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I've been meditating for two years, have found similar benefits, and I'm sure it's not a function of age because sometimes I stop for a while and the benefits g
by DennisP 6y ago
I've been meditating for two years, have found similar benefits, and I'm sure it's not a function of age because sometimes I stop for a while and the benefits go away. It doesn't seem like placebo either, because previously I'd tried other meditation techniques that weren't nearly so beneficial.
There's a fair amount of peer-reviewed research on the benefits of mindfulness meditation, and it doesn't seem all that unlikely that exercising your brain in different ways really can help your brain function differently.
- lotsofpulp 6y agoResearch involving brains, feelings, and other difficult if not impossible to define parameters is not rigorous.
- irbajn 6y agoHow do you propose studying brains, feelings, etc.? We just shouldn't bother?
- lotsofpulp 6y agoI don't know. I don't mind people taking a stab at it, but it should still be looked at skeptically, especially once you move away from measurable metrics as it ceases to be science.
- austinjp 6y agoThe subjectivity of experience doesn't prevent something being science. How might someone conduct a blinded placebo controlled trial of a suicide prevention campaign, or of parental advice to help reduce risk of cot death, for example? They wouldn't. They'd roll up their sleeves and get deeply involved in the messy, unpredictable world of human emotion and social interaction. And that's good and appropriate, and there are effective and responsible methods for doing it. Just because we can point to something and say "aha, that's subjective" doesn't mean we need to eliminate it. In fact, the more we try to eliminate it, the harder it becomes to translate evidence from the lab to the real world. Objectivity world be nice, but it's vanishingly rare.
- partyboat1586 6y agoDo you believe in the psychological benefit of exercise? That has all the same study problems as meditation.
- lotsofpulp 6y agoReplacing the word believe with assume, I assume studies about the psychological benefits of exercise are just as weak as any other psychological study.
- technocratius 6y agoWell, when it comes to studying breathing techniques and their effect over time you can quite easily do a large scale randomized controlled trial and survey participants on perceived increase in well-being, right?
- lotsofpulp 6y agoThe track record of studies using “perceived” statistics is not good. Humans are subject to an endless list of biases.
- DennisP 6y agoWhat if it shows physical changes? E.g. "Effects of Long-Term Mindfulness Meditation on Brain's White Matter Microstructure and its Aging" https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4712309/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4712309/