Abstract
Introduction: Various functional neuroimaging studies help to better understand the changes in brain activity during meditation. The purpose of this study was to investigate how brain energy metabolism changes during focused attention meditation (FAM) state, measured by phosphorous magnetic resonance spectroscopy (31P-MRS).Methods: 31P-MRS imaging was carried out in 27 participants after 7 weeks of FAM training. Metabolite ratios and the absolute values of metabolites were assessed after meditation training in two MRI measurements, by comparing effects in a FAM state with those in a distinct focused attention awake state during a backwards counting task.Results: The results showed decreased phosphocreatine/ATP (PCr/ATP), PCr/ inorganic phosphate (Pi), and intracellular pH values in the entire brain, but especially in basal ganglia, frontal lobes, and occipital lobes, and increased Pi/ATP ratio, cerebral Mg, and Pi absolute values were found in the same areas during FAM compared to the control focused attention awake state.Conclusions: Changes in the temporal areas and basal ganglia may be interpreted as a higher energetic state induced by meditation, whereas the frontal and occipital areas showed changes that may be related to a down-regulation in ATP turnover, energy state, and oxidative capacity.
Highlights
Various functional neuroimaging studies help to better understand the changes in brain activity during meditation
Higher Pi values during focused attention meditation state were found in the left hemisphere, the frontal brain, the right frontal lobe, and the left frontal lobe
Higher ATP values during focused attention meditation state were found in the entire brain, the left hemisphere, and the left occipital lobe; these results were not significant after correction for false discovery rate (FDR)
Summary
Various functional neuroimaging studies help to better understand the changes in brain activity during meditation. The purpose of this study was to investigate how brain energy metabolism changes during focused attention meditation (FAM) state, measured by phosphorous magnetic resonance spectroscopy (31P-MRS). Metabolite ratios and the absolute values of metabolites were assessed after meditation training in two MRI measurements, by comparing effects in a FAM state with those in a distinct focused attention awake state during a backwards counting task. Short-term intensive meditation was found to have positive effects on resilience, which is known to have prophylactic capabilities on psychiatric disorders (Kwak et al, 2019). Positive effects of this kind could be paving the path for future therapeutic strategies, for example, in depression and anxiety disorders (Hwang et al, 2017). FAM is a meditative technique where the meditators focus their attention on a specific target (e.g., breathing), trying to avoid external and internal distractions (Lutz et al, 2008; Yoshida et al, 2020)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary 
Published Version (
Free)
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call