Last Updated on July 9, 2025 by pg@petergamma.org
The Meditation Research Institute Switzerland (MRIS) of Peter Gamma from www.petergamma.org
studies the effect of meditation on physiological parameters. This starts with studies about the heart rate. Smartwatches are only of very limited use for scientific studies:
Scientific studies about meditation start with the AD8232 ECG heart reate chip, presented in the following video by Scott Harden:
We are happy now about the first scientific papers from India about meditation which use the AD8232 ECG chip:
For scientific studies, 3 channel ECG devices are the first choice, since they are the gold standard for heart rate measurements, which means that they are the most accurate devices for this purpose. With the AD8232 ECG chip, it should not be too difficult and too expensive to build such a device.
Our home lab most probably will only go up to 16 EEG channels based on OpenBCI. We will eventually add more channel with InfluxDB. By experience, devices which are optimized for low-cost have the largest community. And what we describe here on www.petergamma.org has this goal.
In our studies, we found the most skilled electronic engineers in India. And it would be highly desirable that these engineers become interested in OpenBCI modules sold on eBay and Aliexpress:
https://petergamma.org/tag/openbci_made_in_china
These modules currently seem to be only rarely used. Do they have issues, and can they be repairde? If some skilled electronics engineers have closer look at those, they eventually can find out what is wrong with those. And eventually they can show us, if it is possible to repair those. We already have published on www.petergamma.org, what we know about those. They seem not be too far from funcional.
The science about meditation goes up to gamma waves. Peter Gamma from www.petergamma.org is happy that he does not need a brain scanner to measure those.
Peter is aware of his gamma waves in his brain, when they happen. But since gamma waves are one of the most important parameters for studying the effect of meditation, it is highly desirable to have tools to measure those. With an OpenBCI device with 16 channels, and preferentially Wifi transmission, it should be possible to make studies about localized gamma wave activities. Papers, for instance published by Arnaud Delorme, had already this research topic.
The best device to study the effect of meditation are brain scanners. But who can afford such studies next to Vanja Palmers from Switzerland? But since the science about meditation is also the science about mental health, we hope that also to public interest in these studies will grow.