{"id":10991,"date":"2015-02-28T02:33:52","date_gmt":"2015-02-28T07:33:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/yang-sheng.com\/?p=10991"},"modified":"2015-02-28T02:37:29","modified_gmt":"2015-02-28T07:37:29","slug":"meditation-can-change-your-brain-for-better-longer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yang-sheng.com\/?p=10991","title":{"rendered":"Meditation Can Change Your Brain for Better & Longer…"},"content":{"rendered":"

[Research Update \u79d1\u7814 \u52a8\u6001]<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Meditation Can Change Your Brain <\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

for Better and Longer\u2026<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>Compiled by Kevin W Chen, Ph.D.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"meditation-brain-2\"<\/a>There has been an old saying, when Buddha was asked, \u201cWhat have you gained from long meditation?\u201d\u00a0 Buddha replied, \u201cNothing!\u201d \u201cHowever, let me tell you what I lost: Anger, anxiety, depression, insecurity, fear of old age and death.\u201d\u00a0 That is a very wise answer, good enough for motivating all of us to start meditation.\u00a0 However, recent scientific studies of changes in brain images and brain chemicals during or after meditation found that, Meditation can not only quiet your mind and lose all negativity, but also bring significant changes to your brain for better and longer life.\u00a0 I am preparing for such a study, so I decided to share what I found out in recent scientific literature.<\/p>\n

1. \u00a0Meditation Could Slow Down the Brain\u2019s Aging Process<\/strong><\/p>\n

A new study published in January 2015 Frontiers in Psychology<\/a> from the UCLA Brain Mapping Center reported that, meditation may protect the brain from aging, or slow down the aging process.\u00a0 The study used fMRI technology to scan participants\u2019 brain, and compared 50 long-term meditators (average years of meditation 20 years) with 50 match non-meditators.\u00a0 While both groups showed a decline in gray matter with older age, the longtime meditators experienced significantly smaller reductions in gray matter volume than those who did not meditate, suggesting the gray matter in the long-term meditators was better preserved.\u00a0\"Brain_image2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

While overall life expectancy has been increasing, the human brain still begins deteriorating after age 20, and continues degrading further with age. Thus, techniques that diminish the negative impact of aging on the brain are desirable.\u00a0 Meditation, in addition to boosting emotional and physical well-being at any time in life, may be an effective way to prevent neuro-degenerative diseases like dementia, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, as well as help stave off some of the normal cognitive decline that comes with aging. The strategy is free, and it comes with no side effects.\u00a0 This new study builds on 2011 research from the same team, which showed that people who meditate exhibit less age-related atrophy in the brain’s white matter, material that makes up nearly half of the brain and is composed of nerve fibers that the brain uses to communicate.\u00a0 Earlier, the same lab also reported that long-term meditation is associated with larger hippocampal and frontal volumes of gray matter (Luders et al. 2009, 2012).<\/p>\n

\"tedxcambridge-sara-lazar-on-how-meditation-can-reshape-our-brains-youtube_dvd.original-300x168\"<\/a>Another study using similar MRI technology from the experienced neuroscientists at Harvard University<\/a> revealed that meditation literally rebuilds the brain\u2019s gray matter in 8 Weeks.\u00a0 The research team\u2019s MRI scans documented for the very first time in medical history how meditation produced massive changes inside the brain\u2019s gray matter. \u00a0\u201cAlthough the practice of meditation is associated with a sense of peacefulness and physical relaxation, practitioners have long claimed that meditation also provides cognitive and psychological benefits that persist throughout the day,\u201d says study senior author\u00a0 Sara Lazar, who has direct many studies in this area,\u00a0 \u201cThis study demonstrates that changes in brain structure may underlie some of these reported improvements and that people are not just feeling better because they are spending time relaxing.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 http:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC3927233\/<\/a><\/p>\n

