Are you worried about your brain-power as you get older?  Studies have shown that with age, most people experience cognitive decline, specifically, dwindling attention span, impaired memory, and greater reaction time. 

Experiments from 2007 demonstrated that those who meditate are better at paying attention.  Those studies inspired the likes of Google, Target, Intel, General Mills and many more to sponsor meditation related education for many thousands of their employees.  Some of these companies even have meditation rooms on site for their employees to use during the work day.  Results tabulated at Intel for those who meditate, show on a scale of 1 to 10,

• A two-point decrease in stress 
• a three-point increase in overall happiness and well-being
• a two-point increase in new ideas, mental clarity, creativity, ability to focus, quality of relationships at work, and level of engagement in meetings, projects, and team efforts

Plus, NBC News reported that a school in San Francisco began a daily 30-minute meditation break in 2015, which resulted in suspensions decrease by 75 percent, as well as an improvement in academic performance overall.

And now, just published in 2018, a 7 year study on effects of meditation following sixty 22-69 year old meditators.“"This study is the first to offer evidence that intensive and continued meditation practice is associated with enduring improvements in sustained attention," according to lead author Anthony Zanesco, a psychologist at the University of Miami. 

The study began with an initial retreat.  From testing following the retreat, they concluded the training enhanced the participants' emotional well-being, ability to deal with stress, and they performed better on tasks related to focus and sustaining attention. This alone is significant for people dealing with depression. 

Seven years later, forty of the sixty reported that they continued to practice meditation. Evaluations showed that their mental improvements held up for the most part.  In fact, the more the older participants meditated, the better they maintained the benefits already mentioned. This is in stark contrast with people taking medication for depression who see efficacy loss and require stronger doses of their medication with additional medications being added to attempt to maintain relief.

According to the study, those who meditated at least one hour per day showed no cognitive decline. 

The message seems pretty clear. Rather than spending time worrying about cognitive decline, finding and committing to a regular practice 20 minutes 3 times per day would be a more productive use of one’s time.  

In Ishayas’ Ascension, we often discuss how powerful the mind is…that the mind is capable of anything.  A review of some of the latest studies on Placebos is just another example of the power of the mind – and evidence that the power seems to be increasing!

As many know, a placebo is a non-active substance or procedure required in clinical trials by the FDA as at least one of the control groups.  The placebo effect is a documented fact working 18-80% of the time.  The effect is physical, not just subjective - healing ulcers, warts disappearing, relieving pain, easing symptoms of many stress related illnesses, etc.  

One of the leaders in the field of placebo research, Fabrizio Benedetti, a neuroscience professor at the University of Turin School of Medicine and member of the Placebo Study Group centered at Harvard, recently wrote: “The placebo effect has evolved from being thought of as a nuisance in clinical pharmacological research to a biological phenomenon worthy of scientific investigation in its own right.”

In one survey by the NIH, as many as half of rheumatologists and internists surveyed said they had intentionally given patients ineffective medication [placebo] in the hopes it would have a positive result.

Joel Block, MD, a well-known osteoarthritis specialist says “The placebo effect is still an effect and a very important one….It is “extraordinarily strong” in osteoarthritis for reasons that aren’t entirely clear. The experience from randomized trials shows a 40% response rate. The trial data indicates that placebo responses last beyond a year, he said.

Kaptchuk, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School (HMS) is a man with a fierce intellect and curiosity.  His researchers enrolled 80 people suffering from irritable bowel syndrome, explaining the experiment while framing it positively -- they called it a novel "mind-body" therapy.
Half the patients were given a bottle with the word "placebo" printed on it. They were told the bottle contained “sugar pills”. The patients were told they didn't even need to believe in the placebo effect, but had to take the pills twice daily. The other half were given no treatment at all. At the end of the three-week trial, 59 percent of the patients taking the placebo said their symptoms had been adequately relieved!

"We were all taken aback," Kaptchuk said. "We triple-checked the data before we decided it was real."
A study published online Oct. 27, 2016, by PLOS Biology showed evidence of changes in the brain during a placebo effect. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, researchers scanned the brains of people with chronic pain from knee osteoarthritis. After being given the placebo, everyone received another scan. For those who felt pain relief, researchers noticed greater activity in the middle frontal gyrus brain region, which makes up about one-third of the frontal lobe.

Other studies have noted that study participants became “addicted” to their placebo and had to be weaned off of it. In a chemo-therapy study, 30% of the participants receiving a placebo lost their hair.
Here’s a video from Fox News discussing the power of the mind: http://video.foxnews.com/v/4473758/surprising-study-on-placebo-effect

The body is continually listening to our thoughts. If we live with self-defeating thoughts, the mind produces in kind. It is only our habitual thoughts that steal our youth and health and replace them with sickness.  Imagine if we could learn to still the internal chatter and learn to experience life again in the present moment?

The purpose of Ishayas’ Ascension is to erase those self-defeating thoughts and allow us to live life in freedom. Are you ready to activate a new effect in your life?