Participating in an 8-week mindfulness meditation program appears to make measurable changes in brain regions associated with memory, sense of self, empathy and stress.
In a study that appeared in the January 30, 2011 issue of Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, a team led by Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers report the results of their study, the first to document meditation-produced changes over time in the brain's grey matter (the brain tissue that contains nerve cells).
Analysis of the brain scans, which focused on areas where meditation-associated differences were seen in earlier studies, found increased grey-matter density in the hippocampus, known to be important for learning and memory, and in structures associated with self-awareness, compassion, empathy, introspection and stress.
The reductions in stress reported by the participants were also correlated with decreased grey-matter density in the amygdala, a structure known to play an important role in anxiety and stress, researchers said. None of these changes were seen in the non-meditators.
Yes, it appears that meditating for half an hour a day for 8 weeks can increase the density of grey matter in the hippocampus ... further proof, it that be needed, of both the plasticity of our brains and the health and other benefits of meditation (especially mindfulness meditation).
There are now about 1,500 studies on mindfulness, but many more studies examining the benefits of mindfulness are emerging.
Resource: Britta K Hölzel, James Carmody, Mark Vangel, Christina Congleton, Sita M Yerramsetti, Tim Gard, Sara W Lazar. Mindfulness practice leads to increases in regional brain gray matter density. Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, 2011; 191 (1): 36 DOI: 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2010.08.006
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