Meditation Slows Aging
This entry was posted on 5/16/2006 9:14 PM and is filed under Healthy Aging.
Daily meditation is found to alter brain structure, slow brain deterioration related to aging and help improve the way the brain works. Researchers are studying Western meditatiors, who typically meditate for as little as 40 minutes a day. The cerebral cortex, found to be thicker in meditators, plays a critical role in decision making, working memory and brain-body interactions, according to researcher Sara Lazar, PhD. The so-called working memory region of the brain is found to decrease rapidly, thinning during aging. Meditation helps to thicken this area as well as regions involed with attention and sensory processing.
As Reported on WebMD. Original study: Neuroscience 2005, annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, Washington, Nov. 12-16, 2005. NeuroReport, online edition, Sara W. Lazar, PhD, Psychiatric Neuroimaging Research Program, Massachusetts General Hospital; department of psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, boston. Stephen Kosslyn, PhD, professor of psychology, Harvard Medical School, Boston
