Altered Traits summary

Picture yourself in an interview with two potential employers who show no signs of empathy or encouragement. After trying to prove yourself as a valuable addition to their company, they ask you to do a bit of arithmetic: Start with 1324, then subtract 17, then minus 17 again and keep going without making any errors.

This is a form of the Trier Social Stress Test – a psychological test that calculates participants’ reactions to social stress situations. Participants’ heart rates and blood pressure are measured to determine how they handle certain stress triggers.

Multitasking is a common phenomenon of the modern world. Nowadays, we’re juggling various duties while being bombarded with texts, calls, emails, Facebook notifications and Instagram photos.

Some try to work on their ability to handle several tasks at once, but multitasking is inefficient and mentally exhausting.

When faced with a difficult mathematical equation, you probably think your brain needs to fire up in order to solve it. But when engaged in arduous tasks, many areas of the brain deactivate. Moreover, when we do nothing at all, these same parts of the brain reactivate. So when we’re doing nothing, our brains aren’t really resting.

In fact, the brain enters what is called the default mode. Neuroscientist Marcus Raichle, who worked at Washington University in St. Louis, discovered in 2001 that when we think we’re doing nothing, many parts of the brain show high activity.

Meditation can calm people and help their focus. But what if meditation has a bigger impact, particularly on our brain cells?

There are studies that indicate meditation makes the brain stronger. The first evidence for this came from a 2005 study conducted by Sara Lazar, who worked at Harvard Medical School. Lazar found that meditation made certain areas of the brain grow thicker. The implications of what this would mean for humans has yet to be determined, but the study did suggest that parts of the brain were improving.

Western branches of medicine have not yet found an adequate response to psychiatric disorders that aren’t responsive to drugs. Perhaps meditation could help?

Some studies suggest that meditation can help to alleviate depression.

In the autumn of 2002, a Tibetan monk named Mingyur Rinpoche arrived at Madison Airport in Wisconsin. One of the authors had invited the monk to his lab so that he could measure the brain activity of a yogi – the master of meditation.

The author found that neurological changes were more visible in the brain of a yogi.

There are many different types of meditators around the world. Some meditate sporadically, while others go off to meditation retreats and practice for thousands of hours. If you’re a yogi, then meditating over a three-year period is nothing out of the ordinary. Similar to the various types of meditation, the effects are different for everyone.

But even meditating just a little bit will help you see beneficial effects.