Related Experiment Videos
Meditation: a modulator of the immune response to physical stress? A brief report
E E Solberg1, R Halvorsen, J Sundgot-Borgen
1Department of Medicine, Ullevål University Hospital, Oslo, Norway.
Objective:
To test the hypothesis that stress reducing techniques such as meditation alter immune responses after strenous physical stress.
Methods:
The hypothesis was tested by studying six meditating and six non-meditating male runners in a concurrent, controlled design. After a period of six months with meditation for the experimental group, blood samples were taken immediately before and after a maximum oxygen uptake test (VO2max).
Results:
The increase in CD8+ T cells after VO2max was significantly less in the meditation group than in the control group (P = 0.04). The amount of CD2+ cells doubled after VO2max, mainly because of a rise in the CD8+ fraction.
Conclusions:
Meditation may modify the suppressive influence of strenous physical stress on the immune system.