6 Ways Meditation Rewires Your Brain for Greater Happiness and Intelligence
While peacefully sitting in your meditation, you may not be aware of all the changes your brain is going through in that moment. Scientific evidence backing the beneficial effects of meditation seems to be coming out daily. Brain research provides us with a better understanding of how meditation causes changes such as helping us focus better or changing our long-term levels of happiness.
Just as we can strengthen our muscles, we can improve brain performance. Meditation is like a gym for our brains - making them bigger, smarter, and faster. The more we put those neurons to use, the stronger they get!
When you practice finding that space of calm within, you’re lifting the neural “muscles” of calm. And because this helps release stress, your body now has more energy to function at peak levels. When your brain doesn’t have to worry about fighting a threat (often nowhere to be found but in your mind), it can run much smoother!
Let’s look at six ways that meditation changes the structure of your brain and enhances your well-being.
1. INCREASES FOCUS SO YOU CAN BE MORE EFFICIENT
Rather than working harder, meditation helps you work smarter! A study at the University of Massachusetts found that those who meditated by focusing their attention on their body or breath (insight meditation) had an increased thickness in the prefrontal cortex compared to the non-meditating control group.
The prefrontal cortex is the part of your brain associated with attention and executive functions. Do you struggle with focusing on one task at a time? Learning how to meditate can help you sharpen the skill of laser-focused attention so you can get things done more quickly and efficiently.
Meditation helps you practice the art of bringing your awareness to one object at the exclusion of everything else – whether it’s your breath, a bodily sensation, or a visualization. The more you do this, the more you are strengthening that muscle of attention.
2. STRENGTHENS CONNECTIONS BETWEEN YOUR LEFT AND RIGHT BRAIN
Was Einstein born with it...or was it mental training? When researchers examine the brains of the world’s greatest thinkers, they find a few similarities that could help explain their high levels of intelligence. One of them is the use of both brain hemispheres in a more holistic and integrated manner.
Meditation has been shown to strengthen the corpus callosum – the bridge between the right and left brain. Every time you meditate, you stimulate this bridge and allow for greater connections between the analytical and the creative parts of your brain. This can lead to new insights that allow you to see opportunities you otherwise would’ve missed. It could even help you come up with an idea that may propel humanity to new heights - you never know!
In addition to a stronger corpus callosum, some of the world’s greatest thinkers also have more density in their gray matter. And this too, can be increased!
3. INCREASES GRAY MATTER AND PROTECTS YOUR BRAIN FROM AGING
It’s been said that as we get older, the amount of gray matter in our brains decreases. Gray matter consists of large networks of neurons that help us process information and perform important mental and physical tasks. The less of it we have, the harder it is to think clearly and objectively. We may experience brain fog and diminished memory recall. Luckily, it doesn’t have to be this way.
After comparing brain scans of meditators and non-meditators, neuroscientists at Aarhus University in Denmark found that meditation caused physical changes in the brain that increased gray matter. Through meditation, you can protect your brain from the effects of aging.
And as a bonus - because meditation decreases stress (which accelerates aging), it also slows down aging in your body!
4. HELPS YOU MASTER SKILLS QUICKLY THROUGH MENTAL TRAINING
Getting better at a new skill or working towards a goal means you have to put in the effort. But not all of it has to be a physical effort. Mental training can increase your level of mastery without you having to spend so much time practicing a new skill.
In a fascinating study at Harvard Medical School, two groups practiced playing the piano every day for five days. One group actually touched the piano keys while the other group only practiced in their minds. The second group simply played those pieces of music in their head while imagining how exactly they would move their fingers.
Brain scans showed that the region of the motor cortex controlling the piano-playing fingers expanded in the group who only played the music in their minds – just as in those who actually played the piano! Because meditation can help you increase focus, you can use it to mentally practice whatever you are hoping to get better at.
5. SHRINKS THE FEAR CENTER IN YOUR BRAIN SO YOU FEEL LESS STRESS
While you’re feeling relaxed in your meditation, your brain is feeling calmer too! A study by the University of Massachusetts Center for Mindfulness examined the brains of participants who meditated and reported lower levels of stress afterward. Their brain scans showed a reduction in the part of the brain often correlated with fear, anxiety, and stress – the amygdala.
When you meditate, the “monkey mind” becomes quieter. As research at Yale University shows, this is because meditation decreases activity in the default mode network – the part of your brain associated with mind-wandering.
Worrying about the future or ruminating on our past is often the main reason we unintentionally cause ourselves extra stress. Learning to become more present helps us snap out of this stressful mental chatter faster as we notice that we have the power to change it.
6. REWIRES NEURAL PATHWAYS SO YOU CAN CULTIVATE HAPPINESS
Is it possible to change your general attitude toward life? Neuroscience says absolutely! Whether something wonderful or terrible happens in your life, you eventually return to the level of happiness you’re most used to. This is your happiness baseline.
As an example, think of someone you know who has everything they need to survive...somehow they still find ways to complain regardless of how good things get. Their baseline of happiness is relatively low. But this too, can be changed through mental training!
According to neuroscientist Richard Davidson, greater activity in the left prefrontal cortex (rather than the right) correlates with a higher baseline of contentment. This can be seen as a marker for the happiness baseline.
Davidson studied the brains of Buddhist monks who had trained in thousands of hours of meditation in comparison to a control group who just started meditating. When the monks focused on generating compassion, activity in the left prefrontal part of the brain was greater than in the right. When the control group did the same, the activity in both sides of the cortex did not show any changes. What this revealed is that the conscious decision to think certain thoughts can change brain activity enough to help us cultivate positive mental states at will.
TRAIN YOUR BRAIN WITH MEDITATION
When you take good care of your brain by keeping it strong through meditation, you are doing wonders for your mental health. You may notice that you become happier, more focused, and more optimistic with less stress, anxiety, insomnia, or depression. The benefits of meditation add up over time as you practice training your brain daily.
Need help learning how to meditate or committing to your meditation practice?
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