Effect of meditation on immune cells

✍ Scribed by Solberg, E. E. ;Halvorsen, R. ;Holen, A.

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2000
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 108 KB
• Volume: 16
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0748-8386
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-1700(200004)16:3<185::aid-smi852>3.0.co;2-c

✦ Synopsis

The objective of this study was to assess the in¯uence of long term meditation on runners' immune status at rest, after exercise and after 2 h recovery. Ten males, who had practised meditation for a long time and were participating in a half-marathon race, were studied in a case±control design. The control group was drawn from the pool of applicants to the race who did not practise meditation. Blood samples were taken before, immediately after and 2 h after the race. Immune and blood analysis were conducted. Runners practising meditation had lower lymphocyte counts at rest before the race ( p 5 0.02). Just after the race, both groups more than doubled their white blood cell (wbc) counts ( p 5 0.01); however, no signi®cant effects were observed on the immune cells, neither was any difference between groups seen in the post-exercise period. Long term practice of meditation may in¯uence absolute lymphocyte counts at rest. No effect was observed in the immune response to exercise stress.