Meditating every day for a year: What's my experience and the biochemical changes?

My meditation experiment is over: 365 days of meditation, 20 minutes a day. That's about 5 full days of meditation. Time to ask what effect meditation had on me. And as a biochemist, I'm also interested in… is there a biochemical effect on molecular level?

Let's start with the personal story: A year ago, I started this experiment as a healthy, very busy consultant in the healthcare space. As projects are demanding and failure is not an option, it is fair to say that stress and anxiety had become an underlying emotional layer for me. The main effect of this: A very tense feeling in my stomach depending on the level of stress. On the outside, this didn't show: People mostly perceived me as calm and caring. And my "outward mood" was positive and happy (although – according to my wife - it wouldn't hurt if I was a bit more enthusiastic).

So, why did I start meditation? I actually can't pin-point the exact decision, but for me it had a lot to do with my mentors/coaches, like the great Johanne Lavoie, Laura Furstenthal and Ralf Schneitz. In essence, they encouraged me to look at this part of myself and I just did it. An important factor that I managed to meditate for 365 days in a row: The calm voice of Andy Puddicombe guiding me through the meditations and the gamification feature of the Headspace app: The app counts how many days you have meditated in a row: I didn't want to break that run-streak and start from zero again. Simple, but very effective.

The emotional effects of meditation

Two surprising effects started to show within the first month of meditation: An increased level of awareness what's going on in my mind and body. And secondly: How quickly my tense stomach can relax if I visualize something pleasant, like playing with my son.

I don't want to bore you with details, so let's jump right towards the end of the experiment: How do I feel 12 months later? I love how Dan Harris, an American news anchor puts it in his book about meditation: Meditation makes him "10% happier". I can certainly agree with that – I would say for myself that meditation helps me to be a happier person, less anxious and more positive and playful. It also helps each Friday night: I can much faster switch from work to family. I guess, it is easier for me to be more in the moment and less caught up in thinking.

The biochemical effects of meditation

But what about the molecular effects of mediation? From a biochemist's perspective, it takes quite some effort to find anything scientific about the topic. My favourite article is a review by Ivana Buric et al. in Frontiers in Immunology: "What is the molecular signature of mind-body interventions? A systematic review of gene expression changes induced by meditation and related practices." They found 18 scientific studies where gene-expression studies were conducted on more or less experienced people practicing meditation and similar things.

The results are pretty consistent: Meditation and other mind-body interventions (such as mindfulness, yoga, Tai Chi etc.) down-regulate the nuclear factor kappa B (NF-KB) pathway. Typically, NF-KB is produced when stress triggers our sympathetic nervous system. Subsequently, NF-KB switches on the expression of a set of cytokines that drive inflammatory responses in the body. Thus, down-regulation of NF-KB by meditation would reduce inflammation.

Now, you might ask about the significance of this effect: There is a whole body of scientific evidence under the headline "Conserved Transcriptional Response to Adversity (CTRA)" that describes this effect: In essence, all sorts of adverse triggers (e.g., bereavement, trauma, cancer diagnosis, but also low socioeconomic status) can result in a CTRA response that increases inflammation, which - in a chronic setting – ultimately reduces the effectiveness of our immune system. I guess most of us might remember getting sick at one point during long, stressful time periods. And it gets worse: If this pattern continues long-term, chronic inflammation is associated with higher risk of certain psychiatric diseases, but also cardiovascular diseases, and even some cancer types.

What's next?

Well, the overall picture seems pretty clear and is no a surprise at all: Our stressful lives are not exactly beneficial for our health. I guess this story is not too different from the impact of bad nutrition, limited exercise, lack of sleep etc. The question is: What do we do about it?

For me personally, the answer is clear: As long as my family tolerates it and as long as I love my job, I will continue the work I do. However, meditation has made me "10% happier", helps reduce my emotional tension and be more present with my wife, son and daughter. That makes all the difference for me.

In case you are wondering: I won't stop meditation after 365 days. Year 2, bring it on!

For the few people who will still be reading at this point of the article: I would love to hear how you are dealing with stress and anxiety – what works for you?

P.S: Just FYI: The person on the photo is not me. I chose this photo because it seems to be the only meditation photo where the meditator doesn't sit in some advanced yoga pose. As I'm way to inflexible to sit cross-legged for more than 5 seconds and also don't do anything fancy with my hands while meditating, I thought it is the most appropriate photo. Although, I'm older, shorter and less good-looking than the person in the photo and I have never meditated outdoors with the sun shining in my face.