EEG Changes With Guided Online Meditation

EEG Changes With Meditation: A Proposal to Analyze EEG Changes With a Simple, Online, Guided Meditative Tool.

Simple meditation and EEG changes

This is a prospective trial enrolling healthy volunteers, including novice meditators and experienced meditators. Subjects will undergo an EEG at baseline and again after 6 weeks. During the 6 weeks, subjects will be asked to meditate twice a day, at least 12 minutes each time.

Inclusion Criteria:

1. 18 years or older
2. Novice or expert meditator

Novice meditator: No meditation practice in the previous year and < 20 entire lifetime hours

Expert meditator: Meditation ≥ 30 min per day for at least 5 days per week over the past 1 year

Exclusion Criteria:

1. History of any neurological condition (i.e. Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, Huntington's disease, brain tumors, brain surgery, or multiple sclerosis)
2. History of depression, currently being treated with antidepressants
3. History of any psychiatric disorder, within last 5 years (i.e. anxiety, psychosis, posttraumatic stress disorder, attention deficit hyperactive disorder)
4. Current use of cognition-enhancing medications
5. Active history (within the last 5 years) of alcohol or drug abuse (> 10 drinks per week)
6. History (within the last 5 years) of stroke/aneurysm
7. Recent history (< 3 months) of seizures
8. Non-English speaking