Meditation slows down loss of gray matter of the brain during aging

Meditation helps to keep the volume of the gray matter of the brain that contains neurons. This is the conclusion reached by researchers from the medical school of the University of California in Los Angeles studied the relationship between age and gray matter in two groups of people. Scientists compared the brains of 50 people who had meditated for years and 50 people who've never done this before. Loss of gray matter with age was observed in both groups, but to a lesser extent the fans to meditate.

If the majority of previous studies focused on the identification of the causes of neurodegeneration, the authors of the new study sought to find a way to improve mental health.

Each group consisted of 28 men and 22 women aged 24 to 77 years. Those who meditated did so regularly throughout 4-46 years (average experience: 20 years). Magnetic resonance imaging showed that those who meditated, the volume of gray matter was more. Experts were surprised by the difference.

We expected that the effect will be small and affect only some parts of the brain. In fact, the effect of meditation spread throughout the brain, say the researchers.

The study was transmitted to the journal Frontiers in Psychology.

As you know, with the increase in life expectancy increases the risk of deterioration of mental abilities – the brain loses volume and weight. Meditation is considered as one of the ways to minimize these risks.

At the same time the researchers were in no hurry to establish a direct causal relationship with factors such as lifestyle, personality and genetic differences that may also play a role.

The mindfulness meditation (mindfulness meditation), in particular, is practiced in the treatment of such conditions as attention deficit, memory loss, depression, and problems related to blood pressure and weak immune system.

Meditation also helps to fight cancer. Women with breast cancer, meditating once a day for eight weeks showed a healthy telomeres – the end segments of chromosomes that serve a protective function of DNA.

Regular meditation can also reduce the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorders. It was even observed that meditation can switch on and off the function of some genes associated with stress and immune system. Modern technology allows the smallest details to consider the physiological changes in the brain as a result of the impact of mental exercises.

Source: hi-news.ru