Study: Mindfulness meditation training changes brain structure in 8 weeks

The Buddhist Geeks Facebook feed just posted a link to the following article...

Mindfulness meditation training changes brain structure in 8 weeks

http://www.kurzweilai.net/mindfulness-meditation-training-changes-brain-structure-in-8-weeks

"Meditation group participants reported spending an average of 27 minutes each day practicing mindfulness exercises, and their responses to a mindfulness questionnaire indicated significant improvements compared with pre-participation responses. The analysis of MR images, which focused on areas where meditation-associated differences were seen in earlier studies, found increased grey-matter density in the hippocampus, known to be important for learning and memory, and in structures associated with self-awareness, compassion and introspection.



Participant-reported reductions in stress also were correlated with decreased grey-matter density in the amygdala, which is known to play an important role in anxiety and stress. Although no change was seen in a self-awareness-associated structure called the insula, which had been identified in earlier studies, the authors suggest that longer-term meditation practice might be needed to produce changes in that area. None of these changes were seen in the control group, indicating that they had not resulted merely from the passage of time."

Exciting stuff, huh? I can't wait to read the actual study. I have access to many journal databases through my grad school program, so I'll try and grab a copy of the study when it becomes available (that is, if I can access that particular journal).

-Jackson

fantastic research-- so fascinating! Have you checked out the work of Dan Siegel yet Jackson? Encountered his research or theories in your graduate training? If not I would highly recommend the "mindsight" podcasts available on the upaya site. Thanks for posting this!

Funny-- here's something I encountered just last night:

http://www.leighb.com/jhananeuro.htm Leigh Brasington's current theory on jhanas and the brain...

Jake, I have heard some of Dan Siegal's podcasts from Upaya. I enjoyed them very much. Though, neuroscience is not my specialty, so some of it goes over my head. I may end up checking out some of his books, though. I imagine there are techniques I could incorporate into treatment programs for my future clients/patients.

yes he's all about applications in psychotherapy, "brain-based psychotherapy". very interesting work.

I would be curious to know if those effects stayed around after the people stopped the daily meditations. Brain plasticity is a fascinating thing, and I think that studying it would be a great way to explore that question Chris brought up about "what's left for us?" ( http://dharmarefugees.lefora.com/2010/12/28/whats-left-for-us/ ).

It would be interesting to see what areas of investigation could open up if there was evidence that what we do with our brains moment-by-moment rewires them to support that very behavior. Perhaps there has been studies like that done, I don't know, but it seem a potentially interesting rabbit hole to dive into.

"I would be curious to know if those effects stayed around after the people stopped the daily meditations." -Ian

That's an interesting question, Ian. If I had to guess (which is all I can do with regard to this subject), I imagine the growth and development of the brain in certain areas might work similar to development of muscle tissue. In my experience, "muscle memory" is very really. I can start working out after not picking up weights for the good part of a year, and the old shape my muscles used to form come back within the first 1 or 2 workouts. Likewise, I think our minds also have a memory that can be brought back with exercise. Some of the effects may decrease over extended periods of non-use, but it's probably a lot easier to pick it back up than to start from scratch.

I acknowledge that I could be making a drastic category error, here. If so, it's on me (i.e. "my bad").

Whatever the case may be, the moral of the story is: establish a regular practice and stick to it, so things continue to work at an improved level over time.

Actually, my "guess" would be similar to yours. That people might experience benefits from meditation, then stop meditating, lose those benefits, and then start practicing again later and the benefits come back much more quickly. That's definitely my experience in between my on-again-off-again periods of intense practice.

I think we both would be interested in seeing the physicality behind this, whether the physical structure of the brain changes back and forth like the physical structure of the muscles do. It seems logical that they would, but it would be nice to see some evidence.