Effects of Meditation on Structural Changes of the Brain in Patients With Mild Cognitive Impairment or Alzheimer's Disease Dementia.
Madhukar Dwivedi, Neha Dubey, Aditya Jain Pansari, Raju Surampudi Bapi, Meghoranjani Das, Maushumi Guha, Rahul Banerjee, Gobinda Pramanick, Jayanti Basu, Amitabha Ghosh
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 2021 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2021.728993 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Longitudinal intervention study Cross-sectional Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Persons with mild cognitive impairment or mild Alzheimer's disease dementia |
| Intervention | meditation |
| Duration | 6-month intervention |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Keywords | Alzheimer’s disease Cortical thickness Gray matter volume Imaging Mild cognitive impairment Neuropsychology |
| Key findings | Long-term meditation practice in persons with MCI or mild AD leads to salutary changes in cortical thickness and gray matter volumes in brain areas related to executive control and memory. |
Abstract
Previous cross-sectional studies reported positive effects of meditation on the brain areas related to attention and executive function in the healthy elderly population. Effects of long-term regular meditation in persons with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer's disease dementia (AD) have rarely been studied. In this study, we explored changes in cortical thickness and gray matter volume in meditation-naïve persons with MCI or mild AD after long-term meditation intervention. MCI or mild AD patients underwent detailed clinical and neuropsychological assessment and were assigned into meditation or non-meditation groups. High resolution T1-weighted magnetic resonance images (MRI) were acquired at baseline and after 6 months. Longitudinal symmetrized percentage changes (SPC) in cortical thickness and gray matter volume were estimated. Left caudal middle frontal, left rostral middle frontal, left superior parietal, right lateral orbitofrontal, and right superior frontal cortices showed changes in both cortical thickness and gray matter volume; the left paracentral cortex showed changes in cortical thickness; the left lateral occipital, left superior frontal, left banks of the superior temporal sulcus (bankssts), and left medial orbitofrontal cortices showed changes in gray matter volume. All these areas exhibited significantly higher SPC values in meditators as compared to non-meditators. Conversely, the left lateral occipital, and right posterior cingulate cortices showed significantly lower SPC values for cortical thickness in the meditators. In hippocampal subfields analysis, we observed significantly higher SPC in gray matter volume of the left CA1, molecular layer HP, and CA3 with a trend for increased gray matter volume in most other areas. No significant changes were found for the hippocampal subfields in the right hemisphere. Analysis of the subcortical structures revealed significantly increased volume in the right thalamus in the meditation group. The results of the study point out that long-term meditation practice in persons with MCI or mild AD leads to salutary changes in cortical thickness and gray matter volumes. Most of these changes were observed in the brain areas related to executive control and memory that are prominently at risk in neurodegenerative diseases.
Comparable studies
Other observational and cohort studies on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Using Self-Report Assessment Methods to Explore Facets of Mindfulness Undergraduate students | 2006 | Observational cohort | |
| Effectiveness of a meditation-based stress reduction program in the treatment of anxiety disorders Patients with generalized anxiety disorder or panic disorder with or without agoraphobia | 1992 | Observational cohort | n = 22 |
| Meditation experience is associated with increased cortical thickness Participants with extensive Insight meditation experience and matched controls | 2005 | Observational cohort | n = 20 |
| Meditation experience is associated with differences in default mode network activity and connectivity Experienced meditators and matched meditation-naive controls | 2011 | Observational cohort | |
| Long-term meditators self-induce high-amplitude gamma synchrony during mental practice Long-term Buddhist practitioners and controls | 2004 | Observational cohort |
Citations in the library
Cited by 8
- Hemispheric annealing and lateralization under psychedelics (HEALS): A novel hypothesis of psychedelic action in the brain. Journal of Psychopharmacology May 1, 2025
- Meditation for subjective cognitive decline, mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Frontiers in Public Health 2025
- Effects of an Online Meditation Course on Quality of Life and Positive Emotions: A Prospective Observational Study (EXPANSION Study). Journal of Integrative and Complementary Medicine June 1, 2024
- A Systematic Review of the Effects of Meditation on Alzheimer's Disease Journal of Student Research November 30, 2023
- Effect of meditation on clinical symptoms and gray matter volume in chronic schizophrenia: a randomized controlled trial. European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience May 19, 2026
and 3 more in the library
Cites 13
- Effects of Meditation Experience on Functional Connectivity of Distributed Brain Networks Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 2012
- Reduced age-associated brain changes in expert meditators: a multimodal neuroimaging pilot study Scientific Reports August 25, 2017
- Mindfulness intervention for mild cognitive impairment led to attention-related improvements and neuroplastic changes: Results from a 9-month randomized control trial. Journal of Psychiatric Research March 1, 2021
- The Effects of Mindfulness on Older Adults with Mild Cognitive Impairment. Journal of Alzheimer's disease reports December 2, 2017
- Functional neuroanatomy of meditation: A review and meta-analysis of 78 functional neuroimaging investigations. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews March 21, 2016
and 8 more in the library