Neuroscience: How Meditation Transforms Brain Biochemistry and Structure

Meditative practices can increase brain thickness and prevent thinning, potentially changing brain structure and chemistry at the cellular, genetic, and systemic levels.

Non-members can read this story for free here. I also published it for readers of Medium for easy access.

Image created by the author using WordPress AI generation tool on his website

Dear Readers,

I have been a bit quiet lately, busy working on exciting projects, including bringing on board some top-notch healthcare professionals as guest authors for my health and wellness newsletters. I am thrilled to share their expert insights with you soon.

In the meantime, I want to present a condensed version of a significant research piece I've been conducting over the last 30 years. This research has profoundly impacted my own health and well-being, and I’m eager to pass on what I’ve learned. Although I aimed to keep it concise, the complexity of the topic led to a longer read. Feel free to skim through if needed and focus on the key takeaways at the end—they are the heart of the message.

Though my background is rooted in technology and science, I am deeply drawn to metaphysics, mysticism, and spirituality — interests I explore for compelling reasons I have shared in previous stories.

After years of physical, mental, and emotional struggles in my younger life, I decided to become my own therapist. During my cognitive science studies, I learned that while we can’t directly observe the brain’s inner workings, advances in science and technology offer some insight into its structure, chemistry, and function. Yet, despite these breakthroughs, we still lack the ability to manipulate the brain directly.

We now understand that our thoughts, behaviors, and actions can indirectly improve brain function. This is where mindfulness and meditative practices become potent tools for boosting brain health, enhancing neurobiological performance, and sharpening cognitive function.

Through over three decades of mindfulness and meditation, I learned to leverage my thoughts, emotions, behaviors, and physical actions to positively impact the brain structure and improve cognitive abilities like working memory, procedural memory, attention, focus, task switching, intention, intuition, problem-solving, creativity, and decision-making.

I conducted countless experiments sensibly and methodically and even documented the distilled version of my convoluted and comprehensive mind gym in a story titled How I Train My Brain Daily for Mental Clarity and Intellectual Productivity, which went viral on multiple platforms due to its originality, authenticity, relatability, and memorability.

As a psychosomatic practice, meditation impacts more than just the mind; it has measurable effects on our neurobiology and overall spiritual and physical functioning. Studies I have reviewed suggest that meditation can even influence our genes, a topic I explored in a previous article. The genetic effects of meditation are a crucial part of my ongoing research, and I shall share more about these findings in future stories.

Despite facing challenges such as being banned from writing about my experiments in the UK and the US bulletin boards, I have been documenting the somatic experience of meditation since the early 1990s.

My recent story highlights how both science and metaphysics view meditation from a unified perspective. I have also covered practical steps to prevent cognitive decline and impairment, with meditation being a crucial practice for delaying mental deterioration and potentially extending both our lifespan and healthspan.

Why I wrote this critical story today with passion

In this short story, I want to distill my years of research into mindfulness and meditative practices and explain the mechanisms behind the physical effects of meditative practices on the brain at a high level, leveraging numerous insightful studies.

A growing body of knowledge sheds light on how meditation can reshape our brain’s structure and chemistry, which can delay the onset of dementia, which is a widespread neurodegenerative condition affecting the lives of millions with no cure yet.

Many studies related to mindfulness and meditative studies are scholarly, so it is very difficult for the public to comprehend them. Therefore, I want to keep my points relatable and down-to-earth by highlighting the role of neuroplasticity, where our brains can rewire and reorganize themselves based on our thoughts, emotions, experiences, and habits.

While the points discussed in this article are grounded in scientific research and theory, I have mainly used my decades of personal experience with meditation and observations of Zen masters in my circles to triangulate my empirical findings. To inform new readers, for many years, I have made meditation a consistent habit and lifestyle, practicing it thrice daily.

In earlier days, I was drawn to meditative practices after exploring their benefits in scholarly papers and clinical studies. Over time, I began to experience these positive effects firsthand, noticing how daily meditation improved various aspects of my life. Through these personal experiments, I have gained a deep appreciation for the transformative power of meditation and how it can enrich our daily lives and make us joyful and peaceful despite our challenges.

From a psychosomatic angle, a 2009 Study in Springer, titled The exploration of meditation in the neuroscience of attention and consciousness, informed that “meditation can be conceptualized as a family of complex emotional and attentional regulatory practices, in which mental and related somatic events are affected by engaging a specific attentional set.”

Researchers of the paper mentioned that “Many recent behavioral, electroencephalographic and neuroimaging studies have revealed the importance of investigating states and traits related to meditation to achieve an increased understanding of cognitive and affective neuroplasticity, attention and self-awareness for their possible clinical implications.”

Unlike previous wrong beliefs and claims, we now empirically know that the brain can grow at any age. Keeping it in growth mode by increasing BDNF, NGF, and other growth factors is an excellent way to delay the onset of neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer's disease by creating cognitive reserves.

My hypothesis is that The Brain Must Be in a Growth Mode to Prevent Neurological & Mental Health Issues. I will prove it one day with substantial empirical data. Stay tuned.

Without going into too many technical and scientific details, I want to provide a high-level overview of cortical thickness and thinning in the brain via neurobiological processes and share insights from the growing literature on meditation’s effects on the brain and the nervous system. First, I introduce meditation to those unfamiliar with the process at a very high level.

What Is Meditation and What It Is Not