Browsing by Author "Wu, Shr-Da"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3

Cardiorespiratory phase synchronization during normal rest and inward-attention meditation
(2010-06-11)
Wu, Shr-Da
;
Lo, Pei-Chen
;
電控工程研究所
;
Institute of Electrical and Control Engineering
EFFECT OF ZEN MEDITATION PRACTICE ON PERCEIVED STRESS IN COLLEGE STUDENTS: A SURVEY STUDY
(2007-12-01)
Lo, Pei-Chen
;
Wu, Shr-Da
;
電控工程研究所
;
Institute of Electrical and Control Engineering
Most physical and psychological problems in modern people have been proven to be caused by stress. This finding stimulated the demand for techniques that can effectively manipulate the stress perception. The influence of stress on college students lasts longer at the age when there is a fast development of personality and life viewpoint. This survey study thus mainly examines the effect of Zen-meditation practice on stress manipulation in college students. 541 college students were divided into two groups, with Zen-meditation practice in their daily lives and those who do not meditate. To evaluate the perceived stress of participants, DASS questionnaire was used to measure their negative emotional states (depression, anxiety and stress/tension). The results showed that (1) considerably high percentage of college students who did not practice Zen meditation exhibited negative emotional problem (depression: 45%; anxiety: 48%; stress/tension: 50%); (2) a much lower percentage of students with meditation practice encountered the negative emotional problem (depression: 8%; anxiety: 30%; stress/tension: 12%). This study reflects the benefits of meditation on stress manipulation. It may also imply that having more meditation, having longer meditation time, and doing meditation more frequently could further improve the states of negative emotion. It also implies that meditation experience played a considerable role in effectively manipulating some stress symptoms like depression and anxiety. This is demonstrated by the significantly lower scores (p < 0.001) in the group of experienced (> 0.5 year) meditators as compared with the control group.
Inward-attention meditation increases parasympathetic activity: a study based on heart rate variability
(2008-10-01)
Wu, Shr-Da
;
Lo, Pei-Chen
;
電控工程研究所
;
Institute of Electrical and Control Engineering
Phenomenon of the heart rate variability (HRV) during various meditation techniques has been reported. However, most of these techniques emphasized the skill of slow breathing (< 0.15 Hz). This paper reports our study on HRV during meditation which emphasizes inward attention. Inward attention has been an important approach for the Zen-meditation practitioners to enter into transcendental consciousness. Two groups of subjects were investigated, 10 experimental Subjects with Zen-meditation experience and 10 control subjects without any meditation experience. We analyzed HRV both in time and frequency domains. The results revealed both common and different effects on HRV between inward-attention meditation and normal rest. The major difference of effects between two groups were the decrease of LF/HF ratio and LF norm as well as the increase of HF norm, which suggested the benefit of a sympathovagal balance toward parasympathetic activity. Moreover, we observed regular oscillating rhythms of the heart rate when the LF/HF ratio was small under meditation. According to previous studies, regular oscillations of heart rate signal usually appeared in the low-frequency band of HRV under slow breathing. Our findings showed that such regular oscillations could also appear in the high-frequency band of HRV but with smaller amplitude.