Our book “Meditation and Wellness: Perspectives from Japan” examined the scientific underpinnings and practical problems of building mental resiliency.
The book presented both the academic support for taking up meditation, and the stumbling experiences of the author.
Recent research (1) has investigated the relative benefits in treating anxiety disorders with a) mindfulness-based stress reduction methods and b) the common antidepressant drug escitalopram.
The study concludes that meditation is as effective as medication.
Neuroscience news interviewed the authors. To quote from that article:
Anxiety disorders can be highly distressing; they include generalized anxiety, social anxiety, panic disorder and fear of certain places or situations, including crowds and public transportation, all of which can lead to an increased risk for suicide, disability and distress and therefore are commonly treated in psychiatric clinics.
Mindfulness increases the options that sufferers can access.
References:
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction vs Escitalopram for the Treatment of Adults with Anxiety Disorders: A Randomized Clinical Trial, by Elizabeth A Hoge, Eric Bui, Mihriye Mete, Mary Ann Dutton, Amanda W Baker, Naomi M Simon, JAMA Psychiatry, November 2022
Investigating the effect of meditation on stress through both the measurement of hair-based glucocorticoid assays, and from questionnaire data, the October 2021 RCT study (1) concluded that:
Our results show that daily mental training for 3 to 6 months can buffer the long-term systemic stress load of healthy adults. This was reflected in a reduction of cortisol (HC) and cortisone (HE) accumulation in hair, while levels of self-reported chronic stress were less consistently decreased.
The study also found that the reduction of cortisol (HC) and cortisone (HE) accumulation in hair were independent of specific training content, (table below), positively associated with practice frequency for HC, and reached a ceiling after 6 months of training.
Equally, it took 6 months until significant differences to the baseline were achieved in all training cohorts, suggesting that reliable long-term benefits emerge only after a relatively long period of intense training.
The study used a range of meditation techniques
1) Attention/Interoceptive Awareness
The Core Exercises:
Breathing Meditation
Body Scan
2) Care, Compassion, Gratitude/Prosocial Motivation/Dealing with Difficult emotions
The Core Exercises
Loving-kindness Meditation
Affect Dyad
3) Meta-cognition/Perspective-taking on Self/Perspective-taking on Others
The Core Exercises
Observing-thought Meditation
Perspective Dyad
For much more on meditation and wellness, please see our book, available on Amazon:
Wellness and Meditation, Perspectives from Japan. The scientific underpinnings and practical problems of building mental resiliency.
References:
Contemplative Mental Training Reduces Hair Glucocorticoid Levels in a Randomized Clinical Trial, by Puhlmann, Lara M.C.; Vrticka, Pascal; Linz, Roman; Stalder, Tobias; Kirschbaum, Clemens; Engert, Veronika; Singer, Tania, in Psychosomatic Medicine, October 2021
The meditation app subsector has been growing rapidly globally, even before 2020 and the pandemic. The top ten meditation apps had revenues of US$195 million in 2019, up 52% from 2018’s US$128 million. (1) This was the fourth year of rapid growth. The revenues of the top ten meditation apps were estimated to be US$8 million in 2015, US$19 million in 2016 and US$55 million in 2017.
The dominant two apps with half the market are Calm and Headspace.
The former has been maintaining a market share around 33%, the latter around 16%. The third-place app has around a 6% market share followed by thousands of other apps. In 2019, Calm’s estimated revenues were US$92 million and Headspace’s US$56 million. In terms of paying subscribers, both Calm and Headspace claim to have over two million. This compares to many tens of millions of users who have downloaded the apps, but not become subscribers. In 2019, for example, Calm had 24 million first-time users, Headspace 13 million.
In Japan meditation apps are not yet popular
This could be because of the language barrier. Not just the navigation around the app needs to be in Japanese, but also the guided meditations. Guided meditation ranges from three minutes to thirty, and, in addition, live classes are being offered more frequently to help people feel connected.
Rather than a language barrier, a more likely explanation for the slow take-up rate in Japan is that meditation in the form of “focused attention” is already at the core of Japanese behavior.
Be it traditional customs such as flower arrangement (Ikebana), the tea ceremony (Sadou), calligraphy (Shodou) and cultivating miniature trees (Bonsai), or the Japanese martial arts (e.g., Aikido, Judo, Karate, Kendo, Jujutsu) or Shokunin (the continuously striving craftsman, e.g., Jiro Dreams of Sushi (2)) or the general attention to detail in all aspects of Japanese life, focused attention is practiced everywhere.
Traditional customs and martial arts remain on the curriculum of Japanese schools exposing all to the benefits of concentration and focus.
Unfortunately, Japanese schools have been impacted by the pandemic. Having closed during March-May 2020, restrictions on non-core activities have persisted after reopening. Club activities have been limited, events and trips cancelled, and talking during lunchtime forbidden. (3)
The latest online survey conducted by the National Center for Child Health and Development included questions on depressive symptoms, using international standards for measuring depression.
The results (4) indicate that in late 2020 a quarter of school children had moderate or higher symptoms of depression (table below).
As schools fail to deliver focused attention activities, perhaps meditation apps will become more popular in Japan.
Depressive symptoms (%) by age (years old) and severity
10-12
13-15
16-18
Severe
1
8
6
Somewhat severe
7
4
9
Moderate
8
12
15
Sum of above
16
24
30
Mild
23
29
24
None
62
47
46
Notes: 10-12 years old (Shougakusei, 4-6 nen), 13-15 years old (Chuugakusei), 16-18 years old (kougakusei). Survey conducted online November/December 2020
Source: National Center for Child Health and Development, Conceptasia, March 2021
References:
Top 10 meditation apps pulled in US$195 million in 2019, up 52% from 2018, by techcrunch.com, 31 January 2020. Underlying data from SensorTower.
Jiro Dreams of Sushi, a 2011 Japanese-language American documentary film directed by David Gelb.
