating hormone and testosterone-before and after
  4 months of either the TM technique or a stress education control
  condition. At pre- and post-test, blood was withdrawn continuously
  through an indwelling catheter, and plasma or serum samples were
  frozen for later analysis by radioimmunoassay. The results showed
  significantly different changes for the two groups, or trends toward
  significance, for each hormone over the 4 months. In the TM group, but
  not in the controls, basal cortisol level and average cortisol across
  the stress session decreased from pre- to post-test. Cortisol
  responsiveness to stressors, however, increased in the TM group
  compared to controls. The baselines and/or stress responsiveness for
  TSH and GH changed in opposite directions for the groups, as did the
  testosterone baseline. Overall, the cortisol and testosterone results
  appear to support previous data suggesting that repeated practice of
  the TM technique reverses effects of chronic stress significant for
  health."</p>
</blockquote>

<p>source <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/9226731/" rel="nofollow">http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/9226731/</a></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-09-04T15:34:51.247Z
2014-09-04T16:06:19.017Z
2014-09-04T16:06:19.017Z
konrad01
<p>I was meditating on the breath recently and I noticed that my breath slowed to a significant extent (not a huge insight admittedly). So this made me wonder if anyone has measured the effects of mindfulness type meditations on the body while the person is meditating. For instance what is the affect on breath rate, blood pressure, heart rate, the hormonal system and so forth.</p>

<science><meditation-breath><meditation-body>
What are the physiological effects of mindfulness based meditation?
# What are the physiological effects of mindfulness based meditation?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2014-08-22)

I was meditating on the breath recently and I noticed that my breath slowed to a significant extent (not a huge insight admittedly). So this made me wonder if anyone has measured the effects of mindfulness type meditations on the body while the person is meditating. For instance what is the affect on breath rate, blood pressure, heart rate, the hormonal system and so forth.

**Tags:** science, meditation-breath, meditation-body


---

## 2 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2014-09-04. Score: 4 | Accepted answer

This is a bit technical, but shows the positive effects from meditating in some key hormones we produce related to health and stress. I was discussing it with my girlfriend (she is endocrinologist and not buddhist) and she was quite surprised with it.

If you want you can skip to the end of the text to see the conclusion

> " Previous studies of the Transcendental Meditation (TM) technique as
> a possible means of countering effects of stress have reported altered
> levels of several hormones both during the practice and longitudinally
> after regular practice of this technique. In this prospective, random
> assignment study, changes in baseline levels and acute responses to
> laboratory stressors were examined for four hormones-cortisol, growth
> hormone, thyroid-stimulating hormone and testosterone-before and after
> 4 months of either the TM technique or a stress education control
> condition. At pre- and post-test, blood was withdrawn continuously
> through an indwelling catheter, and plasma or serum samples were
> frozen for later analysis by radioimmunoassay. The results showed
> significantly different changes for the two groups, or trends toward
> significance, for each hormone over the 4 months. In the TM group, but
> not in the controls, basal cortisol level and average cortisol across
> the stress session decreased from pre- to post-test. Cortisol
> responsiveness to stressors, however, increased in the TM group
> compared to controls. The baselines and/or stress responsiveness for
> TSH and GH changed in opposite directions for the groups, as did the
> testosterone baseline. Overall, the cortisol and testosterone results
> appear to support previous data suggesting that repeated practice of
> the TM technique reverses effects of chronic stress significant for
> health."

source <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/9226731/>


---

### Answer by username_1 on 2014-09-04. Score: 1

The Buddhist teaching revolves around 2 main pillars:

* Stress
* The way out of Stress

So the psychological effect of practicing mindfulness meditation is that your come out of stress. This in turn would have physical benefits also. Also [4 scientific studies on how meditation can affect your heart, brain and creativity](http://blog.ted.com/2013/01/11/4-scientific-studies-on-how-meditation-can-affect-your-heart-brain-and-creativity/) gives reference to some research on the physiological effects of meditation. Also [Slow down! Enjoy life](http://www.ted.com/playlists/204/slow_down_enjoy_life) touches on both physiological and psychological benefits. Always the physiological and psychological benefits are always interrelated as we are dealing with Namarupa.

Another aspect of Buddhist meditation is that when you do Vipassana, your old fabrication / conditioning / karma surfaces as sensations and then pass away. If the you have a physical illness which is either psychosomatic in nature or Karmic in nature there is a chance that it might be heal by the passing away of the [Karmic](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karma_in_Buddhism) [conditioning](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sa%E1%B9%85kh%C4%81ra) which might be causing the disorder.

Following additional references also may be of value (This is more on psychology but this has a knock on effect on physiology):

* [Buddhism and Modern Psychology](https://www.coursera.org/course/psychbuddhism)
* [Buddhist Meditation and the Modern World](https://www.coursera.org/course/meditation)

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Thanks for the answer but it's physiological not psychological so effects on body not mind. Appreciate that might be grey area but more thinking about blood pressure, breathing or perhaps the actual structure of the brain  
> **username_1**: Is this compatible with the question now?  

---

