Research indicates that meditation may slow down brain aging. A study comparing long-term meditators to non-meditators found that meditators’ brains appeared significantly younger. The study suggests meditation protects against age-related brain atrophy, offering a practical way to preserve cognitive function and maintain a youthful brain throughout life.
Aging is a normal part of life. But what if you could slow down the aging process of the brain? Imagine being able to recollect anything and everything at 70, like a sexagenarian? Or like a middle-aged adult? Cool, right? Well, if you want to keep your brain young, sign up for that meditation class right away! No, meditation is no scam. As we age, the brain naturally changes, including a loss of gray matter and other structural declines that can impact cognitive function. A study has found that we can reverse brain aging or slow it down with meditation.
An interesting study published in NeuroImage found compelling evidence that meditation, a practice rooted in mindfulness and mental discipline, may significantly slow these aging processes, effectively keeping the brain ‘younger’ for longer.
To understand the benefits of meditation on the brain, the research observed a group of 50 long-term meditators and compared them to 50 non-meditators (control subjects). Using a cutting-edge machine learning algorithm known as the BrainAGE (Brain Age Gap Estimation) index, the researchers analyzed if meditation could influence biological brain age. They looked at high-resolution brain scans to estimate the biological age of each participant’s brain. This tool translates complex anatomical patterns into a single score, giving results on how ‘old’ or ‘young’ a brain is relative to chronological age.
“We observed that, at age 50, brains of meditators were estimated to be 7.5 years younger than those of controls. In addition, we examined if the brain age estimates change with increasing age. While brain age estimates varied only little in controls, significant changes were detected in meditators: for every additional year over 50, meditators’ brains were estimated to be an additional 1 month and 22 days younger than their chronological age,” the authors noted.
The study hints that meditation is beneficial for brain preservation and effectively protects it against age-related atrophy with a consistently slower rate of brain aging throughout life.
Meditation, which is a mindfulness practice that requires only time, commitment, and quiet space, is one of the most underrated strategies, but its link with preserving the brain’s structure and function is another reason why you should give it a try.
For those who have been planning to incorporate meditation into your daily routine, here’s a science-backed reason. These small, daily efforts will boost your brain’s cognition. Let’s not forget the adage that a healthy body is a healthy mind. What are you waiting for? Add meditation to your daily schedule right away.
