Watch Out! Your Brain May Grow Bigger

I just came across this article that says that meditators grow bigger brains.


I meditate and I am worried that my skull will explode.

Ref: http://www.sciencenewsden.com/2006/meditat...brainsize.shtml

Maybe I should start meditating, or will it increase the risk of concussion because my enlarged brain would slam against the sides of my skull. hmm. This is a very interesting topic and I should look into it, could be worthwhile.

Come ON! It won't grow bigger out of your skull by just one night man. Meditation is good and if you meditate keep it up. Even if it grows a little bit it won't matter a lot. There are millions of people around the globe who meditate on a daily basis.

Meditation has been with people for more than 2500 years now!! or even longer. I don't think the slight increase in head size would matter at all.

I am not very sure how far this information is true. But one thing is for sure... Our brains are growing and thereby increasing the size of our heads and this happens as part of our human evolution.

There are few things to note here and to understand how this works.

1. Look at the stone age people
There is a clear understanding on this if you look at the fossil pictures of stone age dwellers and people at that time. There is a significance in the size of the boy and the head. Basically, the size of the body was large and that of the head was very small, which can be explained by the more physical work they do. Say for example, they had very less brain activity and was involved in much of physical activities like hunting, fighting etc. which was their way of life. Their body was built for what they wanted. But it gradually changed.

1. Look at the what we are now
Presently we are in the age of nominal brain and body activity, so we have some kind of proportion of both head and body. This was the result of evolution that happened for thousands of years from the old ages, where men started becoming more moral and using the brain and the amount of physical activity has reduced. So this is the reason why we have a balanced percentage of body and head sizes. But as days pass by our body activity is reducing drastically and we get things done from a single position... Say for example previously people used to go to water sources to get water, now we have water supplied to our houses.... there are so many things like that.

What will be the future
I do not know.I am guessing here. Have you seen ET and other movies where they show some human like creatures in the future? Have you seen the proportion of their body and heads? Yes. Usually the size of the head is very large, which can be attributed to the increased activity of the brain and smaller body due to reduced body activity. And experts also suggest that we are in the path to become like that... meaning not us, but the human evolution is that and future HomoSapiens will be like that, provide they are there.

Wow. To think of a world where there is people with enlarged heads and small bodies...... What would the martians think of us?

OK, I will keep meditating. But if my head explodes it will be your fault.
I will write a note that says "buherath told me to do it" and put it next to my zafu cushion when I meditate. They will know who to call



Are we to consider these at the same time?
1. Look at the stone age people
1. Look at the what we are now
It is tough to think both at once.
My head is about to explode and I have not even started meditating.

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Seriously now, I think stress actually shrinks the brain. It impairs learning and memory and other brain processes. Meditation does the opposite: It helps think better, remember better and feel better. I am not surprised that it makes the brain grow. Whether meditation will actually lead to bigger heads in future generations depends on two things:

1. Whether people meditate more or not. If they do not then meditation will have no effect on the size of the head. I do observe a growing tendency in people to meditate and engage in related practices.

2. Whether having a bigger head will provide a significant (early) survival advantage or helps procreate more. It is important that the survival advantage happens at an early stage in life, because if you just add 10 years to your life when you are 80, generally you do not have children between 80 and 90 and then your "bigger head" genes will not be transmitted more to more children than the "normal head" genes.

It is possible in theory that having a bigger head provides an early survival advantage, but I cannot imagine how at this point. Besides survival rates in developed countries are already quite high.

The second possibility is that it helps procreate more, for example correlating with a much increased sex drive, and a disregard for contraception. It would also make a big difference if the members of the opposite sex find a bigger head very attractive.

I just do not see it.

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Yes, our heads are bigger than those of home erectus, pitecantropus, etc, but that is because our bigger heads were critical for our survival. Our bigger heads contained brains with new areas of the brain, such as the prefrontal cortex, that allowed us to plan, handle tools more efficiently, cooperate better and many other things that saved many *person* sapiens at an early age from starvation and from the attacks of savage beasts. They also stayed healthier and stronger, and had more sex (I am guessing here ). Thus, their "bigger head" genes were able to spread more rapidly.

This post has been edited by freenrg: May 19 2009, 04:59 AM

I do not think I wrote *person* sapiens.
Is somebody or some automated process censoring word such as H o m O?
As in H o m O sapiens?

I don't believe that mediation will make the brain grow bigger. What I believe is that mediation will tap the "unknown" part of the brains and activate it. Remember, for all the known functions of the brain, it is uses only a few percentage of the brain.

Its great for gaining control of your mind. For example in the past, when i went to bed after a busy day id find myself awake for an additional 2 or 3 hours more than usual. But by meditating i can focus and calm myself into sleep within 30 minutes.

This post has been edited by inverse_bloom: Jun 7 2009, 10:06 AM

Hey, but look, these guys at Harvard, Yale and MIT did some research and found that it does grow...
http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/daily/...meditation.html

Did you know that schizoprenics' brain shrink?

OK, I really do not care if the brain shrinks or grows.
I do meditate to re-connect to the big-picture part of my mind and, as you say, to tap the "unknown" part of the brain. By unknown I understand the part of my mind that I am not generally conscious of.

About humans using only a small percentage of their brains, sorry, that is not correct. I studied neuroscience at the University of California and that is not true. I think the confusion must come from the fact that at any given time only a part of the brain is active. Each cubic centimeter of the brain is used for something. It is just not used all at the same time. It is the same as a toolbox. Just because we do not use all the tools at the same time it does not mean that the toolbox is only 10% used. Do you see what I mean?

The brain is very costly to maintain. It consumes a disproportionate proportion of the body's resources. Natural selection would not permitted such a waste as using only a small percentage of the brain.