Does Meditation Help Slow Down Our Brain's Aging Process?

Human beings are living longer, but as we age, our brains deteriorate.  Scientists have been trying to understand this process and determine what can be done to reduce mental illness and neurodegenerative diseases due to aging.  Scientists think that meditation may play an important role in brain health.

In a recent study comparing 50 long term meditators and 50 non-meditators, Dr. Luders and her colleagues found that the grey matter, ---the brain tissue that contains neurons---shrank at a slower rate for the meditators than for the non-meditators.  Meditators practiced a variety of types of meditation from weekly to daily and from 10 to 240 minutes at a time in duration.

The chart below shows the results, with the steeper green line depicting non-meditators’ brains and the flatter yellow line depicting the meditators’ brains.

The results of this study are significant, especially given the body of work highlighting changes in the brain due to meditation (see blog post from last year--This Is Your Brain On Meditation).  However, the results of this study are not conclusive.   The researchers were unable to completely factor out variables that may have contributed to the aging rates such as lifestyle and genetics.  More research clearly needs to be conducted to find a clear causal link.

Hot off the Press--Summary of 47 Studies Shows That Even With Regular Exercise, Prolonged Sitting Can Result in Higher Chance of Disease andEarly Death

Researchers from Toronto, Canada conducted a meta-analysis (here's a link to the study) where they analyzed the results of 47 studies that fit their criteria to see whether when controlling for purposeful exercise, sedentary behavior results in higher rates of disease.  They found that sedentary behavior resulted in higher rates of all-cause mortality, cardiovascular disease mortality, cardiovascular disease incidence, cancer mortality, cancer incidence, and type 2 diabetes incidence,  They defined sedentary behavior to be sitting while at the computer, while watching television, in the car, etc.

Pets and Your Hormones

We Know We Love Our Pets and They Make Us Happy, but Do They Actually Change Our Hormone Levels?

The answer seems to be a resounding YES.

• We know that playing with, talking with and petting our pets enhances our mood, now we may know why…. Short term interaction between dog and owner results in elevated oxytocin—the “feel good hormone” levels http://www.petpartners.org/document.doc?id=104

• Other neurotransmitters increased after interaction between humans and dogs as well as oxytocin, include beta-endorphin (numbs pain), prolactin (stimulates milk production after childbirth, eating and mating), beta-phenylethylamine (stimulant), and dopamine (motivation and pleasure) and cortisol hormones (stress hormones) decreased.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12672376

• Similarly, we love to gaze into our pets’ eyes. What we might not have known was that there is a physiological reason for this—it also raises our oxytocin level (feel good hormone)(One night I was telling Pippi that I “lose myself in her eyes” but my partner responded that I never talk to her that way--that’s a whole other story). http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19124024.

• Can we go so far as to say that we respond to our pets in the same way that we do our children? Not quite… A pilot study showed that when women were shown pictures of their children and dogs while undergoing an fMRI, different parts of their brains showed activity (visual processing of face and social cognition for dogs vs. reward/affiliation for their child). The mothers did however, rate the same level of excitement and pleasantness between their dogs and their children. http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0107205

As you can see, there is a lot of work to do to uncover exactly why our pets make us feel as good as they do. I for one, know that my pups are doing something deep in my brain and that that makes a lot of difference in my life.

This is Your Brain on Meditation: Meditating Your Way Into Health andWell-Being

Did you know that you actually change the structure of your brain when you meditate regularly? This results in better physical and emotional health and well-being.

According to recent research, when you meditate, you can grow gray matter in some parts of the brain and shrink it in others.  This is known as Neuroplasticity, the idea that your brain changes due to experiences, thoughts and emotions.   Growth in certain areas leads to increased capacity for compassion and increased self-awareness, while shrinking in others reduces stress and impulsive decision-making. Meditation can re-route neural pathways from those that lead to obsessing and worrying to those that allow you to focus on what is going on in the present moment. In fact, with time, you can change your default mode of thinking. Some athletes use meditation techniques to increase focus and “get in the zone.” It’s important to note that the research indicates that you are best off with a regular mindfulness meditation routine.

Petting Your Dog or Cat Can Result in Lower Stress and Enhanced Happiness for Your Pet and Greater Connection Between You and Your Pet by Activating Positive Hormones

I covered in the previous blog and will cover in future blogs what’s in it stroking your pet for you and your physical and emotional health, but you may be wondering what’s in it for your pet’s health and well-being. There’s research showing what as pet owners you already may know--they really, really like being pet. And, not just that, it benefits their health as much as it benefits yours.