09/09/2025
Studies find meditation can slow, stall or even reverse brain aging with brain scans revealing that the brains of long-term meditators looking on average 7.5 years younger than non-meditators.
Meditation can help with brain aging by promoting neuroplasticity, helping the brain form new connections and maintaining its flexibility.
Meditation also activates networks in the brain that affect a range of mental and emotional processes.
Meditation also increases gray matter density in areas of the brain that affect attention, emotions and self-awareness.
Meditation also helps maintain the length of telomeres, which are protective caps on chromosomes that can dwindle over time and contribute to aging.
Meditation also reduces inflammatory markers that contribute to accelerated brain aging.
Meditation can also slow shrinkage of the hippocampus, which is the part of the brain responsible for learning, memory and emotional regulation.
Meditation can also increase cortical thickness, which is associated with memory and decision making.
Furthermore, meditation can increase alpha brain waves, which are responsible for sustained attention.
Meditation also lowers cortisol levels, a hormone that makes it harder to create and recall memories.
Additionally, meditation can activate the frontal lobes of the brain, which help regulate emotional responses and concentration. Long-term meditators have larger frontal lobes than non-meditators.
PMID: 28611710
