Hello and happy Friday.
Welcome to Radio Headspace.
It's Eve here with you.
So you may have heard me talk quite a bit.
about why i got into meditation many years ago and
if you haven't it was because of crippling anxiety i was like a jack-in-the-box reacting to every stressor in unhelpful ways and spending so much time worrying about things that might happen that i couldn't see any joy in my life now i bring this up today
because i was very skeptical about starting meditation How on earth could sitting still with your eyes closed help in any way at all?
But it turns out it helps quite a lot.
And I wanted to share some of the scientific research with you today.
And one study in particular that seriously changed the way I thought about meditation and its impact,
especially on our brain.
Now this particular study was conducted in 2013.
out of the University of Pittsburgh.
And it was done over a period of eight weeks
while participants took part in a mindfulness-based stress reduction course.
Now, I am not a neuroscientist, so I will do my very best to explain it.
So in this study, they used MRI scanners to look at changes in the brain.
And these changes refer to a process called neuroplasticity.
essentially a reshaping of the brain.
This happens throughout our life as certain parts of our brain are strengthened and weakened.