Meditation may increase grey matter in parts of the brain important for sensory, cognitive and emotional processing, according to a new study.
The study, by researchers from Yale, Harvard, Massachusetts General Hospital, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, shows a link between meditation and increased cortical thickness.
Reported in the journal NeuroReport, the study involved 20 participants with extensive training in Buddhist Insight meditation.
Despite the small sample size, says study coauthor Jeremy Gray of Yale, the results are significant.
“What is most fascinating to me is the suggestion that meditation practice can change anyone’s grey matter,” says Gray. “The study participants were people with jobs and families. They just meditated on average 40 minutes each day, you don’t have to be a monk.”
A news release reports details of the study:
Magnetic resonance imaging showed that regular practice of meditation is associated with increased thickness in a subset of cortical regions related to sensory, auditory, visual and internal perception, such as heart rate or breathing. The researchers also found that regular meditation practice may slow age-related thinning of the frontal cortex. “Most of the regions identified in this study were found in the right hemisphere,” the researchers said. “The right hemisphere is essential for sustaining attention, which is a central practice of Insight meditation.” They said other forms of yoga and meditation likely have a similar impact on cortical structure, although each tradition would be expected to have a slightly different pattern of cortical thickening based on the specific mental exercises involved.