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Therapeutic Value of Meditation Unproven, Says Study. University of Alberta. september 7, 2007. article ici

Lire l'étude au complet :

Ospina MB, Bond TK, Karkhaneh M, Tjosvold L, Vandermeer B, Liang Y, Bialy L, Hooton N, Buscemi N, Dryden DM, Klassen TP. Meditation Practices for Health: State of the Research. Evidence Report/Technology Assessment No. 155. (Prepared by the University of Alberta Evidence-based Practie Center under Contract No. 290-02-0023.) AHRQ Publication No. 07-E010. Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. June 2007.

La méditation ne guérit rien ? La Presse. Le 12 juillet 2007.

"C’est en effet ce qu’affirme une nouvelle étude publiée par l’Université de l’Alberta. Stress, douleurs chroniques, hypertension, dépendances… La méditation n’aggrave pas ces problèmes, mais les preuves voulant que cela améliore l’état de santé des gens touchés par ces maux typiquement contemporains sont anecdotiques, disent les chercheurs. Et même si certaines activités incluant des aspects méditatifs comme le yoga, par exemple, peut avoir certains effets bénéfiques — sur le cholestérol ou la tension artérielle, notamment — “on ne peut pas tirer de conclusions solides sur les effets santé de ces différents types de méditation parce que les recherches existantes posent des problèmes méthodologique et n’ont pas d’approches théoriques communes”.

Benson, Herbert. Your innate asset for combating stress. Harvard Business Review, July-August 1974, pp49-60.

"A co-researcher with TM's Robert Keith Wallace in 1972, this controlled study by Dr. Benson (a non-meditator) using eighty subjects, showed no difference in the physiological correlates of stress reduction between the practice of TM and five other relaxation response techniques. The other techniques were autogenic training, progressive relaxation, Zen meditation, hypnosis, and yoga. This study has a useful historical appendix outlining ten different relaxation response methods that have proven effective over time." (résumé)

Desiraju, T. The Yoga and Consciousness Project. National Institute of Mental Health and Neuroscience. Bangalore, India: Omni, Nov. 1990, pp84-88.

"Funded by the Indian government, a ten-year investigation by the yoga and consciousness team (headed by internationally recognized neurophysiologist T. Desiraju) was unable to identify any physiological standard for so-called enlightenment. Even meditation per se was hard to define at the Bangalore lab, claimed by Indian scientists to be the world's most sophisticated center for investigating the physiological correlates of mystical experiences."

"The Bangalore lab's controlled studies displayed measurements that stand in strong contrast to TM-movement sponsored research. For example, the studies showed heart rates are as likely to increase as decrease; breath rates and skin resistance were just as eccentric; TM subjects were drowsier than subjects using other forms of meditation; their EEG's showed weaker alpha and theta waves than other meditation techniques; physiological correlates were consistently unpredictable with TM showing great variability from session to session." (résumé)

Holmes, David S. Meditation and somatic arousal reduction. American Psychologist, January 1984, pp1-10. Ensuing discussion follows in four more issues: June 1985, pp717-731; June 1986, pp712-713; September 1986, pp1007-1009; September 1987, pp879-881.

"An exhaustive TM-research review and further controlled testing demonstrated that TM produces no more physical relaxation than just sitting with the eyes closed. His findings here stand in sharp contrast to widely held beliefs about the effects of TM, which are based on TM-movement-controlled experimental tests."

"Between meditation (TM) and just-resting subjects, no reliable differences were found by Holmes in plasma renin or aldosterone, plasma adrenaline, growth hormone, testosterone, norepinephrin or epinephrine, plasma lactate, theronine, serine, asparagine, glutamic, glutamine, glycine, alanine, cirtulline, valine, isoleucine, leucine, or tyrosine. Meditating subjects were found to have higher levels of phenylalanine that resting subjects, a finding which reflects high arousal in meditators." (résumé)

Kesterson, John and Noah F. Clinch. Metabolic rate, respiratory exchange ratio, and apneas during (TM) meditation. The American Journal of Physiology, March 1989. p637.