2. \u00a0Meditation May Rewire Our Brain<\/strong><\/p>\n

In her enlightening book, Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain<\/em>, Sharon Begley explains that the paradigm in the scientific community for centuries is that the brain is essentially fixed, hardwired, unchangeable. This view was summed up by Santiago Ram\u00f3n y Cajal, a Spanish neuroanatomist, when he said, “In the adult centers the nerve paths are something fixed, ended and immutable.” In other words, “the circuits of the living brain are unchanging, its structures and organizations almost as static and stationary as a deathly white cadaver floating in a vat of formaldehyde,” as Begley summarized.<\/p>\n

However, study after study is changing this view to fit the facts.\u00a0 As Begley reports, it’s not just that thinking positive thoughts helps us to feel better and have a better attitude. Positive, productive thinking can actually change the biological structure of our brains. Amazing! Begley continues:\u00a0 Brain changes can be generated by pure mental activity … Something as seemingly insubstantial as thought has the ability to act back on the very stuff of the brain, altering neuronal connections in a way that can lead to recovery from mental illness and perhaps to a greater capacity for empathy and compassion.<\/p>\n

UCLA neuropsychiatrist Jeffrey Schwartz experimented with mindfulness meditation on his obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) patients.\u00a0 He hypothesized that mindfulness could make them aware that their obsessions were caused by malfunctions in their brain, not true signals of distress.\u00a0\u00a0 Schwartz trained his patients to recognize obsessive thoughts, and then think, “My brain is generating another obsessive thought. Don’t I know it is not real but just some garbage thrown up by a faulty circuit?” The vast majority of his patients began reporting positive results within just one week.\u00a0 The research team performed PET scans before and after ten weeks of mindfulness-based therapy.\u00a0 For most of them, the final PET scans showed physical changes in their brains. ” Therapy had altered the metabolism of the OCD circuit,” Schwartz reported. “This was the first study to show that cognitive-behavior therapy has the power to systematically change faulty brain chemistry in a well-identified brain circuit.” His ultimate conclusion was that “Mental action can alter the brain chemistry of an OCD patient. The mind can change the brain.”\"pnas_1207817109fig02\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Another recent study by Drs. Tang and Posner<\/a> with diffusion tensor imaging technology, reported that meditation training can induce changes both in specific brain networks and in brain state. In both cases the efficiency of white matter as measured by diffusion tensor imaging is increased, often after only a few hours of meditation training.\u00a0 This dynamic pattern of white matter change involving the anterior cingulate cortex, a part of the brain network related to self-regulation, could provide a means for intervention to improve or prevent mental disorders.\u00a0 They hypothesized that frontal theta induced by meditation produces a molecular cascade that increases myelin and improves connectivity.<\/p>\n

An earlier study by Dr. Tang\u2019s group has reported that short-term meditation training could produce significant change in brain\u2019s attention networks that are related to alertness and conflict resolution (Tang et al. 2007).<\/p>\n

Another group in UCLA (Kilpatrick et al. 2011) reported the impact of mindfulness meditation on intrinsic brain connectivity.\u00a0\u00a0 They applied fcMRI technology to determine if mindfulness meditation is effective in altering intrinsic connectivity networks after 8 weeks of training.\u00a0 Significant meditation-related differences in functional connectivity were found mainly in auditory\/salience and medial visual networks.\u00a0 Compared to control group, meditation subjects showed (1) increased functional connectivity within auditory and visual networks, (2) increased functional connectivity between auditory cortex and areas associated with attentional and self-referential processes, (3) greater anticorrelation between auditory and visual cortex, and (4) greater anticorrelation between visual cortex and areas associated with attentional and self-referential processes. These findings suggest that 8 weeks of mindfulness meditation training alters intrinsic functional connectivity in ways that may reflect a more consistent attentional focus, enhanced sensory processing, and reflective awareness of sensory experience.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Meditation May Lead to Structure Changes in Key Areas of Brain <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The same group of neuroscientists from Harvard University interested in mindfulness meditation has reported that brain structures change after only eight weeks of meditation practice.\u00a0\u00a0 The neuroscientists enrolled 16 people in an eight-week mindfulness-based stress reduction course.\u00a0 Everyone received audio recordings containing 45-minute guided mindfulness exercises, plus some mindfulness homework.\u00a0 On average, the meditation group spent an average of 27 minutes a day practicing some form of mindfulness.\u00a0 MRI scans of everyone\u2019s brains were taken before and after they completed the meditation training (a control group didn\u2019t do any meditation but also had their brains scanned).\u00a0 After completing the mindfulness course, the MRI scans showed that mindfulness groups increased gray matter concentration within the left hippocampus, the posterior cingulate cortex, the temporo-parietal junction, and the cerebellum. Brain regions involved in learning and memory, emotion regulation, sense of self, and perspective taking!\"18y87ejgp1dvujpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

