Conscious Choice Seattle: Breathing for a Better Brain

January 2006 | Body Shop

Breathing for a Better Brain

By Elizabeth Barker

Still not sold on the wonders of meditation? A new study from Massachusetts General Hospital might change your mind—literally.

“Regular practice of meditation appears to slow down the rate at which certain areas of the brain thin with age,” says study author Sara Lazar, Ph.D. She used MRIs to look at the brains of 20 people who averaged nine years of meditation experience and practiced about six hours per week.

Compared with a control group, parts of the brain associated with attention and sensory processing were significantly thicker in the meditators.

“The thickness of these regions was correlated with amount of experience, which suggests that this is a cumulative effect,” says Lazar.

West Coast-based meditation teacher Juliet Soopikian concurs on meditation’s attention-boosting powers in her classes. “Meditation helps us to be present in a situation, which brings focus and heightened awareness. It’s a natural process that comes about after years of regular practice.”

To begin breathing your way to a better brain, start out by meditating for 10 minutes twice a day, Soopikian suggests. Find the time now and you will appreciate the cognitive boost later.

Ginseng for colds?

Echinacea devotees, take note: A new study from the Canadian Medical Association Journal suggests that ginseng might be your best choice for a cold-fighting herb this season. Researchers instructed the study’s 279 members, all of whom had a history of at least two colds in the previous year, to take either 200mg of North American ginseng extract or a placebo daily for four months. During the study period, only one in 10 of the ginseng group came down with two or more colds, compared with one in four in the placebo group.

And when the ginseng subjects did catch colds, they recovered about a third more quickly than those taking the placebo.

“It’s been known in traditional Chinese medicine for hundreds of years that ginseng can stimulate the body’s ability to fight off infection,” says Bob Damone, a licensed Chinese herbalist at Pacific College of Oriental Medicine in San Diego. Damone suggests taking ginseng in tincture form, in teas or even cooked into soups and stir-fries, but recommends that you consult a licensed herbalist before supplementing with the herb.

Pop goes the toxin

Maybe it’s time to switch back to Jiffy Pop.

A preliminary FDA study found that eating microwave popcorn may expose you to perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), a potentially cancer-causing substance typically found in the grease-repelling chemicals used to treat the bag’s coating.

Identified as a “likely carcinogen” by the EPA last year, PFOA can migrate to popcorn oil during the popping process, the study suggests. But even if you scarf down the whole bag—unpopped kernels and all—you’ll probably take in a very low and most likely harmless amount of PFOA, according to lead study author Timothy Begley.

“Assuming 30 grams of oil in the food, there would be less than .03 micrograms [PFOA] if one consumed all of the oil,” says Begley. “Based on the evidence we have at this time, we have no reason to change our previous conclusion that [microwave popcorn] is safe.”

Elizabeth Barker is a freelance health and wellness writer.

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