The link below is from a radio interview from
TALK OF THE NATION npr News about religious and spiritual experiences affect
our brains.
Dr. Andrew Newberg is the author of
"Principles of Neurotheology," and he is the director of research at
the Myrna Brind Center of Integrative Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University
Hospital and Medical College. He
studies the relationship between the brain and religious experience. In his
research, he scanned people’s brains while they are meditating or praying and
then he compared what was going on in their brains at that point to what is
happening in their brain when they're at rest.
He approached that by using SPECT imaging technique that requires putting in a small
intravenous catheter in a mediator’s arm. During meditation, he infuses a small
amount of radioactive material in order to process images of the brain while
meditating. Dr.Newberg found that people who engage in religious and spiritual practices have more active areas in
their brains. He also found that during meditation “blood flow increase in the
frontal cortex, the place where we are focusing on problems, and decrease in
other areas of the brain”. These changes “help to lower the level of anxiety
and depression and make us feel better”. They also help us to stay calm even
after the meditation.
What do you think of his finding?
For people who meditate or engage in religious practices have you experience
the same outcome (feeling calm, positive or energetic after mediating) ?
