Modify your microbiota through meditation for better health

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Strengthen your microbiota by meditating

According to a small comparative study published in the journal General Psychiatryregular deep meditation, and practiced for several years, can help regulate the gut microbiota, and potentially reduce the risk of poor physical and mental health.

Meditation is increasingly being used to help treat mental health conditions, such as chronic pain, depression, anxiety, addiction, or post-traumatic stress. But researchers wonder if it might not act in part by modulating the intestinal microbiotaconsidered our second brain, and therefore a major regulator of our mental health.

Gut flora linked to lower risks of anxiety, depression and heart disease

To find out for sure, they analyzed the stool and blood samples of thirty-seven Tibetan Buddhist monks to compare them to those of nineteen lay residents nearby. The Tibetan monks in this study practice on average two hours of daily meditation, and this for three to thirty years, and have not ingested, during the three months preceding the study, products that may alter their microbiota (antibiotics, probiotics or other).

By sorting patient data to compare only those with similar age, blood pressure, and diet, the gut bacteria of Buddhist monks differed significantly from those of their lay neighbors, and had a overrepresentation of bacteria associated with lower risk of anxiety, depression and cardiovascular disease.

If the sample of this study is quite small and unrepresentative (only men living in high mountains), this suggests to the researchers that meditation, when practiced for a long time, may influence certain bacteria that play a role in mental health, and help the body maintain an optimal state of health.

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