Twelve minutes of meditation daily
could help protect telomeres against effects of chronic stress, a new study
suggests.
Want to manage stress, clear your
mind, and enhance your mood? A few minutes of meditation a day could help and,
new research finds, might help increase activity of an enzyme that keeps your
body younger at the level of your DNA.
As anyone taking taking Isagenix
Product B is aware, boosting expression
of the enzyme telomerase in the body is critical for maintaining the length and
integrity of telomeres. Telomeres, the length of which are considered a
biomarker of biological aging, are special complexes that cap chromosomes to
protect DNA.
Psychological stress not only
affects our minds, but can have an impact on telomerase activity in the body
leading to possible faster telomere shortening. Now, researchers from
University of California, Los Angeles, have found that just 12 minutes a day of
a particular style of yogic meditation, Kirtan Kriya, daily could help buffer
against effects of psychological stress and support activity of the enzyme.
The study compared the effects of
short practice of Kirtan Kriya-style meditation to quiet relaxation on
individuals working as family caregivers of patients with dementia. The
researchers then evaluated the psychological health and telomere length of the
chronically stressed population.
The study randomized 39 family
dementia caregivers, age 45 to 91, to two groups. Every day for eight weeks,
the meditation group underwent a 12-minute Kirtan Kriya meditation, a
practice following the philosophies of Kundalini yoga. The control
group took a 12-minute relaxation period in a quiet place with instrumental
music. The purpose, the authors explain, was to single out the benefits of a
meditation practice from the benefits of relaxation alone.
The study found that about 65
percent of the meditation group had at least a 50 percent improvement in
depressive symptoms. In addition, the meditation group also had a 43 percent
increase in telomerase activity—a significant boost compared to the nearly 4
percent increase seen in the quiet relaxation group. When it came to mental
health and cellular age, the groups were not different at baseline.
“Brief daily meditation practices by
family dementia caregivers can lead to improved mental and cognitive
functioning and lower levels of depressive symptoms,” the researchers wrote.
“This improvement was accompanied by an increase in telomerase activity suggesting
improvement in stress-induced cellular aging.”
More than just elevating mood, this
current research may support quality of life and help reduce the burden of
caregiving on health. The authors studied caregivers because these individuals
are known to suffer from highly stressed, and highly distressed, lives. Nearly
50 percent of caregivers have been found to battle depression, and new research
shows that these people have prematurely shortened telomeres. The link between
emotional stress and physical health is poorly defined, but telomere length may
represent a biomarker to study stress.
The authors report that they “found
an improvement across measures of mental health and cognitive functioning,
psychological distress, and telomerase activity in caregivers performing daily
Kirtan Kriya compared with the relaxation group.”
They explain, “Because Kirtan Kriya
had several elements of using chanting, mudras [hand alignments], and
visualization, there was a ‘brain fitness’ effect in addition to stress-reduction
that contributed to the overall effect of meditation.”
This study’s results add reason to
consider meditation as part of a complete lifestyle
for supporting telomere health, which should also include supplementation with Ageless Essentials Daily Pack with Product B, regular exercise, healthy sleep habits, limiting exposure
to environmental toxins, and eating a diet rich in nutrient-dense foods.
Reference: Lavretsky H et al. A pilot study of yogic meditation for
family dementia caregivers with depressive symptoms: effects on mental health,
cognition, and telomerase activity. Int J Geriatr Psychiatry 2012. DOI: 10.1002/gps.3790
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