Meditation has long been associated with mental clarity and emotional well-being, but new research suggests it may also strengthen brain activity linked to healthy ageing.
A study by scientists at the Centre for Neuroscience at the Indian Institute of Science has found that long-term meditation practice enhances certain brain oscillations that typically weaken with age and neurological disorders.
Brain oscillations, commonly known as brain waves, are rhythmic electrical signals generated when neurons fire together.
Previous research has shown that meditation increases the strength of slower brain waves such as theta and alpha. More recently, scientists discovered that experienced meditators also exhibit higher activity in the gamma frequency range, which is associated with attention, perception and higher cognitive processing.
However, this gamma activity had previously been observed as a broad increase across frequencies rather than as a distinct rhythm. The new study sought to determine whether meditation also affects a more specific type of gamma activity known as stimulus-induced gamma oscillations.
To investigate this, researchers led by neuroscientist Supratim Ray partnered with practitioners of Brahma Kumaris Rajyoga meditation. Unlike many meditation techniques, Rajyoga is practiced with open eyes, allowing scientists to study brain responses to visual stimuli during meditation.
The team used Electroencephalography, a non-invasive method that records electrical activity in the brain. Participants were shown visual patterns such as black-and-white striped gratings, which are known to trigger narrowband gamma oscillations in the visual cortex.
Researchers compared brain activity in 30 experienced meditators, each with more than 10,000 hours of meditation practice, with 30 age and gender-matched non-meditators.
The results showed that meditators exhibited significantly stronger stimulus-induced gamma activity than the control group.
In addition, meditators displayed elevated broadband gamma activity across multiple brain regions, including the frontal, temporal and parietal areas. Interestingly, the two types of gamma signals appeared to operate independently, suggesting meditation may enhance multiple neural mechanisms at once.
The study also found that meditators had a steeper “aperiodic spectral slope,” a measure of neural activity that typically flattens with age. A steeper slope indicates stronger inhibitory brain circuitry, which plays a critical role in maintaining balanced neural activity.
Scientists say the findings suggest long-term meditation may reinforce neural dynamics that normally decline as people age.
This raises the possibility that sustained meditation practice could help build resilience against cognitive decline and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease.
