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Meditation is Anti-inflammatory

Keith R. Holden, M.D.

Science shows that mindfulness and meditation can turn genes on and off to reduce inflammation. Reducing inflammation can potentially lead to health benefits, as excessive inflammation causes disease.


A study published in 2014 shows that the anti-inflammatory effect of mindfulness happens quite rapidly. (1) In this study, expert meditators underwent 8 hours of intensive mindfulness. Researchers performed a gene analysis comparing the expert meditators to a control group who underwent 8 hours of quiet, non-meditative activities. 


They found that an intensive day of mindfulness with expert meditators is a potent anti-inflammatory. It triggered the same gene pathway as the anti-inflammatory drug Celebrex but without the side effects.


The body creates inflammation through several genetic pathways. One involves a cell protein called nuclear factor kappa B (NFKB). Multiple studies show that mindfulness meditation reduces inflammation by turning off NFKB. (2, 3, 4,5)


You trigger a relaxation response by using mindfulness and meditation to reduce stressful thoughts. This relaxation response positively influences how your genes turn on and off or how they express. So, by learning to manipulate your thoughts, you create a relaxation response, indirectly affecting how your genes express and reducing inflammation in your body.


Science is proving what the yogis knew thousands of years ago. The power of directed thoughts and emotions positively influences your physiology by changing how your genes are expressed, resulting in potential health benefits. It's about time!


1. Kaliman P, Alvarez-lópez MJ, Cosín-tomás M, Rosenkranz MA, Lutz A, Davidson RJ. Rapid changes in histone deacetylases and inflammatory gene expression in expert meditators. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2014;40:96-107.


2. Dusek JA, Otu HH, Wohlhueter AL, et al. Genomic counter-stress changes induced by the relaxation response. PLoS ONE. 2008;3(7):e2576.


3. Bhasin MK, Dusek JA, Chang BH, et al. Relaxation response induces temporal transcriptome changes in energy metabolism, insulin secretion and inflammatory pathways. PLoS ONE. 2013;8(5):e62817.


4. Creswell JD, Irwin MR, Burklund LJ, et al. Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction training reduces loneliness and pro-inflammatory gene expression in older adults: a small randomized controlled trial. Brain Behav Immun. 2012;26(7):1095-101.


5. Black DS, Cole SW, Irwin MR, et al. Yogic meditation reverses NF-κB and IRF-related transcriptome dynamics in leukocytes of family dementia caregivers in a randomized controlled trial. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2013;38(3):348-55.


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