UK (Commonwealth Union) – Meditation has long been practiced as a form mind stability and a form of destress for the mind.
A study co-led by a University College London (UCL) researcher monitored a meditation programme of 18 months and found that it was capable of enhancing attention and socio-emotional regulation abilities for individuals over 65. However, the study was unable to note any vital impact of meditation on the volume and functioning of the brain structures evaluated, in contrast to control groups, hence the possibility to avoid dementia remains unclear.
Joint senior author Dr Natalie Marchant of UCL Psychiatry stated that the results are positive with meditation demonstrated an enhanced well-being of senior adults, conferring advantages to attention and emotion regulation. “While our scans did not reveal any improvements in brain structure or function, we will continue monitoring this group of people to study whether some benefits may take longer to emerge,” she added.
Mental training targeted at controlling stress and attention, like mindful meditation, has on prior occasions proven to be advantageous in managing the cognitive and emotional factors of ageing, like lowering stress, anxiety, and depression. The study is set to involve a 4-year follow-up of the participants, to evaluate possible long-term effects.
Joint first author Antoine Lutz of the Lyon Neuroscience Research Center indicated that meditation showed real benefit on the mental health of elderly individuals, with important improvements with parameters specific to well-being as well as fulfillment and maintenance of attentional and socio-emotional proportions, as demonstrated by participants. More certain measurements and evaluations are set to be carried out within the Age-Well trial to enhance the learning of these mechanisms. The analysis may be used to note the measures that have then highest sensitivity to meditation and to evaluate the mechanisms behind its effects.
Further studies into meditation and dementia could possibly give more conclusive findings on the condition.
