Re: OT - Brain Scans Show That Buddhists Really Are Happier!
From: Dr. Andrew B. Chung, MD/PhD (andrew_at_heartmdphd.com)
Date: 08/29/04
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Date: Sun, 29 Aug 2004 15:53:17 -0400
Mozz wrote:
>
> LONDON (Reuters) - Buddhists really are happy, calm and serene people
> -- at least according to their brain scans.
Brain scans are not very useful for evaluating emotions.
> Using latest scanning techniques, neuroscientists have discovered that
> certain areas of the brain light up constantly in Buddhists, and not
> just when they are meditating, which indicates positive emotions and
> good mood.
When areas of the brain light up in a PET scan, that indicates activity
and not necessarily emotions.
> "We can now hypothesise with some confidence that those apparently
> happy, calm Buddhist souls one regularly comes across in places such
> as Dharamsala, India, really are happy," Professor Owen Flanagan, of
> Duke University in North Carolina, said on Wednesday.
For a scientist, to hypothesise means to guess. There are no confidence
intervals for guesses.
> Dharamsala is the home base of exiled Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama.
>
> The scanning studies by scientists at the University of Wisconsin at
> Madison showed activity in the left prefrontal lobes of experienced
> Buddhist practitioners. The area is linked to positive emotions,
> self-control and temperament.
These areas are also linked to ego.
> Other research by Paul Ekman, of the University of California San
> Francisco Medical Centre, suggests that meditation and mindfulness can
> tame the amygdala, an area of the brain which is the hub of fear
> memory.
Meditation for a Christian (and other spiritually minded people) is
prayer. This may be mediated by endorphins (which can also arise from
regular physical exercise) known to affect the amydala.
> Ekman discovered that experienced Buddhists were less likely to be
> shocked, flustered, surprised or as angry as other people.
I would be interested in knowing how they determined a Buddhist was
experienced or not. I would also be interested to know about these
"other people" who were presumably controls (for example, are these
folks sedentary, did they pray, etc).
> Flanagan believes that if the findings of the studies can be confirmed
> they could be of major importance.
I do not believe they have been confirmed. However, there have been
studies that have confirmed the positive effects of prayer.
> "The most reasonable hypothesis is that there is something about
> conscientious Buddhist practice that results in the kind of happiness
> we all seek," Flanagan said in a report in New Scientist magazine.
The changes in the left prefrontal cortex of those who meditate/pray may
have nothing to do with feelings of happiness but more to do with
exercising the ego (self-control).
Would be interesting to see if prayer/meditation might help those with
complications arising from either diabetes and/or obesity.
Servant to the humblest person in the universe,
Andrew
-- Dr. Andrew B. Chung, MD/PhD Board-Certified Cardiologist http://www.heartmdphd.com/ ** Who is the humblest person in the universe? http://makeashorterlink.com/?L26062048 What is all this about? http://makeashorterlink.com/?R20632B48 Is this spam? http://makeashorterlink.com/?N69721867
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