1. Remarkable Calmness and Tranquility
Their first study focused on the left-to-right frontal cortex activity frequency of Aoser. Happier individuals tend to have higher left-to-right brain activity, with more neural pathways in the left frontal cortex than in the right. The more you are happy at this frequency, the more active it becomes, and additionally, the left-to-right frequency indicates how quickly you can recover from stress, both mentally and physically.
When comparing Aoser's frequency with a sample of 175 people, his frequency was off the charts.
This extreme asymmetry in frontal cortex activity frequency indicates a high degree of calmness, tranquility, and resistance to frustration.
2. Mastery of Body Language
Paul Ekman revolutionized our understanding of emotions and facial expressions. The main character in the TV show "Lie to Me" is based on his research. Ekman was the first to identify what he called "microexpressions"—subtle facial expressions that reveal our true emotions, measured in milliseconds.
Ekman monitored this ability to detect microexpressions in hundreds of individuals, including FBI agents, clinical psychologists, and college students. However, the tests done on Aoser showed results that were beyond their expectations.
3. Ability to Recognize Emotions
The ability to recognize emotions in others is related to the level of empathy. If Aoser excels at detecting these subtle emotions, his empathy level would also be much higher than that of others tested.
4. Exceptional Cognitive Ability
Empathy alone would not have been sufficient to perceive these ultra-subtle expressions. These expressions last only fractions of a second. Aoser’s mind must be exceptionally sharp, focused, and quick in capturing and processing these expressions, much faster than other individuals tested.
5. No Surprise Response
Ekman has studied people's reactions to surprise for decades. The surprise response typically occurs when there is a loud noise or other surprising events, causing an immediate reaction. I'm sure you've experienced it—an involuntary blink that happens in milliseconds, a natural response.
This reaction was observed in almost everyone, even among police officers and women. Despite training their shooting skills, they would still blink slightly when a gunshot occurred, startled by the sound. Everyone experienced it. However, Aoser was the first person, as recorded, to suppress the surprise response. When he meditates, he is so relaxed and focused on his practice that nothing surprises him.
Since the intensity of the surprise reaction is strongly correlated with the level of unease, this topic has profound significance.
6. Exceptional Negotiation Skills
The practice of meditation not only influenced Aoser but also everyone who interacted with him. Aoser sat down with Western scientists to discuss controversial topics, such as why scientists should abandon their work to become lamas or experiment with reincarnation. During one of these conversations, Aoser spoke with two scientists.
The first was a relaxed scientist, and their conversation was pleasant and calm. Then, they switched to a much more argumentative and intolerant scientist for another discussion. The results were curious. The scientist said:
"I can't go against him. I always see his point and his smile. It's like an unstoppable force. I feel something like a shadow or aura around him that prevents me from being confrontational."
The scientist became so calm and friendly, an outcome no one could have predicted. Aoser's extreme calmness had an impact on him—emotions are contagious.
7. Reduced Anxiety
There are a few questions in Aoser's research. The sample size was very small, and the study shows correlation, not causation (it could also be genetic). Aoser is a lama, and not everyone has 30 years of meditation experience.
This is also why Jon Kabat-Zinn's research is significant.
Kabat-Zinn designed an experiment where participants were divided into a control group and an experimental group. The control group signed up for a mindfulness meditation class but remained on a waiting list. The experimental group compared to the control group actually participated in the meditation class. This course lasted for 8 weeks, with participants meditating for an average of 45 minutes per day, doing some yoga, mindful breathing, body scanning, and attending workshops to explain meditation.
In this experiment, Kabat-Zinn concluded that the benefits of meditation are not limited to lamas. After just 8 weeks, the participants who took the meditation course showed significant changes in both their psychological and physiological states.
The first major change was a noticeable reduction in anxiety levels compared to the control group.
The second was an improvement in their mood.
8. Better Mood
Additionally, they scanned the participants' brains. Similar to Aoser, the left-to-right frontal cortex activity frequency changed in the meditation group compared to the control group. They proved that positive emotions increased, and negative emotions decreased.
