London: Peace and tranquility is what every individual yearns for these days. And if researchers at the University of California San Francisco Medical Centre are to be believed, Buddhists are happier than others and their religion, researchers claim, is also good for mental health.

Experiments carried out in the United States have revealed that areas of brain associated with good mood and positive feelings are more active in Buddhists, making then calmer than the rest.

The findings, published in 'New Scientist' magazine, say that practice of meditation can tame the amygdala, an area of the brain, which is the hub of fear memory. Buddhists, who meditate regularly, were less likely to succumb to any sort of shock or confusion, or to lose temper.

"The most reasonable hypothesis is that there is something about conscientious Buddhist practice that results in the kind of happiness we all seek," Paul Ekman, who carried out the study, was quoted as saying by ‘BBC’.

In a separate study, scientists at the University of Wisconsin at Madison used new scanning techniques to examine brain activity in a group of Buddhists. They found that area of the Buddhists brain, linked to positive emotions, self-control and temperament constantly lit up and not just when they are meditating.

ANI