Meditation changes genes

It is New Year’s Eve and people all over the globe are contemplating resolutions to change their behaviour for the better. These good intentions of course will probably have withered on the vine by the rising of the sun on January 2nd. New Year’s resolutions require fundamental personal change and that requires more than an intention, it also requires the tools to make those changes. If you haven’t changed yourself before, don’t know yourself, and have not done the groundwork to build skills for change then simply “wanting” to make change won’t make a difference. If that is a daunting thought, then here is an encouraging one; research has shown that meditation can change you in the most fundamental way possible because it can change the way that your genes are expressed.

For the study researchers compared the effects of eight hours (done consecutively) of mindful meditation done by a group of experienced meditators to a group of untrained subjects who engaged in eight hours of quiet, non-meditating activities.

After the eight hours the meditators showed a reduced levels of the inflammation causing genes RIPK2 and COX2. Additionally, the degree to which these genes were down-regulated by meditation translated into less production of the stress hormone cortisol when the subjects were asked to make an impromptu speech.

There were no such changes in gene expression in the group who undertook quiet activities. Also, in tests done before the eight hour study there was no difference in gene expression between the groups. So it appears that just eight hours of meditation is enough to alter your genetic expression in such a way that inflammation is reduced and your response to stress is enhanced.

Now there is something to meditate on as you contemplate your New Year’s resolution.