Proof that meditation CAN grow your brain: In
just eight weeks it can improve learning and
memory
By Stephen Adams, Mail
On Sunday Health Correspondent Published:
22:25 GMT, 8
November 2014
Practising meditation helps
build denser grey matter in parts of the brain associated with
learning and memory, controlling emotions and
compassion.
In a study 16 volunteers had
their brains scanned before and after an eight week 'mindfulness'
course.
Just eight weeks of meditation
can produce enough structural changes large enough
to be picked up
by MRI scanners.
Meditating really is a
workout for the mind, according to scientists who have found it can
make the brain bigger.
Practising simple meditation
techniques such as concentrating on your breathing helps build
denser grey matter in parts of the brain associated with learning
and memory, controlling emotions and compassion.
Just eight weeks of
meditation can produce structural changes large enough to be picked
up by MRI scanners, American scientists have discovered.
Harvard neuroscientist Dr
Sara Lazar said: ‘If you use a particular part of your brain, it’s
going to grow because you are using it. It really is mental
exercise. Basically, the idea is “use it or lose it”. It’s like
building a muscle.’
In a study run by Dr Lazar
and her colleagues, 16 volunteers had their brains scanned before
and after an eight-week ‘mindfulness’ course.
Mindfulness is an
increasingly popular form of meditation where the aim is to focus
thoughts on the body’s physical sensations and detach yourself from
the ‘chatter of the mind’.
The volunteers had weekly
group sessions in which they did breathing exercises, gentle yoga
and a ‘body scan’, focusing their thoughts on one part of the body
at a time. They were also asked to practise for about half an hour
each day.
MRI scans were taken before
and after the sessions and compared with volunteers who had not
taken part in the meditation course.
After eight weeks, those who went on the
course had thicker grey matter in several parts of the brain. These
included the left hippocampus, a small horseshoe-shaped structure
in the central brain involved in memory, learning and emotional
regulation.
Other parts ‘strengthened’
were the posterior cingulate cortex – again important for memory
and emotions; the temporo-parietal junction, involved in
empathising; and the cerebellum, which helps coordinate
movement.
Those who did not go on the
course experienced no such structural brain changes.
Dr Lazar said mental
exercise stimulated the neurons that make up grey matter to form
denser connections among themselves.