表題番号：2017S-020
日付：2018/03/19
研究課題瞑想的実践による自律神経機能の制御
| 研究者所属（当時） | 資格 | 氏名 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| （代表者） | 文学学術院 文化構想学部 | 准教授 | 宮田 裕光 |
- 研究成果概要
- Contemplative training has been suggested to cause plastic changes to the brain. How can somatic physiological functions change through long-term meditative practice? The present study examined control of autonomic nervous system activities during yoga sitting meditation. A Japanese yoga expert (female, 50 years) with 25 years of yoga practice and two university students participated. During each session, a two-minute resting period was followed by a four-minute meditation period, which was repeated four times. Participants engaged in two types of traditional yoga meditation in a pseudorandomized order. Breath meditation involved sustaining attention on the breath. Mantra meditation involved covertly repeating a common mantra phrase Om Namah Shivaya. Cardiovascular activities (photoplethysmogram) and skin conductance were measured by using a multisensor measurement system NeXus-4. For the expert, heart rate decreased by 2.05 bpm and 0.45 bpm from the resting to the meditation periods, for the breath and mantra meditation respectively. For all the measures and groups, statistically significant outcomes failed to be observed. These results seem consistent with the notion that at least breath meditation can elicit increase in parasympathetic nervous system activities. I made multiple oral and poster presentations on relevant topics, and published a technical report on a preceding study.