Nestoriuc, Rief, and Martin (2008) conducted a meta-analysis that ...

[Haya94]

Nestoriuc, Rief, and Martin (2008) conducted a meta-analysis that included a total of 53 biofeedback treatment studies of tension-type headache. Nestoriuc et al. (2008) noted that this was the first meta-analytic study with sufficient power to find that the treatments led to significantly reduced muscle tension. Why is this important?
 
  What will be an ideal response?

Question 2

How does meditation affect the volume of cerebral gray matter? Cite a research study in your answer.
 
  What will be an ideal response?

[Bsand8]

Answer to Question 1

It is important because it establishes a missing physiological link between the theory of muscle tension reduction and its relation to headache symptom reduction. The link had been hypothesized but never firmly established in previous meta-analyses. This had caused some earlier researchers to speculate that EMG biofeedback-mediated headache symptom reductions were probably wholly psychologically driven rather than at least partly related to reductions in muscle tension that were presumed to more directly underlie the pathophysiology of the tension-type headache. Now there appears to be good evidence establishing the physiological link for biofeedback efficacy in treating tension-type headache.

Answer to Question 2

Pagnoni and Cekic (2007) used magnetic resonance imaging on experienced Zen meditators (more than 3 years of daily practice) and found that their cerebral gray matter volume did not show the normal negative correlation to age (an age-related decline) that the matched control subjects showed. They noted that the effect of meditation on gray matter volume was most prominent in the putamen, a structure strongly implicated in attentional processing. These findings suggest that the regular practice of meditation may have neuroprotective effects and reduce cognitive decline associated with normal aging (p. 1623).

[Haya94]

Thank you!

[Bsand8]

Happy to help