doodling Aids
Meditation and Yoga Change
Memory
Genes’ response to stress
D
oodling might imply a wandering
R
esearch now suggests that mind- handling of free radicals. They noted
mind, but according to a study body techniques like yoga and that such deep relaxation practices have
published in the journal Applied Cogni- meditation, which can put the body been used across cultures for millennia
tive Psychol- into a state of deep rest known as the to help prevent and treat disease.
ogy, the relaxation response, are capable of Dr. Jeffery Dusek, co-lead author of
contrary is changing how human genes behave in the study at the Benson-Henry Institute,
true; doodling response to stress. and now with Abbott Northwestern
can actually Many experts see the relax- Hospital in Minneapolis, remarks
help people ation response, which is char- that, “The relaxation-response-asso-
remember acterized by reduced oxygen ciated changes were the opposite
details. intake, increased exhalation of stress-associated changes,” and
Study of nitric oxide and lowered were “much more pronounced” in
participants who were directed to psychological distress, as the long-term practitioners.
doodle while listening to a dull phone counterpart to the flight-or-fight The researchers at Benson-
message demonstrated a 29 percent stress response. The au- Henry Institute for Mind/
improved recall compared with their thors say their study Body Medicine at Mas-
non-doodling counterparts. “If someone showed that the re- sachusetts General
is doing a boring task, they may start to laxation response Hospital and
daydream. Daydreaming distracts them further acted to the Genomics
from the task, resulting in poorer perfor- change the Center at Beth
mance,” explains study co-author Jackie expression Israel Deaconess
Andrade, Ph.D., a psychology profes- of genes Medical Center
sor at the University of Plymouth, in involved published their
England. “A simple task, like doodling, with results in PLoS
may be sufficient to stop daydreaming inflam- One.
without affecting performance on the mation,
main task.” It turns out that in everyday pro- Source: Medi-
life, doodling may be something we do grammed calNewsToday.
because it helps us stay on track. cell death com
Source: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009 and the
September 2009 19
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