Ever wondered… what happens in your brain during meditation?
We can use brain imaging, specifically magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), to study the structure and function of the brain during meditation. Eventually, we aim to uncover its brain health effects through long term studies.
Defining meditation
Many meditation types exist, but they share similarities. A broad definition includes body and mind relaxation, with the skill of self-focus.
Specifically, mindfulness meditation gets us to focus our attention on the present moment, in a non-judgemental way.
Prior mediation research
Scientific review papers bring together findings from lots of smaller studies. One such research review paper of around 20 original studies was made in 2020 by Afonso and colleagues:
https://www.imrpress.com/journal/FBS/12/1/10.2741/S542/htm
A slightly older but highly respected review of 21 research studies comes from 2014 by Fox and colleagues:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0149763414000724?via%3Dihub
Most research compared people who meditate with similarly matched people who do not. Some studies looked at one time point, while some researched brain differences or changes over time. There was much variation in the original studies, including different types of meditation and time periods. However, some clear consensus results were seen.
Structural results
Many studies have shown that certain brain regions increase in size over time with meditation. This may suggest ‘plasticity’ – the brain’s ability to adapt. This happens in many brain regions! For example, the sensory cortex and insula handle body awareness, the cingulate cortex and prefrontal cortex manage our sense of self and emotional regulation, and the hippocampus hosts memory.
If the hippocampus adapts well to meditation, this may explain why meditation is linked to enhanced memory performance. Also, stress signals such as cortisol can impair memory formation, and meditation lowers stress. Therefore, meditation may boost memory this way too. These are important to consider as we age!
Functional results
Meditation promotes brain activity changes in interconnected brain regions in many ways. For example, one large network of connected brain functions is the Default Mode Network (DMN). The DMN is active when a person is daydreaming, mind-wandering, or thinking avidly about the past or the future. Mindfulness meditation has been shown to reduce DMN activity, helping us to become more focused and cultivate present-moment awareness.
Conclusions
We see many brain health benefits of meditation, involving our sense of self, emotional health and memory skills. Please look at the research review papers for more detailed information, linked below.
The future
Researchers suggest that standardising brain imaging meditation research will allow easier comparisons between studies, and help to generate knowledge that could shape new meditation based therapies.
I believe that precisely optimising the benefits of mediation for each of us individually needs a personalised approach. This requires further research and self discovery too. Remember, mindfulness meditation is very accessible for most of us now online. Feel free to share your meditation journey in the comments below.
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Meditation supports brain health and cognition in many ways. Image by setthayos sansuwansri from Pixabay.