Possible Anti-Aging and Anti-Stress Effects of Long-Term Transcendental Meditation Practice: Differences in Gene Expression, EEG Correlates of Cognitive Function, and Hair Steroids.
Biomolecules February 20, 2025 Supaya Wenuganen, Kenneth G Walton, Frederick T Travis et al. 2 citations
Long-term Transcendental Meditation practice is associated with reduced biomarkers of chronic stress and biological aging. In a comparison of older long-term meditators (average 40 years of practice) with age-matched non-meditators, 7 of 13 genes that were more highly expressed in older controls showed lower expression in the older meditators. Older meditators also scored higher on a brain integration scale and had shorter event-related potential latencies—indicating faster cognitive processing—than age-matched controls, with latencies no longer than those of young non-meditators. Hair cortisol levels were lower in meditators than in matched controls, suggesting lower cumulative stress exposure.