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Meditation and successful aging: can meditative practices counteract age-related cognitive decline?

Geriatrie et psychologie neuropsychiatrie du vieillissement
January 1, 1970
Marco Sperduti et al. (4 authors)
Journal ArticleReviewHuman Study
Study Details

Study Goal

The researchers aimed to explore whether meditation could counteract the negative cognitive effects of aging and support healthier aging.

Results Summary

The study reports encouraging results for meditation's positive effects on cognitive functions like attention, executive functions, and memory in older adults, but notes methodological limitations prevent definitive conclusions.

Population

Older adults (gerontology focus)

Effective Dosage

Not specified

Duration

Not specified

Interactions

None mentioned

Extracted Claims (4)
InterventionDirectionEndpointPopulationDosageImpactClaim #
Meditation
decrease
negative effects of aging
-
-
could be a promising intervention in contrasting the negative effects of aging
#1
Meditation
increase
cognitive efficiency
young adults
-
has been shown to enhance cognitive efficiency
#2
Meditation
increase
attention and executive functions
young adults
-
enhance cognitive efficiency in several domains, such as attention and executive functions
#3
Meditation
increase
attention, executive functions and memory
old participants
-
reporting encouraging results in a large panel of cognitive functions, such as: attention, executive functions and memory
#4
Abstract

Life expectancy is constantly increasing in the developed countries due to medical, hygiene and socio-economic advances. Unfortunately, a longer life not always corresponds to a healthier life. Indeed, aging is associated with growing risk factors for illness associated with societal conditions (isolation, maltreatment), and neurodegenerative diseases. Even normal aging is associated with a cognitive decline that can hinder independence and quality of life of elderly. Thus, one major societal challenge is to build policies that support people of all ages to maintain a maximum health and functional capacity throughout their lives. Meditation could be a promising intervention in contrasting the negative effects of aging. Indeed, it has been shown to enhance cognitive efficiency in several domains, such as attention and executive functions in young adults. Nevertheless, whether these effects extend to old participants is still a matter of debate. Few studies have directly investigated this issue, reporting encouraging results in a large panel of cognitive functions, such as: attention, executive functions and memory. However, a final conclusion about the causal role of meditation and the generalization of these results is made difficult due to several methodological limitations. We propose a roadmap for future studies to pass these limitations with the hope that the present work would contribute to the development of the young research field of meditation in gerontology.

Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)
AgedAged, 80 and overAgingCognitionHealth BehaviorHumansMeditation
Study Links
Quality Scores
SafetyNot Assessed
Efficacy65/10
Quality70/10
Citation Metrics
Total Citations8
Citations/Year1.0
Relative Citation Ratio0.55
NIH Percentile29.8%
Research Impact Scores
APT Score0.25
Weight Score1.50
Normalized Score0.60
Related Supplements
Meditation and successful aging: can meditative practices co... | Panacea Index