Author: Dimitrios Zagkas¹, Flora Bacopoulou², Dimitrios Vlachakis³, George P Chrousos^4,5, Christina Darviri¹
Affiliation: 1 School of Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece. 2 Center for Adolescent Medicine and UNESCO Chair in Adolescent Health Care, First Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Aghia Sophia Children's Hospital, Athens, Greece. fbacopoulou@med.uoa.g. 3 Laboratory of Genetics, Department of Biotechnology, School of Applied Biology and Biotechnology, Agricultural University of Athens, Athens, Greece. 4 University Research Institute of Maternal and Child Health & Precision Medicine, Athens, Greece. 5 UNESCO Chair in Adolescent Health Care, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Aghia Sophia Children's Hospital, Athens, Greece.
Conference/Journal: Adv Exp Med Biol
Date published: 2023 Aug 16
Other: Volume ID: 1425 , Pages: 229-245 , Special Notes: doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-31986-0_22. , Word Count: 137

This article provides a systematic review of studies evaluating the effect of meditation on the Default Mode Network (DMN). The review was conducted according to PRISMA guidelines. A literature search of PubMed, Scopus, and Embase was conducted up to June 2020. Search terms included default mode network or DMN and meditation.A total of 306 articles were identified, of which 16 controlled trials with a total of 853 experienced (in Mindfulness, Samatha, Raja Yoga, Transcendental Meditation, Vipassana, Insight meditation Theravada tradition) and non-experienced mediators were finally included in this systematic review. The results showed that meditative interventions affect the operation of DMN and there are differences in functional connectivity between networks. Further research should be undertaken to establish meditation as an effective intervention strategy for well-being.

Keywords: DMN; Default mode network; Functional connectivity; Meditation; Mindfulness.

PMID: 37581797 DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-31986-0_22

How Does Meditation Affect the Default Mode Network: A Systematic Review