Last Updated on August 15, 2023 by pg@petergamma.org
Since Richard Davidsons book Altered Traits we know that meditation changes our mind brain and body in an objectively measurable way. Only 20 min of daily practices leads to changes in our brains. These new scientific findings are eventually also relevant for pharmaceutical companies like Roche. Is mind training good for mental health, and what is better for our mental health, drugs or mind training?
We discussed in our journal several times a paper of the Swiss Federal Institute of Sports in Magglingen which was partly financed by Polar:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31004219/
Was this paper triggered by a paper written by cardiologists from the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio?
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6732081/
This paper concluded that the Polar H7 chest strap is the closest to a 3 lead ECG device. But the Magglingen paper says, the Polar H10 has the best signal quality with strong body movements, whereas 3 lead ECG devices fail in that discipline. The paper was also reviewed by Rob ter Horst:
We have discussed this topic in detail in our journal. And our conclusion was, that both papers only say half the truth.
The story of the Swiss Fereral Institute of Sports in Magglingen and Polar reminds us to the story of Lhagsam Mediation in Zurich and eventually Roche Pharma (Switzerland) AG. Was Lhagsam triggered by the work of Richard J. Davidson on meditation? And we are asking the question: Is Lhagsam a study from Roche, where teachers from around the world are brought to Zurich and brain-scanned there? Eventually to compare the effect of practicing meditation to the effect of pharmaceuticals?