26. august 2023
Neuroplasticity
Meditation alters your brain in beneficial and lasting ways
Meditation has been shown to have several potential benefits for neuroplasticity, and suggests that meditation may actually help your brain grow and strengthen certain beneficial connections.
Rewiring for Wellness
Neuroplasticity is your brain's amazing ability to adapt and change throughout life in response to new experiences, learning, or injury.
Neuroplasticity involves your brain's potential to make new neurons. But more importantly it involves connecting the dots: Existing connections between neurons (synapses) become stronger with use (learning) and new neural connections are made, literally rewiring your brain. In addition, neuroplasticity involves myelin matters (the fatty insulation around nerve fibers/the “neural highways”), which can actually change and speed up communication to boost learning.
The brain is not a static organ, but a dynamic wonder shaped by experiences and stimuli. Research in this field is ongoing. While the findings are promising, further studies are needed to fully understand the long-term effects and individual variability in meditation's impact on neuroplasticity. One thing seems sure though: Meditation alters your brain in beneficial and lasting ways!
Meditation Boost Brain Growth and Neuroplasticity
Studies have shown that regular meditation practice can lead to increased gray matter volume in areas of the brain associated with learning, memory, attention, and emotional regulation. Meditation has hence been linked to benefits in cognitive functions like attention, memory, and executive function. These improvements may be due to increased neuroplasticity in areas like the prefrontal cortex, which is involved in these functions.
Studies also indicate that long-term meditation practitioners have increased potential for neuroplasticity. My meditation routine has accumulated over 60,000 minutes of meditation, translating to well over 1,000 hours, which I have to put to good use now, both physically and mentally, in my rehabilitation and cancer treatment.
Imagine your brain
like a garden
New experiences are like seeds you plant, and the connections between your brain cells are like the pathways that grow between those plants. Neuroplasticity is basically the garden's ability to change, connect and grow. It allows your brain to form new connections, strengthen existing ones, and even reorganize itself.