Premium
P1‐104: Meditation and Alzheimer's prevention: The forgotten factor
Author(s) -
Khalsa Dharma
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
alzheimer's and dementia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.713
H-Index - 118
eISSN - 1552-5279
pISSN - 1552-5260
DOI - 10.1016/j.jalz.2012.05.381
Subject(s) - meditation , transcendental meditation , relaxation (psychology) , population , mindfulness , cognition , psychology , medicine , depression (economics) , clinical psychology , psychotherapist , neuroscience , philosophy , theology , environmental health , economics , macroeconomics
Background: The prevalence of Alzheimer’s will increase dramatically as the population ages. Lifestyle modifications may have a preventive effect. One technique that has not received attention in the Alzheimer’s community is the practice of meditation. This presentation will provide a 60 year overview and recent studies on meditation and show why it is an important and as yet under-utilized tool for Alzheimer’s prevention. Methods: A 63 year review of the meditation literature will be presented. Starting with the Nobel Prize in 1949 given to Dr. Hess for revealing a “relaxation center” in the hypothalamus, through Benson’s work on the relaxation response and the brain strengthening studies on Transcendental Meditation and mindfulness to the most recent research on a simple 12 minute meditation called Kirtan Kriya. In the presentation SPECT scans and fMRI’s will be shown documenting the many cognitive enhancing improvements before and after meditation. The latest research on a novel 12 minute meditation memory exercise called Kirtan Kriya will be revealed including a 44% increase in telomere length. As the 2009 Nobel Prize was given for Dr. Blackburn’s work on telomeres this brings us full circle. Results:Meditation has been shown to: 1. Lower many risk factors for AD including Hypertension and depression. 2. Enhance cognitive function (MMSE and others). 3. Reverse memory loss in SCI and MCI. 4. Reduce cortisol levels. 5. Reduce stress. 6. Activate significant brain anatomical areas on scans. 7. Increase cortical thickness . 8. Improve depression scores. 9. Reduce inflammatory markers and down regulate inflammatory genes (NFkB + others). 10. Increse telomere length by 44%. 11. Improve outcomes in caregivers.Conclusions:Meditation leads to improved cognitive function accompanied by an increase in telomerase activity and increased telomere length (telomers are shotened in AD), reduced inflammatory markers, and reduction in many risk factors for AD from hypertension to depression. It is very cost effective. It is the forgotten factor in AD prevention. More studies are warranted.