Meditation · Consciousness

Mindfulness practice leads to increases in regional brain gray matter density

Hölzel BK, Carmody J, Vangel M, et al. · Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, 2011

This study from the Lazar lab at Massachusetts General Hospital used MRI brain scans to look for structural changes after an eight-week mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) program. Sixteen healthy adults who had never meditated were scanned before and after the course and compared with 17 people on a waiting list. The MBSR group showed increases in gray matter concentration in the left hippocampus, an area involved in learning and memory, and in the posterior cingulate cortex, the temporo-parietal junction and the cerebellum. These regions are associated with emotion regulation, self-referential thinking and perspective taking. The authors suggest that taking part in MBSR is associated with measurable changes in brain structure. The obvious limitation is size: with about 33 people in total and no randomization described in the abstract, the findings are best seen as early and in need of replication.

Our summaries describe what each study found. They are not medical advice, and the practices at Halcyon are not a treatment for any condition.