Studies done by Yale, Harvard and Massachusetts General Hospital have shown that meditation increases gray matter in the brain and slows down the deterioration of the brain as a part of the natural aging process.

The experiment included 20 individuals with intensive Buddhist ‘insight meditation’ training and 15 who did not meditate. The brain scan revealed that those who meditated had an increased thickness of gray matter in parts of the brain that are responsible for attention and processing sensory input. The study also showed that meditation helps slow down brain deterioration due to aging.

Another study involving the participation of a group of colleges students, who were asked to use a meditation technique called integrative body-mind training, concluded that “meditating may improve the integrity and efficiency of certain connections in the brain” through an increase in their number and robustness. (Science Daily 22 August 2010)

Dr. James Austin, a neurophysiologist at the University Of Colorado, reported that Zen meditation “rewires the circuitry” of the brain in his book ‘Zen and the Brain’ (1999). This has been confirmed using functional MRI imaging, a brain scanning technique that measures blood flow in the brain.

These studies all clearly indicate that meditation is good for the brain, can slow down its aging process, and can even positively influence it in a physical way. That’s why its a very good idea to put aside even just a small amount of time every day to meditate.

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