Barack Obama makes you hungry for a little IBMT
January 20th, 2010
Chinese
researchers have unlocked
the mechanism of an emerging mind-body
technique that produces measurable changes in attention
and stress reduction in just five days of practice…Single photon
emission computed tomography (SPECT) — a scanning method less
distracting than functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) —
showed IBMT subjects had increased blood flow in the
right anterior cingulate cortex, a region associated
with self regulation of cognition
and emotion.
Physiological
tests also revealed significant
changes. Compared with the relaxation group,
IBMT subjects had lower heart rates and skin conductance
responses, increased belly breathing amplitude and decreased chest
respiration rates, all of which, researchers wrote, “reflected
less effort exerted by participants and more
relaxation of body and calm
state of mind.”
Finally,
researchers noted,
IBMT subjects had more high-frequency
heart-rate variability than their relaxation counterparts,
indicating “successful inhibition of sympathetic tone and activation
of parasympathetic tone [in the autonomic nervous system].”
Sympathetic tone becomes more active
when stressed.
