Meditation May Increase Gray Matter


The right orbito-frontal cortex, shown here, is one of the areas of the brain
that appears to be enlarged due to meditation. (Credit: Image courtesy of
University of California - Los Angeles)
(May 13, 2009) — Push-ups, crunches, gyms, personal trainers — people have
many strategies for building bigger muscles and stronger bones. But what can one
do to build a bigger brain?

Meditate.

That's the finding from a group of researchers at UCLA who used high-resolution
magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to scan the brains of people who meditate. In a
study published in the journal NeuroImage and currently available online (by
subscription), the researchers report that certain regions in the brains of
long-term meditators were larger than in a similar control group.

Specifically, meditators showed significantly larger volumes of the hippocampus
and areas within the orbito-frontal cortex, the thalamus and the inferior
temporal gyrus — all regions known for regulating emotions.

"We know that people who consistently meditate have a singular ability to
cultivate positive emotions, retain emotional stability and engage in mindful
behavior," said Eileen Luders, lead author and a postdoctoral research fellow at
the UCLA Laboratory of Neuro Imaging. "The observed differences in brain anatomy
might give us a clue why meditators have these exceptional abilities."

Research has confirmed the beneficial aspects of meditation. In addition to
having better focus and control over their emotions, many people who meditate
regularly have reduced levels of stress and bolstered immune systems. But less
is known about the link between meditation and brain structure.

In the study, Luders and her colleagues examined 44 people — 22 control
subjects and 22 who had practiced various forms of meditation, including Zazen,
Samatha and Vipassana, among others. The amount of time they had practiced
ranged from five to 46 years, with an average of 24 years.

More than half of all the meditators said that deep concentration was an
essential part of their practice, and most meditated between 10 and 90 minutes
every day.

The researchers used a high-resolution, three-dimensional form of MRI and two
different approaches to measure differences in brain structure. One approach
automatically divides the brain into several regions of interest, allowing
researchers to compare the size of certain brain structures. The other segments
the brain into different tissue types, allowing researchers to compare the
amount of gray matter within specific regions of the brain.

The researchers found significantly larger cerebral measurements in meditators
compared with controls, including larger volumes of the right hippocampus and
increased gray matter in the right orbito-frontal cortex, the right thalamus and
the left inferior temporal lobe. There were no regions where controls had
significantly larger volumes or more gray matter than meditators.

Because these areas of the brain are closely linked to emotion, Luders said,
"these might be the neuronal underpinnings that give meditators' the outstanding
ability to regulate their emotions and allow for well-adjusted responses to
whatever life throws their way."

What's not known, she said, and will require further study, are what the
specific correlates are on a microscopic level — that is, whether it's an
increased number of neurons, the larger size of the neurons or a particular
"wiring" pattern meditators may develop that other people don't.

Because this was not a longitudinal study — which would have tracked
meditators from the time they began meditating onward — it's possible that the
meditators already had more regional gray matter and volume in specific areas;
that may have attracted them to meditation in the first place, Luders said.

However, she also noted that numerous previous studies have pointed to the
brain's remarkable plasticity and how environmental enrichment has been shown to
change brain structure.

Other authors of the study included Arthur Toga, director of UCLA Laboratory of
Neuro Imaging; Natasha Lepore of UCLA; and Christian Gaser of the University of
Jena in Germany. Funding for the study was provided by the National Institutes
of Health. The authors report no conflicts of interest.




Seth-Deborah Roth CRNA,CCHt,CI
www.hypnotherapyforhealth.com
read my blog at www.hypnotichealth.blogspot.com
as seen on the "MythBusters"


www.sethdeborahroth.isagenix.com