Name: 【TEDx】靜坐如何改變大腦 (Sara Lazar on how meditation can reshape our brains)
Uploaded: 2013-07-29T03:14:34.000Z
Duration: 8 min 34 s

So when I was in graduate school, I was a runner,

and a friend and I decided that we're going to run the Boston Marathon.

我和一位朋友約好要參加波士頓的馬拉松

And so we started training and we overtrained,

所以我們開始訓練 但是我們訓練過了頭

and they told me that I had to stop running

As I was leaving the phzsical therapist office,

我看到一則充滿活力的瑜珈招生廣告

that promised not only to promote flexibility,

but also to promote strength and cardiorespiratory fitness.

還可以增強你的力量和心肺功能

So I thought, oh, well, this is a great way

所以我想，好吧，這是一個好方式

that I can stretch, but also remain in shape,

讓我能夠伸展 而且還能夠保持身材

and maybe I could even still run the Boston Marathon.

也許我還是可以去跑波士頓馬拉松

So I went to the yoga class and I really enjoyed it,

所以我去上了瑜珈課，而且樂在其中

except when the teacher would make all sorts of claims,

除了老師聲稱有任何療效的時候

you know, all sorts of medical claims, but also claims about, oh, yes,

你知道的，就是各種醫學療效 還有一些關於…嗯…

You'll increase your compassion and open your heart and I was just like...

I think, yeah, yeah, yeah, I am here to stretch.

我想，對，對，對，我在這裡是為了伸展的

But what was interesting was that after a couple of weeks

I started noticing some of these changes,

I started noticing that I was calmer and I was better able

to handle difficult situations, and indeed, I was feeling more compassionate

更能掌握難處理的場合 而且我真的變得更有同情心

and I was better able to see things from other people's point of view.

我也變得能夠從別人的角度來看事情

And, you know, I was like, hm, how could this be,

你知道，嗯，我想，這怎麼可能

And, I thought, well maybe, you know, it's just a placebo response, right?

我想，好吧，也許那只是心理作用吧？

She told me I will feel this, so maybe that's why I was feeling it.

是因為她那樣說 所以我才會有這樣的感覺吧？

So I decided to do a literature search to see if there's any research on this.

因此我決定搜尋一些文獻資料 看看是不是有這方面的研究

And low and behold, there was quite a bit

showing both yoga and meditation are extremely effective for decreasing stress

瑜珈和冥想都對紓壓有很大的幫助

they're also very good for reducing symptoms associated with numerous diseases

including depression, anxiety, pain, and insomnia.

包含了憂鬱、焦慮、疼痛和失眠

And there's a couple of very good studies demonstrating it can actually

而且也有一些很不錯的研究指出

improve your ability to pay attention, and most interestingly, I thought

virtually every study has shown that people are just happier.

幾乎每一份研究都顯示 受試者都變得更開心了

They report they're more satisfied with their life, and they have a higher quality of life.

受試者表示對生活更滿足 而且擁有更高的生活品質

And so I decided to switch and start doing this sort of research.

所以我決定開始做這方面的研究

So as a nurse scientists, you know, how could this be happening?

對於一個照護科學家來說 這種事情怎麼可能發生？

How can something as silly as a yoga posture

How can that lead to all these sorts of different types of changes?

怎麼能夠造成這些各式各樣的改變?

So, what we know is that whenever you engage in a behavior over and over again,

我們知道的是 當你重覆地做某件事

that this can lead to changes in your brain.

And this is what's referred to as neuroplasticity.

And what this just means is that your brain is plastic and that

the neurons can change how they talk to each other with experience.

神經細胞可以藉由經驗改變彼此對話的方式

And so, there's a couple of studies demonstrating

有一些研究指出 透過像是核磁共振影成像(MRI)

that you can actually detect this, using machines like the MRI machine.

They took people who had never ever juggled before,

他們挑選以前從來沒有雜耍經驗的人

and they scanned them, and then they taught them how to juggle,

為他們做掃描 然後教他們如何雜耍

and they said, "Keep practising for three months."

然後告訴他們：「持續練習三個月。」

And they brought them back after three months, and they scanned them the second time,

三個月後再找他們回來 再次掃描他們

and they found that they can actually detect with the MRI machine

結果發現真的可以透過核磁共振影成像

changes in the amount of grey matter in the brain of these people

偵測出在這些人的大腦中 對偵測視覺動態很重要的區域

in areas that are important for detecting visual motion.

So, I thought, OK, three months, you know...

Can meditation change brain structure too?

Something as simple as, you know, as juggling.

we recruited a bunch of people from the Boston area,

and these were not monks or meditation teachers,

而且不是僧侶或是教導冥想的老師

they're just average Joes who on average practice meditation

他們只是每天進行30到40分鐘冥想

and we compared them to a group of people who were demographically matched,

That there were indeed several regions of the brain

that had more grey matter in the meditators compared to the controls.

大腦裡確實有一些區域有較多的灰質

One of the regions I'm going to point out to you

其中一個地方就是大腦前方的位置

is here in the front of the brain, it's the area that's important

for working memory and executive decision making

was when we actually plotted the data versus their ages.

當我們比對皮質厚度與年齡的關係

So here in the red square, that's the controls.

it's been well documented that as we get older,

not just there, but across most of our cortex,

不只是這個位置，而是幾乎整個大腦皮質

And this is part of the reason why as we get older,

it's harder to figure things out and to remember things.

很難理解與記憶事情的原因之一

And what was interesting was that in this one region,

the 50 year old meditators had the same amount of cortex as the 25 year olds,

50歲的冥想者和25歲的人有同樣數量的大腦皮質

suggesting that meditation practice may actually slow down or prevent

顯示了冥想也許真的可以減緩或是防止

the natural age-related decline in cortical structure.

So now, the critics, and there were  many critics,

said, well, you know, meditators, they're weird.

Maybe they were just like that before they started practising, right?

也許他們只是沒有改變 和練習冥想前一樣

A lot of them were vegetarian, so maybe it had something to do with their diet,

他們之中有很多人是素食者 也許是因為某些飲食習慣

or something else with their lifestyle, you know.

Couldn't possible be the meditation, it's something else, right?

不可能是冥想，應該是因為別的東西，對吧？