This Mindfulness Activity May Lower Your Brain Age By 6 Years

MeditiationYou might already know that walking is linked to a decreased dementia risk, and that strength training can reduce the level of age-related muscle loss (sarcopenia) that can increase frailty. But new research, published in Mindfulness, suggested that meditation might be great at keeping your brain young, too. Associate professor of anaesthesiology at Harvard Medical School, Dr Bala Subramaniam, who was involved in the study, said: “This study offers compelling evidence that deep yogic practices... help preserve the brain’s youthfulness.“It is inspiring to see ancient practices stand up to scientific scrutiny.”Why does meditation appear to help with brain age?This small study compared participants involved in a meditation retreat with two other healthy groups and four comparison groups with various age-related brain conditions, including dementia. The scientists used overnight electroencephalography to find out the physiological “age” of participants’ brains. Then, they took this away from the people’s chronological (year) age to find out what the discrepancies were. Speaking to HuffPost UK, Dr Subramaniam said, “Our recent research shows that advanced yogic meditation can reduce brain age by nearly six years”. This was not seen in non-meditating participants. A 2016 paper went even further, suggesting that meditators had brains 7.5 years younger than those of non-meditators.“This effect, measured through sleep EEG, suggests meditation strengthens brain health by improving sleep quality, reducing stress, and enhancing neural plasticity,” Dr Subramaniam added.In other words, it might not just be the meditation itself that helped: we already think that stress may play a role in the development of the condition, and exercises like yoga are great for good sleep, which has previously been linked to lower dementia risk.It is also hard to work out whether people with healthier brains are more likely to pick up meditation in the first place or if the benefits seen on scans came from the effects of meditation (or both).How can I begin meditating?If you’re an absolute beginner, Dr Subramaniam told us, start small. “Begin with just seven minutes a day, gradually extending to 21 minutes a day as you feel comfortable,” he told us. “Consistency is key. Over time, this daily practice can improve sleep, boost focus, reduce stress, and help keep your brain young.” The associate professor, who has helped to co-create a free app, the Miracle of Mind, says this programme “makes it easy to get started with short, guided sessions you can practice daily”. Related...This Walking Test May Reveal Your Brain AgeScience Says You Can Prevent Brain Ageing With 4 Simple StepsApparently Covid Aged All Our Brains, Even If You Didn't Catch It

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