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Meditation benefits the brain, scientifically proven
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
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People who meditate regularly can learn to "switch off" parts of the brain associated with daydreaming, anxiety, schizophrenia and mental disorders, according to scientists from Yale University.
Studies of the brains of experienced meditators have shown less activity in a center known as the "default mode," which is associated largely with self-centered thinking. The scientists suggest that by controlling and suppressing, or "tuning in," the "I" thought, meditators develop a new default mode that comes to dominate the center.
A report of their findings is due to be published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Meditation can help with a variety of health issues, from quitting smoking to fighting cancer to preventing psoriasis, scientists say. For this study, they further explored the neurological mechanisms that may be involved.
Lead author Judson A. Brewer, an associate professor of psychiatry at Yale University, and colleagues performed fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) brain scans on both novice and experienced meditators during three different forms of meditation.
Scientists found that experienced meditators, regardless of the type of meditation, were able to turn off the default mode network, which has been linked to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and anxiety.
This part of the brain, which includes the medial prefrontal and posterior cingulate cortex, is where beta-amyloid plaques accumulate in Alzheimer's disease.
The researchers also found that when the default mode was activated in experienced meditators, other parts of the brain associated with self-control and cognitive control were also active. This was not the case in novices.
MRI scans showed that the brain activity of experienced meditators during meditation was the same as during rest or when performing any activity.
So the researchers concluded that perhaps experienced meditators have developed a new default mode that focuses more on the present than on themselves.
The study appears to have uncovered some clues about the neural mechanisms underlying the development of mental illness. By understanding more about them, we hope to study a variety of illnesses, Brewer said.
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