{"id":14263,"date":"2019-09-12T17:57:37","date_gmt":"2019-09-12T17:57:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.healthymale.com\/squad\/?p=14263"},"modified":"2019-09-12T17:57:37","modified_gmt":"2019-09-12T17:57:37","slug":"meditation-may-boost-brain-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.healthymale.com\/blog\/meditation\/meditation-may-boost-brain-health\/","title":{"rendered":"Meditation May Boost Brain Health"},"content":{"rendered":"

Although there is no current treatment for Alzheimer\u2019s, new research seems to indicate that meditation may help mild cognitive impairment (MCI), which is the first step toward the disease.<\/span><\/p>\n

Symptoms of Mild Cognitive Impairment<\/b><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t worry if you\u2019re experiencing some memory issues; it\u2019s a normal part of aging. But MCI is beyond what physicians considered to be \u201cclinically normal\u201d for people in the same age group.<\/span><\/p>\n

Although your doctor can diagnose MCI using tests of memory, thinking and language, there are some symptoms you may notice on your own.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re finding that, compared to peers your age, you\u2019re having trouble remembering words, forgetting events or appointments, or frequently losing items, you may want to make an appointment to be evaluated.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A small study on meditation<\/b><\/p>\n

A team of scientists from Wake Forest Baptist Health recruited 14 participants to study the effects of mindfulness meditation on mild cognitive impairment. Led by Dr. Rebecca Erwin Wells, an associate professor of neurology, practicing neurologist and associate director of clinical research for Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center\u2019s Center for Integrative Medicine, the study included men and women between 55 and 90 who had a diagnosis of MCI.<\/span><\/p>\n

The volunteers were split into two groups. Group 1 participated in an 8-week course of mindfulness meditation and yoga and the control group went on the waiting list for the course.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The results indicated that the people who participated in mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) showed improved cognition. In particular, Group 1 experienced benefits to the hippocampus, which deal with learning and memory.<\/span><\/p>\n

The study supports previous research, which found that chronic stress can negatively affect the hippocampus and potentially increase the development of MCI and Alzheimer\u2019s.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cUntil treatment options that can prevent the progression to Alzheimer\u2019s are found, mindfulness meditation may help patients living with MCI,\u201d says Dr. Wells. \u201cOur study showed promising evidence that adults with MCI can learn to practice mindfulness meditation, and by doing so, many boost their cognitive reserve.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Although there is no current treatment for Alzheimer\u2019s, new research seems to indicate that meditation may help mild cognitive impairment (MCI), which is the first step toward the disease. Symptoms of Mild Cognitive Impairment Don\u2019t worry if you\u2019re experiencing some memory issues; it\u2019s a normal part of aging. But MCI is beyond what physicians considered […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[695],"tags":[696],"class_list":["post-14263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-meditation","tag-meditation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthymale.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthymale.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthymale.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthymale.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthymale.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14263"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthymale.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14263\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthymale.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthymale.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthymale.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}