"A controlled, in-depth investigation into the effects of TM practice on respiration and metabolism, indicating that TM produces no deeper state of rest than from just sitting with eyes closed, even in advanced practitioners, and that the TM practice does not produce the hypometabolic state as claimed by MIU's Robert Keith Wallace."

"They also discovered a decrease in respiratory exchange ratio in meditators during TM not observed in controls (i.e., an increase of carbon dioxide). Although this research was conducted at MIU, Kesterson and Clinch maintained their objectivity. Unlike most work by TM-movement researchers, this particular study was published in a major journal. " (résumé)

Michaels, R.R., M.J. Huber and D.S. McCann. Science 192, 1976, pp1242-1243.

"A study of the concentration of plasma epinephrine, norephinephrine, as well as lactate. In comparing twelve TM practitioners and twelve subjects as controls who merely rested, they detected no statistically different results. The question is raised whether the benefits are due to TM or sleep. The study suggests that meditation does not induce a unique metabolic state but is seen biochemically as a resting state." (résumé)

Pagano, RR, R.M. Stivers and S. Warrenburg. Science 191, Jan. 21, 1976, p308.

"Study of EEG's of five TM practitioners noted that meditation involved some sleep and that it gives rise to quite different states from day to day and from practitioner to practitioner. They compared EEG records made during meditation with those made during naps taken at the same time of day. The range of states observed during meditation does not support the view that meditation produces a single unique state of consciousness. He questions whether the benefits are due to TM or simply sleep." (résumé)

Pagels, Heinz R. New York Academy of Sciences. An affidavit dated July 1, 1986.
Dr. Pagels was Executive Director of the New York Academy of Sciences when he wrote this opinion:

"The views expressed in the [TM] literature that purport to find a connection between the recent ideas of theoretical physics and states of consciousness are false and profoundly misleading. No qualified physicist that I know would claim to find such a connection without knowingly committing fraud." "Although the word "science" is much abused, it continues to imply an adherent logic, the clear presentation of assumptions and deductions, and the experimental method. This [the Science of Creative Intelligence] is not science." (résumé)

Pollack, A.A., D.B. Case, M.A. Weber and J.H. Laragh. Limitations of transcendental meditation in the treatment of essential hypertension. Lancet 1(8002):71-3, January 8, 1977.

"Twenty hypertensive patients participating in a professionally supervised program of transcendental meditation showed no significant change in blood pressure after a 6-month study. Although there were small reductions in systolic blood pressure and in pulse rate early in the trial, these changes had disappeared by 6 months. At no time did the mean diastolic pressure fall significantly. Plasma- renin activity did not change during the study. It is concluded that while the general well being experience d by most patients may provide a useful adjunct to conventional treatments, it is unlikely that transcendental meditation contributes directly towards the lowering of blood pressure." (résumé)

Teb-ecis, A.K. A controlled study of the EEG during transcendental meditation: comparison with hypnosis. Folia Psychiatr Neruol, Japan 29(4):305-13, 1975.

A controlled, quantitative investigation of the electroencephalogram (EEG) and transcendental meditation (TM) revealed that EEG changes during TM were rarely as pronounced or consistent as previous reports suggest. There was considerable variation between subjects, some displaying no EEG changes at all during TM compared with an equal period of nonmeditation. Any changes that did occur in a particular individual were not necessarily repeated in a subsequent session. A comparison of mean EEG parameters of the experimental group revealed no consistent significant differences between meditation and nonmeditation. The EEG characteristics of the group of meditators were similar to those of a group of subjects experienced in self-hypnosis. (résumé)

Promener son chien pour réduire son stress. Le 6 août 2010. Info psychologie. Plus efficace que le yoga, promener son chien serait un excellent moyen de réduire son stress.