{"id":10392,"date":"2011-03-07T00:00:09","date_gmt":"2011-03-06T23:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=10392"},"modified":"2011-02-26T13:44:07","modified_gmt":"2011-02-26T12:44:07","slug":"a-little-meditation-goes-a-long-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2011\/03\/a-little-meditation-goes-a-long-way\/","title":{"rendered":"A Little Meditation Goes a Long Way"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new study offers the strongest evidence to date that meditation can change the structure of your brain. <\/em><\/p>\n

I consider myself something of a prospective meditator\u2014meaning that a serious meditation practice is always something I\u2019m about to start\u2026 next week.<\/p>\n

So for years, I\u2019ve been making a mental note of new studies showing that meditation can literally change our brain structure in ways that might boost concentration, memory, and positive emotions.<\/p>\n

The results seem enticing enough to make anyone drop into the full lotus position\u2014until you read the fine print: Much of this research involves people who have meditated for thousands of hours over many years; some of it zeroes in on Olympic-level meditators who have clocked 10,000 hours or more. Pretty daunting.<\/p>\n

Well, a new study offers some hope\u2014and makes the benefits of meditation seem within reach even for a novice like me.<\/p>\n

The study, published last month in the journal Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging<\/em>, suggests that meditating for just 30 minutes a day for eight weeks can increase the density of gray matter in brain regions associated with memory, stress, and empathy.<\/p>\n

The researchers tracked 16 people who were participating in the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program, the training program developed more than 30 years ago by Jon Kabat-Zinn. Over eight weekly meetings, the program leads participants through meditation exercises meant to build the skills of mindfulness\u2014a moment-by-moment awareness of one\u2019s thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, and surrounding environment. Participants are supposed to try these practices on their own between classes.<\/p>\n

For decades, people who\u2019ve completed the MBSR training have reported feeling less stress and more positive emotions; participants suffering from chronic illnesses say they experience less pain afterward.<\/p>\n

But in this study, the researchers weren\u2019t just asking the participants how they felt. They were examining their brains, two weeks before and right after the eight-week program. Over the same period, they also scanned the brains of people who didn\u2019t receive the MBSR training.<\/p>\n

The MBSR participants, none of whom were experienced meditators, reported spending just under half an hour per day on their meditation \u201chomework.\u201d Yet when their brains were scanned at the end of the program, their gray matter was significantly thicker in several regions than it was before.<\/p>\n

One of those regions was the hippocampus, which prior research has found to be involved in learning, memory, and the regulation of our emotions. The gray matter of the hippocampus is often reduced in people who suffer from depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).<\/p>\n

The researchers also found denser gray matter in the temporo-perietal junction and the posterior cingulated cortex of the meditators\u2019 brains\u2014regions involved in empathy and taking the perspective of someone else\u2014and in the cerebellum, which has been linked to emotion regulation.<\/p>\n

These brain changes may suggest that meditation improves people\u2019s ability to regulate their emotions, control their stress levels, and feel empathy for others, says Britta H\u00f6lzel, the study\u2019s lead author and a research fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital and the University of Geissen in Germany. However, she stresses that these conclusions are still very speculative.<\/p>\n

The group that didn\u2019t receive the MBSR training didn\u2019t show any of these positive changes in brain structure.<\/p>\n

Previous research has shown that the structure of very experienced meditators\u2019 brains is different from non-meditators in certain regions, but it couldn\u2019t prove that the meditators didn\u2019t have exceptional brains to begin with. This is the first study to document a difference in brain structure from before someone starts a meditation practice to after they\u2019ve gotten underway\u2014and after only eight weeks, at that.<\/p>\n

While other research, notably a 2003 study led by Richard Davidson of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, has shown that people\u2019s brain activity changes after the eight-week MBSR course, there hadn\u2019t been evidence that the effects of meditation can go so deep as to change the structure of the brain.<\/p>\n

The results of this new study offer further evidence for the \u201cplasticity\u201d of the brain, meaning it can change its shape over time. That suggests we\u2019re not simply stuck with the neural cards we\u2019re dealt; we can fundamentally improve our cognitive and emotional capacities.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think what\u2019s really positive and promising about this study is that it suggests our well-being is in our hands,\u201d says H\u00f6lzel. \u201cWhat I find fascinating is that just paying attention in a different way and being more aware can have such an impact that it even changes the structure of our brain.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s important to note that meditation isn\u2019t the only research-tested way to produce these changes in the brain. A study published last week, in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences<\/em>, found that the hippocampus of people in their 60s increased in volume after they\u2019d walked around a track three times per week for a year; in peers who did less aerobic exercises, the hippocampus actually got smaller.<\/p>\n

The upshot of all this research seems to be: Small steps matter. Many of us can bring about positive effects on our brains and overall well-being\u2014without an Olympic effort.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s enough to turn a prospective meditator like me into an actual one.<\/p>\n

__________________<\/p>\n

Jason Marsh is editor-in-chief of Greater Good<\/a>, the UC Berkeley-based magazine that covers \u00a0research into the roots of compassion, happiness, and altruism.This article is republished through a special collaboration between Greater Good and YES! Magazine<\/a>, a national, nonprofit media organization that fuses powerful ideas with practical actions.<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 yesmagazine.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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