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The study, which examined the hippocampus region of the brain, found that Protestants who did not have a "born again" experience had significantly more gray matter than either those who reported a life-changing religious experience, Catholics, or unaffiliated older adults.
The hippocampus is an area buried deep in the brain that helps regulate emotion and memory. Atrophy or shrinkage in this region of the brain has long been linked to mental health problems such as depression, dementia and Alzheimer's disease.
So why would born-again Protestants, Catholics and those with no religious affiliation have a smaller hippocampus?
Researchers speculate it may have something to do with the stress of belonging to a minority group. Chronic stress floods the brain with hormones that, over time, may damage the hippocampus.
Originally posted by ELahrairah
reply to post by Ophiuchus 13
Yeah but the nice thing about the people I know who meditate is they never tell me I'm going to hell if I fail to accept their path of meditation.
It belongs to the limbic system and plays important roles in the consolidation of information from short-term memory to long-term memory and spatial navigation.
Originally posted by Ophiuchus 13
reply to post by mkkkay
Maybe born agains are generating god vibes and it physically changing them. sorta how meditation can have physical effects since they both are somewhat positive mindstates to be in meditating or praying and believing.
People who meditate grow bigger brains than those who don't. Researchers at Harvard, Yale, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have found the first evidence that meditation can alter the physical structure of our brains. Brain scans they conducted reveal that experienced meditators boasted increased thickness in parts of the brain that deal with attention and processing sensory input.
www.physorg.com...edit on 5/25/11 by Ophiuchus 13 because: (no reason given)edit on 5/25/11 by Ophiuchus 13 because: (no reason given)