Meditation, when done every day, could make your brain better connected. Lesley Dobson, Saga reports:

It seems we’re tempted to spend a lot of time and money to keep our outer selves young and beautiful - in appearance at least. Now research has found that we may be able to do the same for our brains. And while it takes some time every day, it needn’t cost much.

The latest in a long line of research on the positive effects of meditation, this work was carried out by scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). The researchers studied two groups. The first was made up of 27 people who had practised a range of different types of meditation. Years of practice ranged from five years to 46. The second, control group was made up of 27 people who didn’t meditate. Both groups contained 11 men and 16 women.

A previous study carried out at UCLA two years ago found that the subjects who meditated long term had larger brains, and more grey matter than those who didn’t. Using a relatively new way of imaging, known as diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), the latest study looked at the structural connectivity of the brain. 

The results of the study suggest that people who meditate don’t simply have bigger brains, they also have stronger connections between different regions of the brain. This makes a difference to how rapidly our brains can relay electrical signals. The meditators' brains also showed less age-related atrophy (wasting away), something that affects us all as the years go by.

"Our results suggest that long-term meditators have white-matter fibres that are either more numerous, more dense or more insulated throughout the brain," said Eileen Luders, visiting assistant professor at the UCLA Laboratory of Neuro Imaging. "We also found that the normal age-related decline of white matter tissue is considerably reduced in active meditation practitioners.

"It is possible that actively meditating, especially over a long period of time, can induce changes on a micro-anatomical level," said Eileen Luders. This could mean that the fibre connections on the brains of meditators may become more robust, and produce the changes seen in the imaging process.

"Meditation, however, might not only cause changes in brain anatomy by inducing growth, but also by preventing reduction," Luders said. "That is, if practised regularly and over years, meditation may slow down ageing-related brain atrophy, perhaps by positively affecting the immune system."

However, Luders, who practises meditation, points out that there could be other reasons why the brains of those who meditate look different close up. "It’s possible that meditators might have brains that are fundamentally different to begin with," she explained.

"For example, a particular brain anatomy may have drawn an individual to meditation or helped maintain an ongoing practice – meaning that the enhanced fibre connectivity in meditators constitutes a predisposition towards meditation, rather than being the consequence of the practise."

Source: Saga