    Another group of neuroscientists from Seoul National University in Korea also applied MRI technology to examine the brain structure differences between a well-matched sample of long-term meditators and non-meditation controls.\u00a0\u00a0 With whole-brain cortical thickness analysis based on MRI imaging, and diffusion tensor imaging to quantify white matter integrity in the brains, compared with 46 matched non-meditation volunteers, they found that the 46 long-term meditators showed significantly greater cortical thickness in the anterior regions of the brain, located in frontal and temporal areas, including the medial prefrontal cortex, superior frontal cortex, temporal pole and the middle and interior temporal cortices. Significantly thinner cortical thickness was found in the posterior regions of the brain, located in the parietal and occipital areas, including the postcentral cortex, inferior parietal cortex, middle occipital cortex and posterior cingulate cortex.\u00a0 Moreover, in the region adjacent to the medial prefrontal cortex, both higher fractional anisotropy values and greater cortical thickness were observed.\u00a0 These findings confirm that long-term meditators have structural differences in both gray and white matter. (Kang et al. 2013).<\/a>\u00a0 http:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC3541490\/<\/a><\/p>\n

    A similar study by that compared long-term meditators with matched control participants. The main findings were that meditators had larger gray matter volumes than non-meditators in brain areas that are associated with emotional regulation and response control (the right orbito-frontal cortex and the right hippocampus). (Luders et al. 2009)<\/p>\n

    Leung and her colleagues from University of Hong Kong also reported increased gray matter volume in the right angular and posterior parahippocampal gyri among 10 long-term meditators, in comparison with novices (Leung et al. 2013).\u00a0\"yoga_by_you_your_brain_on_meditation-WSD-04182014\"<\/a><\/p>\n

    Vestergaard-Poulsen and his colleague (2009) from Aarhus University of Denmark also reported that long-term meditation is associated with increased gray matter density in the brain stem.\u00a0\u00a0 Using MRI imaging, they observed higher gray matter density in lower brain stem regions of experienced meditators compared with age-matched non-meditators.\u00a0 Their findings show that long-term\u00a0 meditators have structural differences in brainstem regions concerned with cardiorespiratory control. This could account for some of the cardiorespiratory parasympathetic effects and traits, as well as the cognitive, emotional, and immunoreactive impact reported in several studies of different meditation practices.<\/p>\n

    Pickut et al (2013) from University of Antiwerp (Belgium) reported that mindfulness meditation lead to structural brain changes on MRI among patients with Parkinson\u2019s disease.\u00a0\u00a0 In a controlled longitudinal trial they randomized 27 patients into either mindfulness intervention (n=14) or usual care (UC) control (n=13).\u00a0 MRI data sets of the brain were obtained at baseline and after eight weeks follow-up.\u00a0 Increased gray matter density (GMD) was found in the mindfulness group compared to the UC in the region of interest (ROI) analysis in the right amygdala, and bilaterally in the hippocampus.\u00a0 Whole brain analysis showed increased GMD in the left and right caudate nucleus, the left occipital lobe at the lingual gyrus and cuneus, the left thalamus, and bilaterally in the temporo-parietal junction.\u00a0 These areas have also been implicated in the functional networks mediating the benefits of meditation.<\/p>\n

    After reviewing all these scientific evidences, I now believe that meditation is not just quiet the mind and stimulate relaxation response, but also generate significant changes in the brain, and produce prolonged effects on our brain and physical health.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

    References:<\/strong><\/p>\n

    H\u00f6lzel BK, Carmody J, Vangel M, Congleton C, Yerramsetti SM, Gard T, Lazar SW.\u00a0 Mindfulness practice leads to increases in regional brain gray matter density.\u00a0 Psychiatry Res. 2011 Jan 30;191(1):36-43.<\/p>\n

