And if meditating improved aging ? This is what the results of a pilot study led by Inserm researchers based in Caen and Lyon suggest.
With age, a gradual decrease in brain volume and glucose metabolism appear with, as a consequence, a decline in cognitive functions. These physiological changes can be exacerbated by stress and poor quality of sleep, which are also two risk factors of Alzheimer’s disease.
Meditation Reduces the Harmful Effects of Aging
This is why researchers from Inserm in Caen and Lyon have explored the possibility that meditation can shift by a few years the age at which brain changes (and therefore the risk of Alzheimer’s) appear.
To do this, they studied the functioning of the brains of 6 people with an average age of 65 practicing meditation and compared the functioning of their brains to that of 67 non-meditating witnesses. Their results were published in the journal Scientific Reports.
Read also : Meditation, 5 misconceptions that prevent us from getting started
All the people who took part in this study were subjected to neurological examinations. Significant differences were found in the volume of gray matter and glucose metabolism. In addition, certain areas of the brain, usually affected by aging, were larger in people practicing meditation.
“These early results suggest that meditation may reduce the damaging effects of these factors on the brain and have a positive effect on brain aging” stress the researchers who point out, however, that this is a pilot study and that it will be necessary to repeat these observations on larger samples of people in order to obtain more solid results.
Read also :
3, 5 or 15 Mn of meditation: the procedure to follow
Infographic: the health benefits of meditation
