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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Feb 23, 2026

Parallel Measurement of Circadian Clock Gene Expression and Hormone Secretion in Human Primary Cell Cultures

Parallel Measurement of Circadian Clock Gene Expression and Hormone Secretion in Human Primary Cell Cultures

Published on: November 11, 2016

Epigenetic clock analysis in long-term meditators.

Raphaëlle Chaix¹, Maria Jesús Alvarez-López², Maud Fagny³

¹Eco-Anthropologie et Ethnobiologie, UMR 7206 CNRS, MNHN, Univ Paris Diderot, Sorbonne Paris Cité, France.

Psychoneuroendocrinology

|September 11, 2017

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Meditation practice may slow biological aging. Long-term meditators showed protection against epigenetic aging, unlike controls. This suggests meditation could be a strategy for age-related diseases.

Keywords:

Biological aging Blood Epigenetics Methylation Mindfulness Stress

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Combining Behavior and EEG to Study the Effects of Mindfulness Meditation on Episodic Memory

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Published on: May 11, 2020

Area of Science:

Epigenetics
Gerontology
Mind-Body Medicine

Background:

The epigenetic clock is a biomarker of biological aging.
Aging is associated with cumulative stress and chronic diseases.
Meditation's impact on biological aging is not well understood.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate if meditation practice influences the epigenetic clock.
To compare biological aging markers between long-term meditators and controls.
To explore the relationship between meditation duration and epigenetic age.

Main Methods:

Analysis of DNA methylome from blood cells using Illumina 450K array.
Estimation of Intrinsic Epigenetic Age Acceleration (IEAA) using Horvath's calculator.
Comparison of IEAA trajectories between meditators and meditation-naïve controls across age groups.

Main Results:

Intrinsic Epigenetic Age Acceleration (IEAA) was similar between groups initially.
Controls exhibited higher IEAA with increasing age, while meditators were protected.
A negative correlation was found between IEAA and years of meditation practice in the meditator group.

Conclusions:

Long-term meditation practice may slow the epigenetic clock.
Meditation could be a preventive strategy for age-related chronic diseases.
Further longitudinal studies are needed to confirm these findings.