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Plastic Changes in the White Matter Induced by Templestay, a 4-Day Intensive Mindfulness Meditation Program

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Abstract

Objectives

Further explorations are needed to determine how behavioral-lifestyle changes of various types influence neural plasticity in the white matter (WM); in particular, little is known about the influence of one’s self-discipline on changes in WM. A retreat program called Templestay follows the self-discipline practices used by Buddhist monks for 3 nights and 4 days; this program mainly involves meditation and other forms of behavioral-lifestyle modifications. In this study, we explored how neural plasticity occurs in WM structures in response to a relatively short retreat program.

Methods

We designed a longitudinal study that investigates WM neural plasticity over the course of Templestay. The Templestay group experienced the daily life of Buddhist practitioners, whereas the control group only participated in a retreat program at the same temple. Diffusion tensor imaging data were acquired before and after the Templestay program to investigate neural plasticity in the WM. We examined changes in the fractional anisotropy maps.

Results

We observed significant changes in the fractional anisotropy maps at the left superior longitudinal fasciculus, left posterior corona radiata, and splenium of the corpus callosum after 4 days of Templestay. Based on the results of our study, a 4-day meditation period in combination with behavioral-lifestyle modifications facilitates WM myelination in regions important for cognitive functions.

Conclusions

These results provide evidence of very rapid structural remodeling of the WM, suggesting that activity-dependent changes in myelination are induced by Templestay, a relatively understudied self-discipline program that includes behavioral-lifestyle modifications.

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Data Availability Statement

All data are available at the Open Science Framework (https://osf.io/2x5wg/).

Funding

This study was supported by the Brain Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea, funded by the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (Grant No. 2017M3C7A1029610; Grant No. 2016R1E1A1A02921618).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Seoul National University College of Natural Sciences, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Youngwoo Bryan Yoon, Dahye Bae, Seoyeon Kwak, Wu Jeong Hwang, Kang Ik K. Cho & Jun Soo Kwon

  2. Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, 63110, USA

    Youngwoo Bryan Yoon

  3. Institute of Human Behavioral Medicine, SNU-MRC, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Kang Ik K. Cho & Tae Young Lee

  4. Department of Psychiatry, National Institute of Forensic Psychiatry, Ministry of Justice, Gongju, -si, Chungcheongnam-do, Republic of Korea

    Kyung-Ok Lim

  5. Department of Psychiatry, Seoul National University College of Medicine, 101 Daehak-no, Chongno-gu, Seoul, 110-744, Republic of Korea

    Hye Yoon Park & Jun Soo Kwon

  6. Department of Psychiatry, SMC- Seoul Medical Center, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Sung Nyun Kim

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Contributions

YBY and DB: analyzed the data and wrote the manuscript. SK, WJH, and KKC: acquired the MRI data. TYL and SNK: collaborated in recruitment and study procedures. KYL and HYP: participated in theoretical development. JSK: collaborated in the writing and editing of the final manuscript. YBY and DB contributed equally to this work. All authors approved the final version of the manuscript for submission.

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Correspondence to Jun Soo Kwon.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. The present study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of Seoul National University Hospital.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Yoon, Y.B., Bae, D., Kwak, S. et al. Plastic Changes in the White Matter Induced by Templestay, a 4-Day Intensive Mindfulness Meditation Program. Mindfulness 10, 2294–2301 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-019-01199-3

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