Is it still true, as of 2015, that meditation research "sucks and doesn't prove squat"?

[Steken]

Regarding the possibility of meditation being beneficial to the practitioner, the Master has spoken here, concluding that - at least as of 2013 - “the research sucks and doesn’t prove squat.”

Is this still true as of 2015 - or has the situation changed?

We have had a few threads on the matter, but it seems that hardly any of them include links to solid studies. (In this thread, Khadaji links to this abstract, from 2012. In this thread, the only study mentioned sounds sorta fishy. In this one as well as this one, no studies were linked to at all.)

[Wesley_Clark]

Deep rhythmic breathing can help activate the vagus nerve and the parasymphathetic nervous system which has various health benefits. I’m having trouble finding a direct study on pubmed, all I see are articles on the subject.

Just Breathe: Body Has A Built-In Stress Reliever

[Napier]

Last fall there was a good article in Scientific American.

[Steken]

@Wesley_Clark

Deep rhythmic breathing can help activate the vagus nerve and the parasymphathetic nervous system which has various health benefits. I’m having trouble finding a direct study on pubmed, all I see are articles on the subject.

Just Breathe: Body Has A Built-In Stress Reliever : NPR

Will listen, thank you!

@Napier

Last fall there was a good article in Scientific American.

Might it be this one?

[md2000]

Considering the stress we all encounter in our modern lives, taking half an hour or more each day to sit and think about basically nothing has to have some stress-relieving benefits whether you are repeating a mantra or doing something else.

[misling]

NewScientist recently had an ineresting article about meditation being generally neutral or beneficial, but in some few people it sets off panic, anxiety or depression.

I get the print version, but the online copy of the article is here:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22630210.500-panic-depression-and-stress-the-case-against-meditation.html
I think you have to be a subscriber to read past the initial paragraphs.

[Surreal]

Here’s a summary of the findings from a 2014 meta-analysis:

http://effectivehealthcare.ahrq.gov/ehc/products/375/1830/Meditation-report-140106.pdf

Results. After a review of 17,801 citations, we included 41 trials with 2,993 participants. Most trials were short term, but they ranged from 4 weeks to 9 years in duration. Trials conducted against nonspecific active controls provided efficacy data. Mindfulness meditation programs had moderate SOE for improvement in anxiety (effect size [ES], 0.40; CI, 0.08 to 0.71 at 8 weeks; ES, 0.22; CI, 0.02 to 0.43 at 3–6 months), depression (ES, 0.32; CI, −0.01 to 0.66 at 8 weeks; ES, 0.23; CI, 0.05 to 0.42 at 3–6 months); and pain (ES, 0.33; CI, 0.03 to 0.62); and low SOE for improvement in stress/distress and mental health–related quality of life. We found either low SOE of no effect or insufficient SOE of an effect of meditation programs on positive mood, attention, substance use, eating, sleep, and weight. In our comparative effectiveness analyses, we did not find any evidence to suggest that these meditation programs were superior to any specific therapies they were compared with. Only 10 trials had a low risk of bias. Limitations included clinical heterogeneity, variability in the types of controls, and heterogeneity of the interventions (e.g., dosing, frequency, duration, technique).

[Sage_Rat]

@md2000

Considering the stress we all encounter in our modern lives, taking half an hour or more each day to sit and think about basically nothing has to have some stress-relieving benefits whether you are repeating a mantra or doing something else.

I’m liable to believe that if you get a group of people together with some beers, chatting together, and goofing off that they’re not really thinking about anything either. And they get social benefits out of it.

And considering the potential that the great god Cthulhu might one day rise and eat us all, it might not be so bad to sing a lullaby towards the ocean where he sleeps, to help keep him resting.

It’s not just a question of whether something is good. It’s a question of whether it’s the most efficacious of all options - maybe there are better ways to get the same effect - and whether the time cost is worth spending, versus spending that time on other things in your life.

[tomndebb]

Ths still goes back to 2013, but regarding the lesser target of simply lowering blood pressure, (rather than staving off heart conditions), it appeared that Meditation alone doesn’t lower blood pressure: study.

[md2000]

Heard something about this on a CBC radio program today:

The Buddha Pill: Can Meditation Change You?: Farias, Miguel, Wikholm, Dr...

Apparently mediation can exacerbate some mental problems, help others.

[WhyNot]

@misling

NewScientist recently had an ineresting article about meditation being generally neutral or beneficial, but in some few people it sets off panic, anxiety or depression.

I get the print version, but the online copy of the article is here:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22630210.500-panic-depression-and-stress-the-case-against-meditation.html
I think you have to be a subscriber to read past the initial paragraphs.

Thank you! As a member of the unwashed neohippie masses, I’m constantly fending off people who insist that I have to try meditation. Been there, done that, and it makes my anxiety so much worse. Glad to know I’m not “doing it wrong,” and they can go stuff it.