How mindfulness changes your brain. Meditation may reduce your perceived stress levels and appears to change brain regions associated with emotion regulation. This is the conclusion of research based on modern brain imaging. Today we look at how magnetic resonance (MRI) and positive emission tomography (PET) imaging are unveiling how meditation works its magic.
A new MRI study demonstrates that practicing meditation impacts perceived stress levels and alters brain regions associated with regulating emotion. In this recent small study, an international team recently used functional MRI to reveal Transcendental Meditation (TM) effects on the brain.
Publishing in Brain and Cognition, the scientists report using functional MRI (along with questionnaires about anxiety and stress) to see brain changes following three months of meditation. A couple of decades ago, we learned that MRI could be used to show the structure of bodily organs and brain activity.
When brain activity increases, the MRI signal increases by a small amount. While the signal change is on the order of only one percent, it is the basis of most functional MRI studies.
In the recent study looking at Transcendental Meditation, the mindfulness practice led to lower self-reported stress levels, with this improvement associated with connectivity changes in several brain regions.
TM involves practitioners repeating a particular sound — a mantra — that has no literal meaning. The goal is to reach “consciousness without content.” For the research study, investigators divided 34 healthy participants into two groups. The first group meditated daily for two sessions of 20 minutes each. The second group served as a control, doing no meditation.
Before the start of the study, all subjects did a psychometric questionnaire to assess their stress and anxiety levels. They also had a functional MRI study to document baseline brain activity. Each participant repeated the same tests three months into the study and after study completion.
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