Meditation may increase connectivity between different parts of the brain and reduce brain shrinkage due to aging, suggests a study from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Eileen Luders and colleagues compared the brain activity of 27 meditation practitioners versus 27 control participants matched in age and gender, using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), a contemporary imaging method that reveals structural connectivity in the brain.
The meditators had been practicing for 5 to 46 years, using various styles, and had an average age of 52.
The researchers found various differences between the brains of the two groups, namely large-scale networks across various brain regions, including the frontal, temporal, parietal, and occipital lobes, the anterior corpus callosum, and the brain stem.
“Our results suggest that long-term meditators have white-matter fibers that are either more numerous, more dense or more insulated throughout the brain,” said Luders in a press release.
“We also found that the normal age-related decline of white-matter tissue is considerably reduced in active meditation practitioners.”
Luders said it is possible that meditation might increase brain connectivity over time. However, it could also be preventing reduction in brain size caused by aging.
“That is, if practiced regularly and over years, meditation may slow down aging-related brain atrophy, perhaps by positively affecting the immune system,” she said.
An alternative explanation is that people who choose to meditate already have different brains.
“For example, a particular brain anatomy may have drawn an individual to meditation or helped maintain an ongoing practice—meaning that the enhanced fiber connectivity in meditators constitutes a predisposition towards meditation, rather than being the consequence of the practice,” Luders added.
“Meditation appears to be a powerful mental exercise with the potential to change the physical structure of the brain at large,” Luders concluded, adding that more research is needed prior to studying meditation in clinical trials.
The study was published in the journal NeuroImage
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