A team led by Harvard-affiliated researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital demonstrated that meditation builds brain cells and increases gray matter in the brain. The researchers used magnetic imaging (MRI), and found that meditation produced physiological changes in the brain’s gray matter.
They noticed thickening in some areas of the participants’ brains after only eight weeks of meditation. This research was published in 2011 and it was the first documented proof that meditation can cause physical changes to the brain.
This research was funded by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine of the NIH. The participants in the research spent eight weeks doing a mindfulness meditation program. During the trial, the participants listened to audio recordings of guided meditation for an average of 27 minutes a day.
