Long-term meditation activates specific regions of the right hemisphere, including the right homolog of Broca's area and the right lentiform nucleus, as measured by changes in regional cerebral glucose metabolism. Using a novel approach with 18FDG PET/CT scans, 12 healthy, male, right-handed long-term meditators (practicing Preksha meditation for over 5 years) showed significantly activated fronto-parieto-temporal regions in the right versus left hemisphere during meditation. These findings suggest that long-term meditation may enhance explicit functions of the right hemisphere through neuroplastic changes.
A randomized controlled trial of 60 patients with primary open angle glaucoma (POAG) found that adding 45 minutes of daily meditation to standard medical treatment for 6 weeks reduced intraocular pressure (from 15.9 to 14.4 mmHg), improved quality of life scores, increased brain oxygenation in the prefrontal cortex, and lowered stress markers including serum cortisol and interleukin-6, while increasing β-endorphins and brain-derived neurotrophic factor. The control group, receiving only standard treatment, showed no significant changes. The authors suggest meditation may be a useful adjunct to standard treatment in POAG and could potentially decrease the risk of glaucoma progression.
In a randomized trial of 90 primary open-angle glaucoma patients, 21 days of daily mindfulness meditation lowered intraocular pressure (from about 19 to 13 mm Hg) and improved quality of life compared with a waitlist control. The meditation group also showed reduced stress biomarkers, including cortisol, interleukin-6, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, and reactive oxygen species, and increased beta-endorphins, brain-derived neurotrophic factor, and total antioxidant capacity. Gene expression changes correlated with these biomarker shifts. The authors conclude that mindfulness meditation can be recommended as an adjunctive therapy for glaucoma.