Experienced Mindfulness Meditators Exhibit Higher Parietal-Occipital EEG Gamma Activity during NREM Sleep
Fabio Ferrarelli, Richard Smith, Daniela Dentico, Brady A. Riedner, Corinna Zennig, Ruth M. Benca, Antoine Lutz, Richard J. Davidson, Giulio Tononi
PLoS ONE August 28, 2013 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0073417 via OpenAlex
Summary
Long-term Buddhist meditators with about 8,700 mean lifetime hours of practice show increased gamma power (25-40 Hz) in parietal-occipital regions during non-rapid eye movement sleep compared to meditation-naive individuals. This increase is specific to gamma frequencies, unrelated to spontaneous arousal levels during NREM sleep, and positively correlated with the length of lifetime daily meditation practice. The findings indicate that meditation practice produces measurable changes in spontaneous brain activity and suggest that EEG gamma activity during sleep may serve as a sensitive marker of long-lasting plastic effects of meditative training on brain function.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Observational cohort Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Long-term meditators of Buddhist meditation practices and meditation-naive individuals |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Keywords | Electroencephalography Audiology Neuroscience Sleep system call |
| Citations | 125 |
| Key finding | Long-term meditators had increased parietal-occipital EEG gamma power (25-40 Hz) during NREM sleep, positively correlated with lifetime daily meditation practice. |
Abstract
Over the past several years meditation practice has gained increasing attention as a non-pharmacological intervention to provide health related benefits, from promoting general wellness to alleviating the symptoms of a variety of medical conditions. However, the effects of meditation training on brain activity still need to be fully characterized. Sleep provides a unique approach to explore the meditation-related plastic changes in brain function. In this study we performed sleep high-density electroencephalographic (hdEEG) recordings in long-term meditators (LTM) of Buddhist meditation practices (approximately 8700 mean hours of life practice) and meditation naive individuals. We found that LTM had increased parietal-occipital EEG gamma power during NREM sleep. This increase was specific for the gamma range (25-40 Hz), was not related to the level of spontaneous arousal during NREM and was positively correlated with the length of lifetime daily meditation practice. Altogether, these findings indicate that meditation practice produces measurable changes in spontaneous brain activity, and suggest that EEG gamma activity during sleep represents a sensitive measure of the long-lasting, plastic effects of meditative training on brain function.