9. Stronger Immune System
Kabat-Zinn also injected participants with a cold virus to observe how their immune systems responded. Those who participated in the meditation class had stronger immune systems and recovered more quickly.
So, the benefits of meditation are not limited to psychological effects, but also extend to physiological health. Kabat-Zinn's experiment, along with Aoser's research, helped draw global and scientific attention to their findings.
10. Improved Decision-Making
Imagine you're betting on a slot machine. You’ve spent $50, and after an hour of betting, you haven't won a single penny, but you're still just one spin away from hitting the $10,000 jackpot. The problem is, you’ve just spent your last $50.
Even though you’ve spent a lot of time and money, you might think that rather than letting all your efforts go to waste, you should spend another $10 to at least recover some of your losses. Surely, someone is bound to win, right?
This line of thinking is irrational (though it seems simple when it’s not your money). For those with a more rational mindset, this is called the "sunk cost fallacy." This subtle form of cognitive distortion occurs because pessimism impacts our decision-making. Whether you're sinking money into a failing business or enduring a movie you don't like simply because you paid for the ticket, we can avoid these pitfalls.
Just 15 minutes of breath-focused meditation can help organize our brains and lead to smarter decisions. By centering our attention on the present moment, we can think clearly about our choices and avoid the distortions caused by reflecting on past events.
11. Delaying Neurodegenerative Diseases
A study from a medical research center in Israel suggests that brain changes related to meditation and stress reduction could play a significant role in age-related neurodegenerative disorders, such as Parkinson's and dementia.
After undergoing an 8-week mindfulness-based stress reduction program, participants with Parkinson's disease showed less cognitive decline compared to the control group. They also reported higher levels of well-being, which, in turn, improved their recovery process.
12. Enhanced Creativity
Creativity consists of two main components: divergent thinking—coming up with many ideas—and convergent thinking—combining many ideas into a moment of insight.
In a study conducted by cognitive psychologist Lorenza Colzato and his research team at Leiden University, they investigated the effects of two different types of meditation on divergent and convergent thinking. They found that meditation improved both types of thinking. Interestingly, the type of meditation had a specific effect on the kind of creative thinking. Free association meditation enhanced divergent thinking, showing better results compared to focused attention meditation.
13. Improved Learning Speed
Professor Robert Youmans from George Mason University and Ph.D. student Jared Ramsburg from the University of Illinois asked selected students to meditate before a lecture and compared them with a control group who did not meditate.
They found that brief meditation helped the students concentrate and better retain the lecture content, showing that meditation can enhance the speed of learning.
14. Lowered Blood Pressure
High blood pressure increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases, stroke, congestive heart failure, and kidney disease. Research has shown that transcendental meditation is as effective as certain types of antihypertensive medications, without any negative side effects.
They compared transcendental meditation with other relaxation methods and found that it was the only one that significantly reduced blood pressure. Other types of meditation might have similar effects, but more research is needed to confirm these findings.
15. Extended Attention Span
Those with meditation experience know that maintaining attention on a single task for an extended period is challenging. Externally, sitting in a quiet room and focusing on your breath may seem simple, but Buddhists refer to meditation as a "training method for the mind" for a reason.
In one of the most comprehensive meditation studies to date, researchers selected 60 participants and divided them into two groups. One group was a control group, while the other participated in a three-month meditation retreat. Those who attended the retreat showed a continuous improvement in attention during a 30-minute attention test, and these results were maintained for up to five months.
Meditation helps you focus and sustain attention even in the face of monotonous stimuli, which is linked to faster learning and better work performance.
16. Reduced Feelings of Loneliness
Feelings of loneliness and social isolation can harm both our physical and mental health, particularly in older adults.
In a research project led by J. David Creswell at Carnegie Mellon University, 40 elderly participants were studied. The results showed that after eight weeks of 30-minute daily meditation sessions, not only did feelings of loneliness decrease, but the risk of inflammatory diseases also diminished.
The researchers noted that training the mind is just as important as training your biceps in the gym.
17. Overcoming Addiction and Cravings
In a study at the University of Oregon, researchers recruited volunteers who wanted to reduce stress and improve their work performance. However, the real focus of the study was on how meditation might influence smoking behavior. The participants were unaware of this focus, yet the results were remarkable: they reduced their smoking by about 60%.
