Washington: A study has found people undergoing meditation for eight weeks have the ability to produce more antibodies to a flu vaccine and showed increased activity in areas of the brain related to positive emotion than individuals who did not meditate.

The study is the first to link meditation to changes in brain activity associated with positive feeling, and the first to demonstrate that mediation can affect immune function, says Dr Richard J Davidson, Ph.D, of the University of Wisconsin and his colleagues.

"Our findings indicate that a short training programme in mindful meditation has demonstrable effects on brain and immune function and underscores the need for additional research on the biological consequences of this intervention," a report in the 'Newswire' quoted Davidson as saying.

Forty-eight biotechnology company employees participated in the study, in which half of them received weekly meditation training. The employees who meditated were also encouraged to do so at home for an hour a day, six days a week, with the help of instructive audiotapes. All participants also received a flu vaccine during the study.

Davidson and colleagues recorded electrical activity in areas in the left and front portion of the brain that become more active when individuals experience certain forms of positive emotion and reductions in anxiety.

At several points during the study, the researchers measured brain activity as the employees rested or wrote about positive and negative emotional experiences from their lives. They also tracked immune responses among the employees by measuring the level of antibodies produced by the flu vaccination.

It was found that those meditating experienced more electrical activity in the relevant areas of the brain and higher levels of antibodies than employees who did not meditate. The increased brain activity was also significantly related to the antibody increase among meditators, the researchers said.

ANI