D OES M EDITATION R EALLY W ORK OR I T ’ S P LACEBO EFFECT Simge ALTINKÖK

O UTLINE Definition of meditation How meditation affects our brain? Benefits of meditation Definition of placebo Does meditation really work? Case study Conclusion

watch?v=b4Ey8C4o5tE Meditation Focused (mindful) attention Focusing on specific thing Breathing Open monitoring Attention all things happening around you

W HAT H APPENS IN Y OUR B RAIN W HEN Y OU M EDITATE Difference is that our brains stop processing information as actively as they normally would. A decrease in beta waves which shows that our brains are processing information.

Sensory information, orienting us in time and space. Activity slows down. Gatekeeper for senses Meditation reduces the flow of incoming information to a trickle. Reasoning, planning, emotions and self awareness Go offline Receives incoming stimuli and puts the brain on alert, ready to respond Dials back arousal signals. Recticular Formation Frontal Lobe Parietal Lobe Thalamus

B ENEFITS OF M EDITATION More Focus: Trying to focus on ourselves provides to focus more to other things. Less Anxiety: Loosening the connections of particular neural pathways Weaken bad connections and strengthening reasoning or positive emotions. Experiencing upsetting things thinking rationally Creativity: Focused attention not obvious improvement Open monitoring come up with new ideas Comparison: Empathy and comparison Better Memory: Improve rapid memory recall Mindful meditation helps More gray matter: Enhance gray matter Related positive emotions, emotional stability, decrease stress level

P LACEBO A placebo is anything that seems to be a "real" treatment -- but isn't. It could be a pill, a shot, or some other type of "fake" treatment. Generally used in medical treatment Determine the effectiveness of the new drug and check for side effects. Studies show that placebos can have an effect on conditions such as: Depression Pain Sleep disorders Menopause

D OES M EDITATION R EALLY W ORK OR I T ’ S P LACEBO A FFECT ? In 2000, a health and wellbeing survey of 348 long- term meditators had better mental and physical health than the general population. It also showed that a consistent relationship existed between health, especially mental health, and how often meditators reported experiencing mental silence. Thus, in 2001 the MRP designed and implemented the Meditation for Work Stress project, the largest RCT of meditation for occupational stress currently in the literature (178 participants). The study was specifically designed to determine whether or not this approach to meditation resulted in more than just a placebo effect.

Comparison groups Non-meditators Meditators Eight week stress management program Participants were asked to practice mental silence meditation twice daily for approximately minutes each time with the aid of written and audio materials. At the end of the eight-week program, the meditator group showed significantly high improvements in terms of work- related stress, anxiety and depressive feelings Occupational Stress Inventory (OSI), State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), General Health Questionnaire (GHQ28) and the Profile of Mood States (POMS).

T O CONCLUDE Mental silence has an effect greater than a placebo and probably greater than conventional, non-mental silence approaches to meditation.

R EFERENCES when-you-meditate-and-how-it really-beneficial-or-is-it-just-ridiculous benefitsofmeditation.html a-meditation-reduce-work-stress/ -en/home-blog/item/ science-based- reasons-to-start-meditating-today- infographic.html is-the-placebo-effect