Meditation and spiritual fitness are key components in reducing the risk of Alzheimer’s disease according to a new article, “Stress, Meditation, and Alzheimer’s Prevention: Where the Evidence Stands,” published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.

The article reviews decades of research into the impact various meditation techniques have had on the prevention of Alzheimer’s disease, including one evidence-based practice known as Kirtan Kriya (KK). This meditation technique has been successfully used to improve memory in studies of people with subjective cognitive decline and mild cognitive impairment, according to article author Dharma Singh Khalsa, M.D., president and medical director of the Alzheimer’s Research and Prevention Foundation and a clinical associate professor of integrative medicine at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine.

“We’ve been studying the impact of meditation on memory for more than 20 years, and are as encouraged as we’ve ever been on its powerful role in maximizing brain health,” said Khalsa. “Science is showing that meditation and spiritual fitness can be an important dimension in battling Alzheimer’s, and Kirtan Kriya is a safe, affordable, fast, and effective way to keep the brain spiritually fit.”

The principles and practices of this 12-minute meditation, with corresponding SPECT scans show how it successfully activates the posterior cingulate gyrus, an important region of the brain that helps regulate memory and emotional function. Other associated benefits of the practice include, a diminished loss of brain volume with age, significantly lower levels of depressive symptoms, and greater improvement of mental health, well-being and memory.