Meditation for brain cell growth
Hi everyone!
We usually eat clean and train hard, right? We work our bodies, sweat and get exhausted. But there are even different ways to train ourself to live a healthier way.
Some weeks ago, I talked about the health benefits of yoga. Today, I’d like to cover meditation. Meditation is proven to help us to live a healthier and more conscious life. But now, scientists also reveal something new about meditation. They say, meditation would promote brain cell growth.
Scientists from Harvard Univeristy found in 2011 that meditation is capable to increase gray matter in the brain and thus to build brain cells. They investigated the effect of meditation on physiological changes in the brain’s gray matter of study participants using magnetic imaging.
The result was amazing: They realized thickening of some brain areas after only eight weeks of mindfulness practice. Study participants spent eight weeks diong a meditation program at Massachusetts General Hospital. They listened to audio recordings of guided meditation for an average of 27 minutes per day.
The study also involved a control group, whose members did not listen to the audio recordings of guided meditation.
Results
After the eight week period the meditation group reported to feel less stressed. Magnetic imaging in this goup showed a decrease of grey matter in the amygdalae and an increase in grey matter in the hippocampus. The amygdala is responsible for dealing with stress and anxiety, while the hippocampus controls learning, memory, introspection and self-awareness.
Conclusion
Researchers came to the opinion that meditation was actually capable to build up brain cells. The decrease in amygdalae grey matter is associated with a reduction in body’s stress response. This was confirmed by the reports of the meditation group after the eight-week study period.
It has been concluded that meditation increases grey matter by building brain cells and to slow down stress response, providing improved concentration, awareness and memory.