Forever Young(er): potential age-defying effects of long-term meditation on gray matter atrophy

Abstract

While overall life expectancy has been increasing, the human brain still begins deteriorating after the first two decades of life and continues degrading further with increasing age. Thus, techniques that diminish the negative impact of aging on the brain are desirable. Existing research, although scarce, suggests meditation to be an attractive candidate in the quest for an accessible and inexpensive, efficacious remedy. Here, we examined the link between age and cerebral gray matter re-analyzing a large sample (n = 100) of long-term meditators and control subjects aged between 24 and 77 years. When correlating global and local gray matter with age, we detected negative correlations within both controls and meditators, suggesting a decline over time. However, the slopes of the regression lines were steeper and the correlation coefficients were stronger in controls than in meditators. Moreover, the age-affected brain regions were much more extended in controls than in meditators, with significant group-by-age interactions in numerous clusters throughout the brain. Altogether, these findings seem to suggest less age-related gray matter atrophy in long-term meditation practitioners.

In pursuit of resilience: stress, epigenetics, and brain plasticity

“…Furthermore, the practice of meditation was found to be positively correlated with fluid intelligence, resilience, and global network efficiency . Moreover, gray matter volume is reported to be preserved in meditators compared to age‐matched controls …”

Can Mindfulness Beat Alzheimer's Disease?

“…They found that, in both groups, age-related gray matter decline was present, however the slope the regression line was significantly steeper in controls than in meditators. This indicated that in meditators, the age-related loss of gray matter is less profound than in non-meditators (Luders et al, 2015). On the other hand, it is thought that engaging in mindfulness practices can possibly induce changes as a result of neuroplasticity.…”

“…There are several studies supporting this idea with evidence. Luders, Cherbuin and Kurth (2015), for example, studied the link between age and whole-brain gray matter in meditators and healthy controls. They found that, in both groups, age-related gray matter decline was present, however the slope the regression line was significantly steeper in controls than in meditators.…”

Searching for the philosopher's stone: promising links between meditation and brain preservation

“…Following up on these previous findings, three novel cross‐sectional imaging studies were conducted examining whether meditators show less age‐related decline of brain tissue. Study I and study II used MRI and were based on T1‐weighted data obtained on a 1.5‐Tesla scanner. Here, 50 long‐term meditation practitioners (28 men and 22 women) were compared to 50 control subjects (28 men and 22 women).…”

“…On average, meditators had close to 18 years of practice (mean (SD): 17.3 (9.8) years; range 5–38 years), where meditation styles included Vipassana, Shamatha, and Zazen. Importantly, within all three studies, meditators and their study‐specific controls were scanned at the same site, using the same scanner, and following the same scanning protocol …”