PCC-hippocampal functional connectivity associated with stress biomarker changes after meditation training for healthy adults.
Neuroscience letters May 23, 2025 Diane Joss, Gunes Sevinc, John W Denninger et al. 1 citation
Among 94 chronically stressed but otherwise healthy adults randomized to eight weeks of meditation, yoga, or stress education, only the meditation group showed a significant reduction in resting-state functional connectivity between the posterior cingulate cortex and the left hippocampus. Changes in this brain connectivity were correlated with improvements in perceived stress, allostatic load, and anti-inflammatory gene expression, suggesting that meditation's neural effects are closely linked to physical wellness biomarkers. No such changes occurred in the yoga or stress education groups, indicating this neurobiological mechanism may be unique to meditation training.