Does Religion Change Our Brains?

Neurotheology, a field of study that explores the relationship between religious practices and brain function, has gained attention in recent years. Scholars have reviewed multiple studies spanning 28 years across various religious traditions to understand how different practices impact the brain's structure and function. It has been found that religious and spiritual practices can lead to consistent and potentially lasting changes in the brain, such as alterations in gray matter and connectivity between regions.

Two brain regions were frequently mentioned in the findings: the prefrontal cortex, responsible for high-level thinking and decision-making, and the anterior cingulate cortex, which serves as a bridge between cognitive and emotional processing. Devotional practices like OM chanting in Buddhism and Salat in Islam were observed to impact the brain differently.

OM chanting was found to calm the amygdala, the brain's emotional alarm center, while Buddhist chanting activated the amygdala instead. Prayer, the type of prayer, and its associated beliefs appeared to have a significant impact on brain structure. For instance, improvised personal prayer was linked to regions of the brain related to interpersonal connection, while Sahaja yoga's prayer focused on quieting the mind, forgiveness, and humility deactivated certain parts of the brain associated with external awareness.

Islamic prayer, known as Salat, was found to alter the corpus callosum, which connects the two hemispheres of the brain. Even trance states experienced during mediumistic practices yielded unique brain wave patterns. Some counter-intuitive findings include Hindu Vedic priests, who trained extensively in memorization and recitation, showing greater cortical thickness in areas linked to self-discipline, emotional regulation, pitch, rhythm, and melody.

Interestingly, despite these brain changes, they did not show alterations in the hippocampus, the brain's hub for forming new memories. While the study primarily focused on healthy individuals, a subset of participants with mental health issues, such as depression, also showed brain changes. The authors suggest that these findings may help bridge the gap in global mental health treatment, as religious and spiritual practices are widely engaged in by a large portion of the world's population.

However, it is essential to note that the studies are preliminary, with many being small, correlational, or single-case studies, and the causal link between religious practices and brain changes is yet to be fully established.