Loving-Kindness Meditation Slows Aging

A recent study by Le Nguyen et al. published in Psychoneuroendocrinology has looked at the effect of loving-kindness meditation on telomore length. Loving-Kindness is a Buddhist meditation that focuses on sending good wishes and kindness to ourselves and others by silently repeating a series of mantras. Telomeres sit at the end of chromosomes and protect the chromosomes from deterioration. Our telomeres gradually shorten over time and this is believed to contribute to aging.

The researchers randomised 142 middle-aged adults into 3 groups: a waiting list control group, a mindfulness meditation group and a loving-kindness meditation group. Telomere length was measured 2 weeks prior to the start and 3 weeks after the end of the 6-week meditation workshop. The results showed that there was significantly less telomere attrition in the loving-kindness meditation group than the control group. The mindfulness meditation group had results that were in between the other 2 groups without being statistically significantly different from either.

We can infer that loving-kindness meditation can slow aging by decreasing the rate at which our telomeres shorten.

Meditation and the Brain

Meditation can be defined as “a family of mental training practices aimed at monitoring and regulating attention, perception, emotion and physiology” (Fox and Cahn, 2019). As with other forms of learning, meditation has the potential to change the brain (neuroplasticity). Fox and Cahn (2019) reviewed decades of meditation research in a paper entitled “Meditation and the brain in health and disease”. Here are some of their findings. The table below summarises the areas of the brain that have been implicated in meditation.

Although “psychologically distinct meditation practices show correspondingly diverse neural correlates”, most practices modulate activity in the insula. Given that awareness of breathing or other body sensations is central to most forms of meditation, and the insula’s role in the awareness of the internal environment, it’s not surprising that meditation leads to a change in structure and function of the insula.

Some interesting discoveries have been made regarding pain. The experience of pain is the combination of the purely sensory aspect of pain with feelings of distress, thoughts relating the pain to the self and various negative emotional interpretations of the experience. “These cognitive-affective elaborations appear to be dissociable from, and temporarily subsequent to, the purely sensory aspects of pain – and what’s more, they may contribute significantly to the subjectively experienced unpleasantness of nociceptive experience (Rainville et al., 1997)”. Meditators were found to have lower pain sensitivity. This may be due to their decreased functional connectivity between primary sensory pain areas and secondary affective-elaborative areas. This supports the idea that seasoned meditators remain focussed on purely sensory aspects of pain whereas non-meditators dwell on emotional and cognitive associations of pain.

Other fascinating discoveries are the impact of meditation on aging. There is usually a decrease in function (glucose metabolism) and structure (amount and density of grey matter) of the brain with aging. However, studies show that meditation may help stave off the effects of aging. In fact, some studies have found no age-related decline in function and/or structure!

But, the limitations of current research must be acknowledged:

• It’s a new field of inquiry
• Agreement amongst researchers is the exception rather than the norm
• Few studies control for factors that may exist between meditators and controls e.g. Diet, stress, sleep, personality, etc.
• Publication bias (the preferential publication of only positive studies)

Meditation Decreases Chronic Neck Pain

A group of German researchers recently published the results of a study looking into the benefits of meditation on people with chronic neck pain. The article was published in The Journal of Pain. They studied about 90 people who had neck pain for an average of 11 years. The average age of the participants was 50 years. Their results found significant improvements in pain reduction and pain coping but no effect on functional disability.

The findings suggest that meditation could be used as an adjunct alongside physical treatments that provide functional benefits.

Meditation Changes Gene Expression

There is now evidence that mindfulness meditation can alter gene expression. Research carried out jointly by the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Institute of Biomedical Research of Barcelona, Spain revealed that participating in a day of mindfulness meditation activities reduces levels of pro-inflammatory genes. Perhaps meditation could be used to treat chronic inflammatory conditions.

BBC Horizon’s – The Truth About Personality

Yet another great BBC Horizon production presented by Michael Moseley. This time Dr Moseley is on a quest to find out more about personality. In part fueled by a desire to cure 20 years of chronic insomnia and to find out whether he can change his self-confessed pessimistic outlook on life. As a qualified doctor and BBC presenter I guess his pessimism hasn’t served him too badly so far!

In the 70s, Oxford Ohio was the seat of an interesting social experiment. People over 50 years old were questioned and followed over several years to learn more about aging. Professor Becca Levy (Yale University) analysed the data and found that it was in fact attitude that determined longevity. People with positive beliefs about aging live an average of 7.5 years longer than those with negative beliefs. They put it into context by noting that curing cancer would only add 3-4 years life expectancy.

One of the most important personality traits is whether we’re optimistic or pessimistic. Being pessimistic, anxious and neurotic affects our reaction to the world but how can we objectively measure this? Well, it’s been found that these traits lead to an increased activity of the right frontal cortex compared to the left. To measure this, Dr Moseley visited Professor Elaine Fox (University of Essex). It turned out he had 3 times more activity on the right than the left. His pessimism was confirmed! In addition, Prof Fox had him take a test to check his reaction time to dots on a screen. The dots were either preceded by an angry face or a happy face. His reaction time was a lot shorter when the dots were preceded by an angry face. Possibly because he had a habit of focusing more on the negative than the positive.

