inflammatory diseases, says
Melissa Rosenkranz, PhD,
associate scientist, Center
for Healthy Minds, Univer-
sity of Wisconsin–Madison.
When you’re under
psychological stress, your
nerve endings release
substance P, a chemical
“messenger” that acts on
immune and other cells to
create inflammation, notes
Dr. Rosenkranz in her study.
Mindfulness (and po-
tentially other meditation
practices) combats this type
of inflammation by helping
to “train the mind to not
get caught up in the story
that we construct about the
events of our lives,” says Dr.
Rosenkranz. In other words,
it’s reducing our reactivi-
ty to stressful events that
lessens inflammation.
PREVENTIVE MEDICINEIn addition to decreasing in-
flammation, meditation may
be a key in keeping it from
developing in the first place.
Suppose you inherit a set
of genes from your par-
ents that could predispose
you to developing type 2
diabetes, for example. It’s
not a forgone conclusion
that you’ll automatically
become diabetic at some
point in your life, because
gene expression—whether
those genes will activate to
trigger diabetes—is affected
by the food you eat, your
stress levels, the amount of
exercise you get, and many
other environmental factors,
says Parneet Pal, MBBS, MS,
Chief Science Officer at Wis-
dom Labs in San Francisco.
Recently, Dr. Pal led a
small pilot study to track
the effects of a 12-weekmindfulness program in the
workplace.
Before and after her
study, Dr. Pal’s research
team measured the changes
in the participants’ gene ex-
pression on a set of 53 genes
related to inflammation and
immunity. These particular
genes trigger inflammation
and lower immunity when
the body is under stress.
After 12 weeks of a regular
mindfulness practice, Dr. Pal
said that among the partic-
ipants, “there was a signifi-
cantly lower expression of
inflammatory genes and a
greater expression of genes
boosting immunity. Beyond
that, participants also expe-
rienced improved levels of
social well-being—they felt
better,” noted Dr. Pal.
“The practice of mindful-
ness,” adds Dr. Rosenkranz,
“is about changing your
relationship to life’s slings
and arrows—not about
keeping them at bay. A re-
duction in inflammation, as
a consequence of mindful-
ness practice, is a fortunate
side effect.” ●“THE EVIDENCE
IS STRONG THAT
MINDFULNESS—
ESPECIALLY THE
MORE YOU PRACTICE—
'DOWNREGULATES’
INFLAMMATORY
GENES.”LEONARD H. CALABRESE, DO,
PROFESSOR OF MEDICINE,
CLEVELAND CLINIC LERNER
COLLEGE OF MEDICINE24 mindful August 2019mindful health