Journal
BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES
Volume 12, Issue 2, Pages -Publisher
MDPI
DOI: 10.3390/bs12020048
Keywords
mindfulness; functional connectivity; cerebral blood flow; elderly; depression; brain
Categories
Funding
- Friends Foundation for the Aging
- Friends Foundation for the Aging is a Quaker foundation
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After participating in a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program, elderly adults showed altered cerebral blood flow and functional connectivity, similar to findings in younger populations in other meditation-related studies. These changes were associated with significant improvements in depression symptoms.
There is a growing interest in the potential beneficial effects of mindfulness meditation training in protecting against age-related physical, emotional, and cognitive decline. The current prospective, single-center, single-arm study investigated if functional magnetic resonance imaging-based changes in cerebral blood flow and brain functional connectivity could be observed in 11 elderly adults (mean age 79) after participation in a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program. The results showed significantly (p < 0.05) altered cerebral blood flow and functional connectivity in the cingulate gyrus, limbic structures, and subregions of the temporal and frontal lobes, similar to findings of other meditation-related studies in younger populations. Furthermore, these changes were also associated with significant improvements in depression symptoms. This study suggests that the MBSR program can potentially modify cerebral blood flow and connectivity in this population.
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