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Mindfulness Meditation & Measurable Changes in Brain's Gray Matter

Sushi

Moderation Resource Albuquerque
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Albuquerque
Participating in an eight-week mindfulness meditation program appears to make measurable changes in brain regions associated with memory, sense of self, empathy, and stress. In a study that will appear in the Jan. 30 issue of Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, a team led by Harvard-affiliated researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) reported the results of their study, the first to document meditation-produced changes over time in the brain’s gray matter.

Read more here.
 

maddietod

Senior Member
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2,859
This appeared in the January 30, 2011 issue; it's not a new study.

But it's pretty amazing! It makes me wonder if the changes are permanent. And for us long-term meditators, is daily meditation necessary to keep the gains? Or is occasional meditation enough, assuming the depth of the experience is maintained?
 

Sushi

Moderation Resource Albuquerque
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19,935
Location
Albuquerque
And for us long-term meditators, is daily meditation necessary to keep the gains? Or is occasional meditation enough, assuming the depth of the experience is maintained?
Hi Madie, I didn't realize it was old as it just popped up in my newsfeed.

Now, that is a question that will prod us not to be lazy about our meditation practice!

Sushi
 

Iquitos

Senior Member
Messages
513
Location
Colorado
I had been meditating for a long time before I got ME. Now I see that mindfulness meditation can prevent or lessen anxiety and panic attacks. I've never had anxiety or panic attacks so I now wonder if it's because I've been meditating for 40 years.
 

mango

Senior Member
Messages
905
I too had been meditating for a long time before I got ME (about 20 years in total, started about 12 years before ME). I've never had anxiety, panic attacks, depression or anything like that. However, I have no idea if my meditation practice has had anything to do with that or not... It definitely has been a great help in finding acceptance, coping with stressful situations, getting deep rest when sleep wouldn't come etc. It hasn't made me less sick, though.