New Study Suggests Meditation Can Protect Your Brain from Effects of Aging

 New Study Suggests Meditation Can Protect Your Brain from Effects of Aging &nbsp;

World-wide life expectancy has quickly risen over the past 5 decades. But after the age of around 25, the years gained often come with increasing risk for mental illness and decline.

Fortunately, studies suggest that long-term meditation buffers against mental degeneration. Researchers from UCLA had found that people who meditate have less atrophy in their brain's white matter as they age. Now, their 2015 study suggests that meditation can preserve the mind's gray matter as well.

Researchers compared 50 experienced meditators to 50 others. People in both groups showed a loss of gray matter as they aged. Yet they found the volume of gray matter declined far less among those that practiced mediation. The size of the differences shocked them.

They expected small effects located in specific regions that usually light up during meditation. But the effects were reported to be profound and encompassed the entire brain.


Eileen Luders, Nicolas Cherbuin, Florian Kurth. Forever Young(er): potential age-defying effects of long-term meditation on gray matter atrophy.   Frontiers in Psychology, Published January 21 2015. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.0155

