Changes in the brain after practicing meditation have been reported by Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers.
An eight week meditation study has shown measurable changes in the areas of the brain associated with memory, sense of self, and empathy the study suggests.
For this study, MR images were taken of the brain of the sixteen study participants about 2 weeks before and after taking part in the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) Program at the University of Massachusetts Center for Mindfulness. In addition to weekly session which included practicing mindful meditation — which primarily focuses on the non-judgmental awareness of sensations, feelings and state of mind — study participants also listened to audio recordings for guided meditation and tracked how much time they meditated every day. A collection of MR brain images of a control group were also taken.
The meditation participants recorded spending an average of about twenty-seven minutes a day practicing mindful meditatio exercises, and their responses to the questionnaire suggested substantial improvement when compared with their responses from before the study. Analysis of the MR images, which were focused on brain regions where meditation-associated differences were noted in previous studies, found an increase in the grey-matter density of the hippocampus, which is integral for both learning and memory, and in brain structures connected with self-awareness, compassion and introspection. Reports by the participants in lowered stress were also with a decrease in grey-matter density in the amygdala, which plays a role in stress and anxiety. None of these brain changes were observed in the control group.
The findings of the study are published in the January 30 issue of Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging.
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