    Kang DH, Jo HJ, Jung WH, et al.\u00a0\u00a0 The effect of meditation on brain structure: cortical thickness mapping and diffusion tensor imaging.\u00a0 Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2013 Jan;8(1):27-33.<\/p>\n

    Kilpatrick LA, Suyenobu BY, Smith SR, et al.\u00a0\u00a0 Impact of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction training on intrinsic brain connectivity.\u00a0\u00a0 Neuroimage. 2011 May 1;56(1):290-8.<\/p>\n

    Leung MK, Chan CC, Yin J, Lee CF, So KF, Lee TM.\u00a0 Increased gray matter volume in the right angular and posterior parahippocampal gyri in loving-kindness meditators.\u00a0\u00a0 Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2013 Jan;8(1):34-9.<\/p>\n

    Luders E, Toga AW, Lepore N, & Gaser C. (2009). The underlying anatomical correlates of long-term meditation: larger hippocampal and frontal volumes of gray matter. Neuroimage, 45(3), 672-678.<\/p>\n

    Luders E, Phillips OR, Clark K, Kurth F, Toga AW, Narr KL.\u00a0 Bridging the hemispheres in meditation: thicker callosal regions and enhanced fractional anisotropy (FA) in long-term practitioners.\u00a0\u00a0 Neuroimage. 2012 May 15;61(1):181-7.<\/p>\n

    Luders E, Cherbuin N, Kurth F, (2015).\u00a0 Forever Young(er): potential age-defying effects of long-term meditation on gray matter atrophy.\u00a0 Frontiers in Psychology.\u00a0 Jan 21, 2015.<\/p>\n

    Pickut BA, Van Hecke W, Kerckhofs E, et al.\u00a0\u00a0 Mindfulness based intervention in Parkinson’s disease leads to structural brain changes on MRI: a randomized controlled longitudinal trial.\u00a0\u00a0 Clin Neurol Neurosurg. 2013 Dec;115(12):2419-25.<\/p>\n

    Singleton O, H\u00f6lzel BK, Vangel M, Brach N, Carmody J, Lazar SW.\u00a0 Change in Brainstem Gray Matter Concentration Following a Mindfulness-Based Intervention is Correlated with Improvement in Psychological Well-Being.\u00a0 Front Hum Neurosci. 2014 Feb 18;8:33.<\/p>\n

    Tang YY, Lu Q, Fan M, Yang Y, Posner MI.\u00a0 Mechanisms of white matter changes induced by meditation.\u00a0 Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2012 Jun 26;109(26):10570-4.<\/p>\n

    Tang YY, Ma Y, Wang J, Fan Y, Feng S, Lu Q, Yu Q, Sui D, Rothbart MK, Fan M, Posner MI.\u00a0 Short-term meditation training improves attention and self-regulation.\u00a0 Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2007 Oct 23;104(43):17152-6.<\/p>\n

    Vestergaard-Poulsen P, van Beek M, Skewes J, et al.\u00a0 Long-term meditation is associated with increased gray matter density in the brain stem.\u00a0 Neuroreport. 2009 Jan 28;20(2):170-4.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    \"Kevin<\/a>Kevin W Chen<\/a>,\u00a0<\/strong>Ph.D.\u00a0\u2013\u00a0<\/strong>is an associate professor at the Center for Integrative\u00a0Medicine and Department of Psychiatry, University ofMaryland School<\/a>\u00a0of Medicine (USA). \u00a0Dr. Chen was educated in the universities of both China and the United States, and has\u00a0years of experience and training in blending eastern and western perspectives, and in\u00a0the practice of life-nurturing methods. As a long-time practitioner of Qigong Yang Sheng, he is one of the few scientists in the U.S. to have both hands-on knowledge of mind-body practice, and an active research career in mind-body medicine, which is funded through grants by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and various foundations.\u00a0 Dr. Chen devotes his career and life to the practice of Yang Sheng, and promotion of self-healing and mind-body-spirit integration through the non-profit organization, World Institute for Self Healing (WISH).<\/p>\n

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