How God Changes Your Brain

Summary

God is great—for your mental, physical, and spiritual health. Based on new evidence culled from brain-scan studies and a wide-reaching survey of people's religious and spiritual experiences, neuroscientist Andrew Newberg, MD, and therapist Mark Robert Waldman offer the following breakthrough discoveries:

• Not only do prayer and spiritual practice reduce stress, but just twelve minutes of meditation per day may slow down the aging process.



• Contemplating a loving God rather than a punitive God reduces anxiety and depression and increases feelings of security, compassion, and love.



• Intense prayer and meditation permanently change numerous structures and functions in the brain, altering your values and the way you perceive reality.