Studies suggest that meditation is going to be able to reverse time and put the clock back on your brain. But as we get older, our brains are subject to an increased number of mental effects that come with aging. These effects can include a shorter and more quickly diminishing attention span, a longer processing time when it comes to logic and problems and even problems with your memory.
However, a huge study published last month has concluded that through meditation, you have the potential to alter and change the long-term effects of your brain, such as the ones listed above. In laymen’s terms, meditation could prevent and actively reduce the effects of an aging brain.
This study is the first of its kind, known now for being the most extensive longitudinal study that has ever been published, spanning across seven years, as well as being one of the most recent.
Research began back in 2011 at the University of California and included a control group of individuals that ranged between the ages of 22 and 69. Both before and after the study took place; the individuals were taken to a three-month meditation retreat known as the Shambhala Mountain Center, which is based in Colorado.
It was here that the individuals focused on several types of meditation training. These included a substantial focus on certain objects, practicing mindfulness breathing techniques as well as being proactive in feeling compassion, kindness and empathy towards the people around them, and for life itself.
The immediate findings were then published after the final retreat that clearly showed that the training they had received have dramatically enhanced the individual’s emotional well-being and even helped them to perform tasks in their everyday lives more effectively. There was also a huge dramatic increase in the individual’s ability to focus and concentrate.
Seven years later, after the retreats had been and gone, the researchers checked up on the individuals to see how they were doing. It showed that all the participants of the study managed to maintain a certain level of daily meditation practices and that this had an extremely positive effect on their mental health and conditions.
In fact, it was also discovered that the more these individuals had meditated post-retreat, the more noticeable and prominent the benefits from the retreat were and the longer it had stayed with them. This long-lasting effect was far more prominent in the older generations.
What Does This All Mean?
Allow me to summarise. If you practice meditation from a younger age, this study suggests that you’ll be able to enjoy all the benefits that we know mediation to provide. However, if you continue this level of meditation into your everyday life, especially as you’re growing older, these effects will become much more long-lasting and more beneficial to your well-being.
