Wednesday, June 01, 2011

Religious Experience Shrinks Your Brain, a new study finds...

Src: http://goo.gl/8Czsy

Posted by Brandon Chadock on June 1, 2011 at 5:16pm

" The article [ http://goo.gl/2sNkD ], “Religious factors and hippocampal atrophy in late life,” by Amy Owen and colleagues at Duke University represents an important advance in our growing understanding of the relationship between the brain and religion. The study, published March 30 in PLoS One, showed greater atrophy in the hippocampus in individuals who identify with specific religious groups as well as those with no religious affiliation. It is a surprising result, given that many prior studies have shown religion to have potentially beneficial effects on brain function, anxiety, and depression.

A number of studies have evaluated the acute effects of religious practices, such as meditation and prayer, on the human brain. A smaller number of studies have evaluated the longer term effects of religion on the brain....."

continued: http://goo.gl/8Czsy

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Religious Experiences Shrink Part of the Brain

A study links life-changing religious experiences, like being born again, with atrophy in the hippocampus

http://goo.gl/2sNkD