At MIT Professor Rosalind Picard asked him to wear a wristband whilst they had a chat. The wristband measured his skin temperature and electrical conductivity which are both affected by the autonomic nervous system and so gave a good indication of his emotional state. Dr Moseley’s baseline levels were high, suggesting heightened arousal, even though he felt relaxed. That’s because intriguingly, the body tells us about a change in state before the mind realises.

So now he had evidence indicating he was pessimistic and possibly a little anxious. What could he do about it? Professor Fox suggested using Cognitive Bias Modification (CBM). He simply had to look at screen shots of mainly unhappy faces and spot the one happy face…repeatedly. In theory this decreases the unconscious negative bias by breaking the habit of looking for the negative. Evidence has shown that it helps combat anxiety but not depression. Dr Moseley confided in being self- absorbed, worrying about the past, stressing about the future and as a result being unable to savour the present. So he decided to use CBM 3x/week for about 7 weeks.

His next encounter was with Andy Puddicombe, a former Buddhist monk, who now teaches mindfulness meditation. He said that 10-20 mins of meditation a day would be enough to make a psychological and physiological difference. MRI studies of meditators have shown they have increased grey matter in areas that regulate emotion and increased activity in the left prefrontal cortex which is a centre for positive emotions. The meditation he was taught consisted of focusing on breathing. With training, the mind wanders less down negative habitual routes. So in addition to his CBM training, Dr Moseley decided to do 7 weeks of daily mindfulness meditation.

How does our personality come about? Is it nature or nurture? Professor Tim Spector (King’s College London) has studied identical twins for over 20 years. He believes that 40-50% of personality is based on genetics. His study of discordant twins has revealed that genes can change through life! This is the fascinating field of epigenetics. Genes can be switched on or off by stressful life events. If they can change in one direction they can change in the other, which means we can regain control of our genes!

Professor Michael Meaney’s (McGill University) studies on mice have demonstrated that the effect of good maternal care (more contact, licking) protects rats from anxiety by modifying genes and these changes are transmitted through generations. The hippocampus controls stress, emotion and memory. Better mothering increases glucocorticoid receptors in this part of the brain.

After 7 weeks of CBM and mindfulness meditation Dr Moseley confessed he was sleeping better than he had in the last 10 years! He repeated the tests and measurements with professor Fox and found that he now had less than 2 times more activity in the right frontal cortex than the left. The activity in the right frontal cortex was half of what it previously was. His reaction time was now better when preceded by a happy face than an angry face, which suggested he may be noticing more of the positive in his daily life.

Meditation Decreases Anxiety

It has been known for ages that meditation can decrease anxiety but until now the brain regions involved in the process have remained a mystery. Fadel Zeidan from the Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center has recently shed some light on the process. They selected 15 healthy volunteers with no history of meditation or anxiety disorders. The volunteers took four 20 min classes to learn mindfulness meditation. They were taught to focus on breathing and body sensations and non-judgementally assess distracting thoughts and emotions. Anxiety reports and MRI scans were taken before and after the meditation training course. The majority of the subjects displayed a decrease in anxiety of around 40% following meditation. During meditation, the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (controls worrying) and anterior cingulate cortex (controls thinking and emotion) were found to be more active and led to decreased anxiety.

Zeidan commented,  “Mindfulness is premised on sustaining attention in the present moment and controlling the way we react to daily thoughts and feelings. Interestingly, the present findings reveal that the brain regions associated with meditation-related anxiety relief are remarkably consistent with the principles of being mindful.” In short, if we focus on our breathing and body sensations in the present, it inhibits our ability to worry about imaginary problems in the future.

Yoga Improves Brain Function More Than Aerobic Exercise

A team of researchers led by Professor Neha Gothe from the University of Illinois recently studied the effects of yoga on mental function. Their subjects performed 3 different sessions:

• A 20-minute Hatha yoga session with progressions from sitting to standing and then lying in a meditative position whilst focussing on breathing
• A 20-minute aerobic work-out on an inclined treadmill with participants working at 60-70% of their maximum heart rate
• A baseline assessment

They found that mental performance after yoga was significantly better for both inhibition and working memory tasks (ie. shorter reaction times, increased accuracy) than after aerobic exercise and after baseline measurements.

Prof Gothe commented that, “The breathing and meditative exercises aim at calming the mind and body and keeping distracting thoughts away while you focus on your body, posture or breath. Maybe these processes translate beyond yoga practice when you try to perform mental tasks or day-to-day activities.”

Meditation Increases Blood Flow To The Brain

Recent research has shown that mantra-based meditation increases cerebral blood flow. An improvement in attention, emotional state and memory was also noted. Therefore, it’s likely that people with cognitive impairments or memory loss will benefit from meditation.