Your Brain on Meditation

Welcome back! Over the past few weeks, we’ve been looking at meditation; what it is, how to do it, and why it’s worth your time.

This week, we’re going to summarize the findings that look at the changes that can happen within your brain both during, and after you begin a meditation practice. It’s useful to know because it not only adds an objective layer of research-backed science that may help incentivize those of you who tend to value objective facts, it can deepen your practice and awe of what it is to experience. Not to mention that it’s also beyond cool to read about all the cognitive changes that are well within your grasp.

So if you’ve been reading the past several pieces on meditation and walk away feeling like there wasn’t enough science behind it, this one is for you. Although highly simplified, this stuff is fascinating.

I’m going to organize this piece in the order of events that occur within your practice; what happens to your brain during an actual meditation session, and then we’ll look at the chronic, longer-lasting changes that occur when you stick to a daily (or somewhat daily) practice. Additionally, if you’re interested in learning more right from the source, I’ve listed the references I used at the bottom of this page. Also, if you’re an experienced meditator and find something interesting within the paragraphs to follow, please leave a comment. I’d love to hear your thoughts in regard to what brain science says and how it matches up with the subjective experience of meditation.

Your Brain on Meditation – During the meditation session

As I was combing through the literature preparing to write this, I was very surprised to see just how specific some of the research has become over the past decade or so. In fact, one meta-analysis, in particular, looked at the neural correlates and cognitive changes in almost 30 different kinds of meditation – all of which affected the brain in slightly different ways. With that said, I won’t reiterate all those specific effects, but rather focus on the similarities between them. I will however get more specific in regards to the neurological effects that Vipassana meditation, or insight meditation, can have on the brain because that’s the type that we’ve been focusing on over the past month and is probably the most commonly practised kind of meditation.

Thanks to modern advancements in science (and volunteer experienced meditators), we’ve been able to look at brain activity and how the brain operates during meditation. We use imaging techniques that look at blood flow, energy usage, water content, even neuronal health and density (# of neurons per unit of space) that allows us to not only learn how the brain works but also how to improve those systems and optimize our cognitive and psychological health.

When we meditate, we see a radical change in cerebral blood flow (CBF; the way blood is moving in and out of the brain). This change results in a redirection of blood flow away from areas of the brain that are associated with stress, anxiety and worry, which are typically located in what is known as the limbic system, or the emotional brain. Blood flow to these areas shouldn’t be perceived as always being negative, but rather when these systems become overpowered and hyperactive, problems can arise. Areas that have been found to negatively impact our psychology include the default mode network, which is involved in rumination, the amygdala which has a large role in anxiety and stress, and the lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC) which has been shown to “light up” in instances of vigilance. For anyone who suffers from chronic anxiety and stress, this change in blood flow alone can have an immensely positive impact on your day to day life. By reducing the blood flow and energy usage in these areas, we can alleviate a considerable amount of physiological stress quite quickly.

So, we know where blood and energy are being redirected from, but where does it go instead?

We see an upregulation of activity in areas associated with safety, status, and openness. These feelings are created by areas such as the hippocampus and orbitofrontal cortex which play a large role in memory and the stress braking system, the frontal lobes which are known for their role in logical and emotional evaluation, specific areas within the temporal lobes which are associated with feelings of openness, safety, and even mystical/religious experiences, and the parietal lobes and cingulate bodies which evaluate emotion and help establish our sense of self and place. When these structures are working, they can exert “top-down control” which means that their activity can regulate the activity of the systems found in the limbic brain that we just talked about.

So, we not only shunt resources away from areas of the brain that are oriented towards preparing us to fight, flee and stay vigilant, we allocate those resources towards reparative and calming processes – talk about a double whammy! And this is can all happen within 5-20 minutes. By deciding to pay attention to the internal sensations of your body, you are essentially telling your body that you are safe and secure, allowing your brain to calm the rest of you down. Compare that to 5-20 minutes of doom scrolling Instagram or Facebook; it can completely change the trajectory of your day.

Your Brain on Meditation – Long-Lasting Changes

Pretty cool, huh? Now check this out! We just looked at the acute changes that occur during meditation, so what happens in the following 24 hours? Weeks? Months? If we stick to a mostly daily routine, here’s what can happen.

The areas that are associated with calming us down become more connected, with increasing amounts of neurons and neuronal connections to each other. Areas like the hippocampus, which is associated with turning short term memories into long term memories and emotion regulation, actually get larger and more densely packed with neurons! Interestingly, this growth can lead to more inhibitory influence over the systems of the brain that are associated with stress and vigilance. This basically means the calming systems can exert control over the stress-inducing systems from a neurophysiological level to keep them in line. This is highly relevant for people who suffer from anxiety disorders as they often lack “top-down” control of the emotional parts of the brain, often due to early forms of trauma, maltreatment and/or chronic stress that deeply affect the layout and density of these higher-order cortical structures. We see radical forms of growth in areas all over the brain, including increased grey matter (neurons) and cortical thickness in areas that involve emotion regulation, memory, proprioception (sense of our body in space), and hemispheric communication. Some studies even found that the areas of the parietal lobe that are topographically associated with the legs grew - probably because long bouts of sitting meditation can be a bit brutal on the ole butt and legs, making us more aware of them. Meditations that focus on sensations of breathing, namely Vipassana, also show significant changes in the medulla oblongata, a structure in our brainstem that keeps our heart beating and our lungs breathing. Lastly, a structure known as the “conflict-monitoring system”, which includes the anterior cingulate cortex and many branching connections that are responsible for perceiving social and internal emotional conflict grows after a few short meditation sessions.

Additionally, by increasing the influence and activity of higher-order structures, we not only allocate more resources and specialization towards these areas, but there is also a resultant shrinkage and an appropriate reduction of resources away from the dysfunctional aspects of the emotional brain. You read that right –  it’s been found in many studies that these areas, like the amygdala, literally get smaller within a few short weeks of meditation.

So when we read that meditation is like a workout for your brain – it’s not a joke! We are literally growing our brain “muscles”, making them stronger and more capable of handling stress and anxiety on a physiological level. This means that a regular meditation practice can make you more tolerant of stress, which leaves you feeling less sensitive and more resilient to daily stressors.

Changing Your Brain

The science and research surrounding meditation changes and grows every day, offering us new perspectives and tricks to be used for a better today, and tomorrow. I’m no investor, but that sounds like a pretty dang good investment.

All of our experiences change our brain in countless ways; sometimes good, sometimes bad. Meditation can be used as a daily experience to deposit into our cognitive piggy bank that pays off immediately, and in the long run. For some, it’s a way to reintroduce ourselves to a day that started off on the wrong foot, or it’s a psychological and neural refresher that leaves us feeling calm, renewed, and more resilient.

I hope this was an appropriate dive into the neuroscience of meditation and that you walk away feeling motivated and determined to start up that meditation practice you’ve been putting off. This stuff goes way deeper than what we went over today, so if you found that you enjoyed this and want to read more, let me know in the comments. Don’t get me wrong, I love writing about the subjective side of things, but neuroscience is where my true love and curiosity lies. But for now, that’s all for this week folks.

Have a great week.

 References:

Neural correlates of meditation: a review of structural and functional MRI studies - Rui Ferreira Afonso, Inessa Kraft, Maria Adelia Aratanha, Elisa Harumi Kozasa

The Neuroscience of Mindfulness: How Mindfulness Alters the Brain and Facilitates Emotion Regulation - Megan S. Wheeler, & Diane B. Arnkoff & Carol R. Glass