Time Online recently published an article on “How to Get Smarter, One Breath at a Time”. It focuses on the benefits of meditation on cognitive abilities, particularly through alteration of the brain’s structure and function. It cites the work of Dr. Sara Lazar (Instructor of Psychology at MGH), which I assume is her publication in Neuroreport (2005 Nov 28;16:1893-7). Partly based on her findings of greater cortical thickness in the meditation group versus the controls, the Time article extrapolates that meditation can promote cognitive function.

Although I do not dispute the benefits of meditation or the results of the study, there are several thoughts to consider. As a caveat, twenty study participants may be adequate for a preliminary report, but the population pool would have to be larger to be more relevant and to increase the power of the study. Many confounding factors are possible, including educational backgrounds and “academic” inclinations of the individuals. I am not talking about achieved educational levels (i.e., high school drop-out or college graduate). The diversity of learning aptitude or motivation varies immensely at all levels of education. Even in medicine, some M.D.s “are more equal than others”.

I realize that the concepts of neuronal plasticity and possibly neuronal growth/regeneration are gaining acceptance in the neuroscience community. I nevertheless wonder whether the increased cortical thickness of the meditation participants may be less a function of cortical growth (which Dr. Lazar does not necessarily imply), but more due to reduction in the rate of natural–or stress-induced–atrophy. Stress has been demonstrated to affect neuronal signaling in the hippocampus (memory) and prefrontal cortex (executive functions). Moreover, I vaguely recall a study I read several years ago that compared exam performances between a group that listened to classical music beforehand to another group that didn’t. Guess who scored higher?

So, the question remains … must I meditate or can I just relieve my stress through basketball?