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How Meditation Can Keep Your Brain Young

Most people would agree, if there was a way to stop, or reverse, the aging process and to stay young forever, they would probably take it. However, there is no real proven way to keep yourself young as time passes on. While you may not be able to actually stop the aging process, there are things that you can do in order to keep the brain young, sharp and active—and it is surprisingly simple. This can actually be done with regular meditation.

While it may seem too good to be true, there are actually numerous studies that back these claims, proving that with regular, disciplined meditation, you may actually be able to slow down natural aging on the brain and keep it young and sharp.

The Brain Ages Younger Than You May Think

Most people don’t really start noticing most of the effects of aging until later on in their lives. However, your brain actually starts to age pretty early on. Studies on the effects of aging on the brain have actually found that the brain starts to show the side effects of aging when people are in their mid-to-late 20s. During this time, the brain starts to actually lose both volume and weight.

What Does Meditation Do?

Researchers from UCLA actually found that individuals who practice meditation regularly, actually have less age-related degradation in the white matter of their brain. The positive effects of meditation apply despite the age of the individual who is meditation, meaning you can start meditating now, no matter your age and slow down that aging process.

In fact, research suggests that meditating for just a few minutes per day can actually make your brain 7.5 years younger on average—those are some pretty impressive results.  The best thing about meditating? There is no wrong way to do it, it is a deeply personal process and one that virtually anyone can do.

How to Start Meditating To Keep Your Brain Young

One of the best things about using meditation to keep the brain young is that it is easy, it doesn’t take a lot of time and it doesn’t come with any wacky side effects like some anti-aging procedures do. Plus, in addition to helping keep your brain young, meditation can help with stress, motivation, anxiety, focus and comes with numerous side effects that have been helping people for hundreds and hundreds of years.

If you aren’t familiar with this practice, there is no need to worry, it is extremely easy. Here is how you can get started.

  • Sit in a quiet, comfortable place.
  • Take a deep breath in, focusing on the air moving up and through your body.
  • Let your mind relax and unwind and keep taking deep breaths in. Every time your mind starts to wander, refocus on your breath.
  • Keep doing this for 10-15 minutes per day and start seeing the effects.

The point of meditation is not to think about anything specific, but to focus on your breath and on the simplicity that comes with this practice.  Let your thoughts, emotions and feelings flow during this process, but do not judge or focus any additional attention on them.

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