Meditation did not force participants to quit smoking directly; rather, it improved their self-control and emotional regulation. Changing their bad habits was a byproduct of these improvements.
18. Higher Pain Threshold
A study at the University of Montreal involving 13 experienced meditators, each with at least 1,000 hours of practice, compared them with a control group that had no meditation habits to see if habitual meditation affected their pain threshold.
The participants were subjected to a heat probe placed on their calves to measure their pain response. The meditators showed an 18% reduction in pain. In an extreme example, a self-immolating monk remained motionless, demonstrating remarkable pain tolerance.
19. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Our brain's resilience allows us to continuously improve and expand our perspective. However, in some cases, our brains can change instantaneously to the worst state possible. This is known as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)—a significant stressor that rewires our neural pathways, preventing the brain’s resilience from working. Meditation, however, can help change this.
In a study at the University of Michigan, veterans with PTSD who participated in an 8-week mindfulness meditation program showed significant improvement. 73% of the participants reported marked improvements, while only 33% in the general group showed similar progress.
20. Deep Sleep
In a study with 11 insomnia patients aged 25 to 45, daytime relaxation techniques led to improvements in their nighttime sleep quality. The time it took to fall asleep, overall sleep duration, waking times, sleep efficiency, and quality of sleep all showed significant improvement, along with reductions in depression levels.
21. Improved Auditory Perception
In a study at the University of Oregon, music students underwent 15 minutes of guided meditation before listening to a 10-minute opera. Their emotional responses, such as heightened feelings of euphoria and immersion, were compared to a group that did not meditate.
Overall, 97% of the participants who meditated experienced one or more moments of flow or aesthetic response. Among 69 mindfulness topics discussed, 64% of participants reported that meditation enhanced their auditory experience.
Attention can be manipulated: by focusing our brain on the present moment, we can hear what is actually there, rather than what we expect.
22. Visual-Spatial Memory
When our gaze briefly passes over objects, our attention can only be sustained for a few seconds. This is why artists often have to repeatedly observe and re-check before completing their artwork. However, there are reports that some monks can store complex images in their minds for minutes at a time.
In 2009, a study on whether visual-spatial memory could be improved was conducted. Participants who practiced yoga and then meditated showed significant improvements in their visual-spatial memory, being able to retain and recall images with greater clarity.
23. Compassion
A person without compassion is incomplete. In Buddhism, compassion extends to both oneself and others. To have compassion only for others, without it for oneself, is considered absurd.
A study conducted at the Northeast University of Technology in the United States showed that we can all cultivate compassion, even after just a brief meditation session. Participants showed a 50% increase in their compassion levels.
24. Resisting Distractions
Studies conducted at multiple medical universities have shown that meditation can increase alpha brain waves, which helps reduce distracting information in the mind. If you find it easy to be distracted by small things, meditation can help you focus your attention and block out other stimuli.
25. Autonomic Nervous System Control
Your autonomic nervous system operates outside of your conscious control; it functions spontaneously. You don’t know how much work your immune system needs to do in response to a danger. Moreover, few people engage in meditation as consistently as Wim Hof.
He is able to endure extreme cold that would be lethal to most people. The Radboud University in Nijmegen, Netherlands, conducted a study on him, injecting him with bacteria while he meditated to observe his immune system’s response. He was able to suppress his immune response by 50% compared to 240 other participants. He experienced minimal cold-like symptoms and reduced inflammation. Wim Hof is truly a superhuman, and he credits these abilities to his meditation practice.
26. Clearer Skin
A recent study suggests that stress may contribute to skin inflammation, such as acne and psoriasis. Since meditation is known to reduce stress, it can indirectly help alleviate skin inflammation.
Conclusion:
Although I’ve only listed 26 benefits of meditation here, in reality, there may be as many as 100. New research continues to emerge, showing how meditation improves not only our lives but also the lives of those around us. Meditation has a 2,500-year history, but it wasn’t truly appreciated until a small group of psychologists had the courage to bring ancient practices into modern testing.
So, why not start meditating today?
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