How meditation speeds up the brain

Meditation apparently improves the connection between two networks in the brain: one activated as “standard mode” when the brain is awake and one not focusing on the outside world, for example when Daydream or when thoughts wander. The second is for focus and is used for tasks that require attention. Students who completed a course with meditation practice for only eight weeks showed a rapid change between these two networks, so that they could concentrate and “switch off” more quickly. The researchers reported this in the journal “Scientific Reports”.

Professor at Binghamton University in New York. “Tibetans have a word for ease of switching between states – they call it mental flexibility,” said Georg Wenschenk. He got this subject incidentally by the neighbor of his office, Prof. Weiying was found through Dai, who has personal contact with the Namgyal Monastery in Ithaca, where he was tutored by the Dalai Lama’s teachers and obtained a certificate in Buddhist studies.

Although Weinschenk initially suspected that the effects of meditation practice would be visible in the brain after just a few weeks, the two began a collaboration: midwives taught the students to meditate, and Weinschenck examined their brain activity with imaging methods. . In the next step, they now want to investigate how meditation affects brain activity in older people and those with Alzheimer’s disease.

What did I do 10.1038/S41598-021-90729-Y