The Lord's Prayer apparently activate areas of the brain that produce happiness and energy. Danish researchers at Aarhus University asked 20 devout Christians to recite a rhyme, a wish to Santa Claus, offer a personal prayer, and recite the Lord's Prayer while having MRI scans of their brains. Both prayers activated the dorsal striatum, a part of the brain associated with the release of dopamine, the neurotransmitter that fights depression, cravings and feeling tired, however, the Lord's Prayer had more than double the affect.
In their paper, the researchers speculated that this could be due to the fact that the Lord's Prayer, "according to Christian tradition, is sanctioned by Jesus as encompassing all important aspects of life. This God-given authorization may reinforce practitioners' expectations or reciprocity in comparison with the often more idiosyncratic and individual requests in personal prayers."
The rhyme and wish to Santa Clause both decreased the activation of this dopamine-releasing part of the brain.
(From First for women. 1/2/12, 43.)
No comments:
Post a Comment