If we want to develop bigger muscles and stronger bones, there are hundreds of exercises and dietary supplements that help us achieve our goal. But what if what we want isincrease the size of our brain? Scientists at the University of California (UCLA) have just shown that it is also possible by resorting to themeditation.
To reach this conclusion, they analyzed the brains of 44 subjects, half of whom had been practicing meditation for 10 to 90 minutes a day for between 5 and 46 years. The rest had never meditated. Comparing the “portraits” of their brains obtained byhigh resolution MRIIn three dimensions, the researcher Eileen Luders and her team have shown that people who have been meditating for several years have certain regions of the brain that are larger than the rest of the population, specifically the hippocampus and areas of the orbitofrontal cortex, the thalamus, and the inferior temporal gyrus. These regions play an important role in theregulation of emotions. “We all know that people who practice meditation have a special ability to cultivate positive emotions and maintain emotional stability,” says Luders in the magazineNeuroImage. The new study, he adds, confirms that there are “differences in brain anatomy that explain these abilities.”
What is not yet clear is how these differences translate at the microscopic level. In other words, if there are a greater number of neurons, or larger neurons, or a different network of neuronal connections in the areas with enlargement. Finding out will be the next challenge, Luders anticipates.
E.Sanz
