Mindfulness practice leads to increases in regional brain gray matter density
Psychiatry Research November 10, 2010 Britta K. Hölzel, J. Carmody, M. Vangel et al.
Participation in an eight-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program is associated with increases in gray matter concentration in several brain regions. Sixteen healthy, meditation-naïve adults underwent MRI scans before and after the program, and their brain changes were compared to a wait-list control group of 17 individuals. Increases were found in the left hippocampus, posterior cingulate cortex, temporo-parietal junction, and cerebellum. These regions are involved in learning, memory, emotion regulation, self-referential processing, and perspective taking. The findings suggest that MBSR can produce structural brain changes.