Meditation to Keep the Brain Young

Meditation to keep the brain young: As people age, their brains lose weight and volume. These changes may start to occur in people as early as their mid to late 20s. Previous research has shown people who meditate to lose less brain mass over time than those who do not. In particular, research concluded people who meditated showed less of a decrease in their white brain matter.

Meditation to Keep the Brain Young White brain matter acts as a connector and insulator for gray brain matter.

It carries nerve impulses between the functional parts of the brain. Gray brain matter houses the various neurological centers of the brain, which direct speech, motor skills, memory, etc.  Meditation is something practiced by more than 15 million Americans and many more people around the world. It has its roots in eastern culture, but has been whole-heartedly embraced in western societies.

Meditation to Keep the Brain Young: A Wide Variety of Benefits

Improves sleep
Inner peace and tranquility
Reduces chronic pain
Reduces stress and anxiety
Reduces depression
Boosts attention
Improves immunity
Helps with weight loss
Boosts memory
Improves heart health and lowers blood pressure
Improves well-being and allows for deeper relationships

Now it seems that meditation may also help to keep our brains young!

Interesting Experiments

A team of researchers from UCLA wondered if meditation preserves the gray matter of people who meditate as well. The researchers found meditation to have a widespread effect on the entire brain not just specific regions of the brain associated with meditation.

The study compared people having years of meditation experience with those who had none. The people who meditated had an average of 20 years of experience with meditation practice. The age range of the of the study participants included people in their mid-20s to their late 70s.
Nearly equal numbers of men and women participated in the study with 28 men and 22 women.
They found the people who meditated still experienced a decline in gray matter with age but less than non-meditators.

The researchers noted the positive outcome of the study but caution people reviewing the results; they were unable to establish a direct link to meditation and the preservation of gray matter.

Another UCLA study conducted in 2012, showed people who meditate to have more gyrification, folds in their brains, which may contribute to an ability process information faster than usual.

Meditation appears to allow practitioners to maintain both white and gray matter and form increased connections in the brain; it seems to keep the brain young.

Along with its positive effects on white and gray brain matter, meditation appears to have a positive effect on other body functions.

Anti-Aging Benefits Of Meditation

The youth preserving and renewing benefits of meditation include:

Meditation increases DHEA, which facilitates the production of the hormones that maintain fat and mineral metabolism.
An increase in melatonin, which acts as antioxidant, supplies immune support and fights depression.
A decrease in cortisol, the stress hormone that encourages the body to retain dangerous belly fat associated with heart disease and diabetes.

The Effects Of Meditation

Part of feeling and maintaining a youthful mental outlook centers around the quality of one's thinking patterns. People who meditate learn to quiet mental chaos and build their ability to concentrate.

They experience greater clarity of thought and tend to react less and respond more to circumstances. In short, they maintain their ability to be highly adaptive and think quickly with the additional benefit of choosing their response to situations rather than reacting to them.

How To Meditate

People who meditate typically meditate at least twice a day for twenty minutes per sitting. Most schools of thought recommend meditation to start the day and to close it. However, a person may meditate whenever they have time in their schedule to accommodate it.

Meditation is not an all or nothing proposition. It is also beneficial to meditate in shorter increments of time, sitting for 5, 10, or 15 minutes.
There are also several different methods of meditation, including:

Primordial Sound Meditation
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction
Zen
Transcendental Meditation
Yoga Meditation (Kundalini)
Focused Attention Meditation
Open Monitoring Meditation
Vipassana Meditation
Loving Kindness Meditation (Metta Meditation)
Mantra Meditation (OM Meditation)
Qigong (Chi kung)

Getting Started with Meditation to Keep the Brain Young
A person new to meditation needs to be patient; it takes time to train the mind to focus and settle into a meditation practice. The first step is to decide which from of meditation you wish to practice, and then learn how to do it. If possible, obtain the services of an expert, and there are also many books, DVDs and free information available online that can teach the exact steps of the particular method preferred.

When beginning, try to meditate at the same time every day. If this is not possible, you can still meditate at different time.

Building a meditation practice is more important than when you do it. The benefits of a consistent meditation practice can develop in a few weeks with continued practice preserving your brain's youthful dynamics for years to come.

Meditation and Mindfulness: An Exercise Begin by sitting on a chair or on the floor with your legs crossed. Close your eyes and focus on your breathing. Capture the sensations in your mind as you inhale and as you exhale. Notice the air entering via your nose and exhaling via your mouth. Once your concentration has effectively fixated on your breathing, start to notice any sounds in the room. What can you hear? Expand your thoughts to sensations. What exactly can you feel? If your mind starts to stray, then focus on your breathing again to pull your thoughts back to the present. Participate in this simple exercise for ten minutes each day, and you’ll gradually feels more centered and attached to your inner self.

You can sign up to Zen12 for a free audio meditation program to experiment with an alternative style.

Think of meditation to keep the brain young as me-time, a few minutes every day where you get to focus on the most important person in your life: You!

Give it a try and you’ll discover it’s not actually as difficult as you imagine to use meditation to keep the brain young.

Download your free meditation MP3!

Meditation to Keep the Brain Young and Other Great Things for Your Brain