Neuroreport
November 7, 2005
Sara W. Lazar, Catherine E. Kerr, Rachel H. Wasserman et al.
1,707 citations
Long-term meditation practice is linked to structural changes in the brain. Magnetic resonance imaging of 20 experienced Insight meditation practitioners showed greater cortical thickness in regions involved in attention, interoception, and sensory processing, including the prefrontal cortex and right anterior insula, compared to matched controls. The difference in prefrontal thickness was most pronounced in older participants, suggesting meditation may counteract age-related cortical thinning. Thickness in two regions also correlated with meditation experience. These findings provide the first structural evidence that meditation practice can induce experience-dependent cortical plasticity.
The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine
December 1, 2008
Maria B. Ospina, Kenneth Bond, Mohammad Karkhaneh et al.
140 citations
A systematic review of 400 clinical trials on meditation (published 1956-2005) found that most studies have poor methodological quality, with significant threats to validity across all major quality domains. The five broad categories of meditation practices studied were mantra meditation, mindfulness meditation, yoga, t'ai chi, and qigong. The most common clinical conditions examined were hypertension, miscellaneous cardiovascular diseases, and substance abuse. Although methodological quality has improved over time by 0.014 points per year, future trials must be more rigorous in design, execution, analysis, and reporting.
Psychosomatic Medicine
April 11, 2018
Gunes Sevinc, Britta K. Hölzel, Javeria A. Hashmi et al.
65 citations
Two meditation-based stress reduction programs—Relaxation Response (RR) and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)—both reduced stress, with MBSR showing a larger effect (Cohen's d = 1.02) than RR (Cohen's d = 0.50). Both programs activated shared neural pathways between ventromedial prefrontal regions and supplementary motor areas. However, the RR bodyscan meditation, which emphasizes physical relaxation, showed stronger connectivity between the right inferior frontal gyrus (involved in inhibition and control) and supplementary motor areas. The MBSR program, which emphasizes mindful awareness without explicit relaxation, uniquely improved self-compassion and rumination and showed connectivity between the right anterior insula (sensory awareness and salience) and pregenual anterior cingulate during meditation. These distinct neural patterns align with each program's theoretical focus.
Neuroscience Letters
May 23, 2025
Diane Joss, Gunes Sevinc, John W. Denninger et al.
1 citation
Among 94 chronically stressed but otherwise healthy adults randomized to eight weeks of meditation, yoga, or stress education, only the meditation group showed a significant reduction in resting-state functional connectivity between the posterior cingulate cortex and the left hippocampus. Changes in this brain connectivity were correlated with improvements in perceived stress, allostatic load, and anti-inflammatory gene expression, suggesting that meditation's neural effects are closely linked to physical wellness biomarkers. No such changes occurred in the yoga or stress education groups, indicating this neurobiological mechanism may be unique to meditation training.
Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience
March 1, 2010
Britta K. Hölzel, James Carmody, Karleyton C Evans et al.
Reductions in perceived stress after an 8-week mindfulness-based stress reduction intervention correlate with decreases in gray matter density in the right basolateral amygdala. Stressed but otherwise healthy individuals (N = 26) reported significantly less perceived stress after the intervention. The study demonstrates that neuroplastic changes are associated with improvements in a psychological state variable, not just with learning abstract information or motor and language skills.