21 Quotes by Jo Marchant

Compared to a control group, those told to interpret their stress as positive had the same physiological benefits as in the previous studies. But they also got higher scores – not just in the fake test but in the real GRE, which they took up to three months later.

After that, studies started to show that everyone from violinists to taxi drivers beef up relevant brain areas with new cells and connections, just as we build muscles with physical exercise. Lazar’s study showed that meditation can do this too. For the first time, it was possible to explain how the practice might permanently change psychology and physiology.

They concluded that social isolation is as dangerous for health as obesity, inactivity and smoking.