Meditation and vacation effects have an impact on disease-associated molecular phenotypes

Abstract

Meditation is becoming increasingly practiced, especially for stress-related medical conditions. Meditation may improve cellular health; however, studies have not separated out effects of meditation from vacation-like effects in a residential randomized controlled trial. We recruited healthy women non-meditators to live at a resort for 6 days and randomized to either meditation retreat or relaxing on-site, with both groups compared with ‘regular meditators' already enrolled in the retreat. Blood drawn at baseline and post intervention was assessed for transcriptome-wide expression patterns and aging-related biomarkers. Highly significant gene expression changes were detected across all groups (the ‘vacation effect') that could accurately predict (96% accuracy) between baseline and post-intervention states and were characterized by improved regulation of stress response, immune function and amyloid beta (Aβ) metabolism. Although a smaller set of genes was affected, regular meditators showed post-intervention differences in a gene network characterized by lower regulation of protein synthesis and viral genome activity. Changes in well-being were assessed post intervention relative to baseline, as well as 1 and 10 months later. All groups showed equivalently large immediate post-intervention improvements in well-being, but novice meditators showed greater maintenance of lower distress over time compared with those in the vacation arm. Regular meditators showed a trend toward increased telomerase activity compared with randomized women, who showed increased plasma Aβ42/Aβ40 ratios and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) levels. This highly controlled residential study showed large salutary changes in gene expression networks due to the vacation effect, common to all groups. For those already trained in the practice of meditation, a retreat appears to provide additional benefits to cellular health beyond the vacation effect.

Meditation and Cardiovascular Risk Reduction

“…A growing body of research has examined the mechanisms by which meditation alters the physiological response to stress, with salivary cortisol the most commonly studied biomarker and a few exploring salivary amylase, proinflammatory cytokines (ie, interleukin‐6), or telomerase activity. Overall, findings from these studies have been mixed, with some demonstrating improvements in physiological parameters with meditation and others finding no changes …”

“…Several recent studies have focused on the impact of meditation on proteomic and genomic regulators of the physiological stress response . Although unique gene expression profiles have been noted with meditation, their association with established physiological parameters is unknown .…”

All Wrapped Up: Environmental Effects on Myelination

“…Like music, meditation offers a wealth of benefits for the body and mind [112,113,114]. Many of these effects on physical and mental health involve alterations in WM.…”

Doctor’s Orders: Life’s Healthier with Travel and Play Breaks

“…Elissa Epel of the University of California at San Francisco discussed the "vacation effect" shown in a study that randomized participants in either a relaxing poolside resort experience or a mindful meditation retreat. 4 Which group did better after six days? Both groups showed similar changes in gene expression related to reduced chronic stress.…”