A new study by leading researchers shows meditation is associated with increased cortical thickness. The structural changes were found in areas of the brain important for sensory, cognitive and emotional processing.
The extensive study on meditation involved researchers from Yale, Harvard, Massachusetts General Hospital, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It included 20 participants, all with extensive training in Buddhist Insight meditation, and who meditated an average of 40 minutes a day for the study.
"What is most fascinating to me is the suggestion that meditation practice can change anyone's grey matter," says Jeremy Gray, an assistant professor of psychology at Yale.
Magnetic resonance imaging showed that regular practice of meditation is associated with increased thickness in a subset of cortical regions related to sensory, auditory, visual and internal perception, such as heart rate or breathing. The researchers also found that regular meditation practice may slow age-related thinning of the frontal cortex.
"Most of the regions identified in this study were found in the right hemisphere," researchers said. "The right hemisphere is essential for sustaining attention, which is a central practice of Insight meditation."
Click here for the article in Medical News Today.
Photo at right is microscopy image of cerebral cortex.
Photo at right is microscopy image of cerebral cortex.
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