Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2-14-2022
Abstract
There is a growing interest in the potential beneficial effects of mindfulness meditation training in protecting against age-related physical, emotional, and cognitive decline. The current prospective, single-center, single-arm study investigated if functional magnetic resonance imaging-based changes in cerebral blood flow and brain functional connectivity could be observed in 11 elderly adults (mean age 79) after participation in a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program. The results showed significantly (p < 0.05) altered cerebral blood flow and functional connectivity in the cingulate gyrus, limbic structures, and subregions of the temporal and frontal lobes, similar to findings of other meditation-related studies in younger populations. Furthermore, these changes were also associated with significant improvements in depression symptoms. This study suggests that the MBSR program can potentially modify cerebral blood flow and connectivity in this population.
Recommended Citation
Moss, Aleeze Sattar; Reibel, Diane K.; Wintering, Nancy; Vedaei, Faezeh; Porter, Hannah; Khosravi, Mohsen; Heholt, Justin; Alizadeh, M.; Mohamed, Feroze; and Newberg, Andrew B., "Cerebral Blood Flow and Brain Functional Connectivity Changes in Older Adults Participating in a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Program" (2022). Department of Radiology Faculty Papers. Paper 120.
https://jdc.jefferson.edu/radiologyfp/120
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
PubMed ID
35200299
Language
English
Comments
This article is the author’s final published version in Behavioral Sciences, Volume 12, Issue 2, February 2022, Article number 48.
The published version is available at https://doi.org/10.3390/bs12020048. Copyright © Moss et al.