Promising Links between Meditation and Reduced (Brain) Aging: An Attempt to Bridge Some Gaps between the Alleged Fountain of Youth and the Youth of the Field.
Author: Kurth F1, Cherbuin N2, Luders E1,2
Affiliation:
1Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, UCLA School of MedicineLos Angeles, CA, United States.
2Centre for Research on Ageing Health and Wellbeing, Australian National UniversityCanberra, ACT, Australia.
Conference/Journal: Front Psychol.
Date published: 2017 May 30
Other:
Volume ID: 8 , Pages: 860 , Special Notes: doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00860. eCollection 2017. , Word Count: 152
Over the last decade, an increasing number of studies has reported a positive impact of meditation on cerebral aging. However, the underlying mechanisms for these seemingly brain-protecting effects are not well-understood. This may be due to the fact, at least partly, that systematic empirical meditation research has emerged only recently as a field of scientific scrutiny. Thus, on the one hand, critical questions remain largely unanswered; and on the other hand, outcomes of existing research require better integration to build a more comprehensive and holistic picture. In this article, we first review theories and mechanisms pertaining to normal (brain) aging, specifically focusing on telomeres, inflammation, stress regulation, and macroscopic brain anatomy. Then, we summarize existing research integrating the developing evidence suggesting that meditation exerts positive effects on (brain) aging, while carefully discussing possible mechanisms through which these effects may be mediated.
KEYWORDS: MRI; aging; brain; meditation; mindfulness
PMID: 28611710 PMCID: PMC5447722 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00860
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