The protective effect of mindfulness and compassion meditation practices on ageing: Hypotheses, models and experimental implementation.
Antoine Lutz, Gaël Chételat, Fabienne Collette, Olga Klimecki, N. Marchant, Julie Gonneaud
Ageing Research Reviews October 1, 2021 DOI: 10.1016/j.arr.2021.101495 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Interventions | Mindfulness meditation Loving-kindness and compassion meditation |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Key points | Proposes that regular mindfulness and loving-kindness meditation in aging populations may reduce Alzheimer's disease risk by improving cognitive and emotional capacities. |
Abstract
Alzheimer's disease (AD) represents a major health and societal issue; there is no treatment to date and the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying this disease are not well understood. Yet, there is hope that AD risk factors and thus the number of AD cases can be significantly reduced by prevention measures based on lifestyle modifications as targeted by non-pharmacological preventive interventions. So far, these interventions have rarely targeted the psycho-affective risk factors related to depression, stress, anxiety, and feeling of loneliness, which are all prevalent in ageing. This paper presents the hypothesis that the regular practice of mindfulness meditation (MM) and loving-kindness and compassion meditation (LKCM) in the ageing population constitutes a lifestyle that is protective against AD. In this model, these practices can promote cognition, mental health, and well-being by strengthening attention control, metacognitive monitoring, emotion regulation and pro-social capacities. Training these capacities could reduce the risk of AD by upregulating beneficial age-related factors such as cognitive reserve, and down-regulating detrimental age-related factors, such as stress, or depression. As an illustration, we present the Medit-Ageing study (public name Silver Santé Study), an on-going European project that assesses the impact and mechanisms of non-pharmacological interventions including meditation, in the ageing population.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mindfulness: A proposed operational definition. | 2004 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Mechanisms of mindfulness | 2005 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| How Does Mindfulness Meditation Work? Proposing Mechanisms of Action From a Conceptual and Neural Perspective | 2011 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for depression | 2006 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Self-awareness, self-regulation, and self-transcendence (S-ART): a framework for understanding the neurobiological mechanisms of mindfulness | 2012 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
Citations in the library
Cited by 23
- Effect of an 18-Month Meditation Training on Regional Brain Volume and Perfusion in Older Adults JAMA Neurology October 10, 2022
- Effects of a mindfulness-based intervention and a health self-management programme on psychological well-being in older adults with subjective cognitive decline: Secondary analyses from the SCD-Well randomised clinical trial. PLoS One 2023
- A neuroscience perspective on the plasticity of the social and relational brain. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences May 1, 2025
- The Effect of Mindfulness-Based Interventions on Mental Health and Cognitive Function in Older Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Journal of aging and health July 24, 2024
- An 18-month meditation training selectively improves psychological well-being in older adults: A secondary analysis of a randomised controlled trial. PLoS One 2023
and 18 more in the library
Cites 34
- Open hearts build lives: Positive emotions, induced through loving-kindness meditation, build consequential personal resources. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology October 27, 2008
- Regulation of the Neural Circuitry of Emotion by Compassion Meditation: Effects of Meditative Expertise PLoS One March 25, 2008
- Investigating the phenomenological matrix of mindfulness-related practices from a neurocognitive perspective. American Psychologist October 1, 2015
- Prospects for a clinical science of mindfulness-based intervention. American Psychologist October 1, 2015
- Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction for Older Adults: Effects on Executive Function, Frontal Alpha Asymmetry and Immune Function Neuropsychobiology 2013
and 29 more in the library