Meditation changes the brain

Mindfulness meditation has been practiced by Buddhist for thousands of years and scientists in the West started to do extensive research on the practice of mediation and its positive effects on our brain. Neuroscientists have learned that meditation strengthens the connections between brain cells and people who meditate regularly show higher levels of gyrification-“folding” of the cerebral cortex as a result of growth. So your brain can process information faster. I remember my Japanese teacher told us in school to use our brain because the brain will stop developing and growing as we get older and the recent studies which use sophisticated MRI (brain scan) techniques prove it wrong. Another study shows that meditation may lead to cortical thickness which make us less sensitive to pain.

And another remarkable study shows that “long-term meditation is associated with increased gray matter density in the brain stem”. I have no idea what that means but studies have proven the positive impact of meditation on our brain and it actually changes the structure of our brain if you practice meditation on a regular basis.

Benefits of meditation:

-larger hippocampal and frontal volumes of gray matter..so you can be more mindful and become tolerant of anxiety and stress. Also Meditation may slow down the brain aging..And moreover, meditation is also linked to changes in electrical brain activity..so in short, we should start practicing meditation to enhance our cognitive functions while promoting our physical and mental health.