Epigenetic clock analysis in long-term meditators

Abstract

In this paper, we examined whether meditation practice influences the epigenetic clock, a strong and reproducible biomarker of biological aging, which is accelerated by cumulative lifetime stress and with age-related chronic diseases. Using the Illumina 450K array platform, we analyzed the DNA methylome from blood cells of long-term meditators and meditation-naïve controls to estimate their Intrinsic Epigenetic Age Acceleration (IEAA), using Horvath's calculator. IEAA was similar in both groups. However, controls showed a different IEAA trajectory with aging than meditators: older controls (age≥52) had significantly higher IEAAs compared with younger controls (age <52), while meditators were protected from this epigenetic aging effect. Notably, in the meditation group, we found a significant negative correlation between IEAA and the number of years of regular meditation practice. From our results, we hypothesize that the cumulative effects of a regular meditation practice may, in the long-term, help to slow the epigenetic clock and could represent a useful preventive strategy for age-related chronic diseases. Longitudinal randomized controlled trials in larger cohorts are warranted to confirm and further characterize these findings.

Keywords: Biological aging; Blood; Epigenetics; Methylation; Mindfulness; Stress.

Fig. 1

(A) DNA methylation age (DNAm) correlation with chronological age by group and sex (B–D) Violin plots showing Intrinsic epigenetic age acceleration (IEAA) measured in (C) meditators and controls, (D) controls aged less than 52 and controls aged 52 and over and (E) meditators aged less than 52 and meditators aged 52 and over. (E–G) IEAA regressed on years of meditation practice in (F) the meditators’ group, (G) subjects aged less than 52, (H) subjects aged 52 and over. P-value for figure A indicates the significance level of the correlation and p-values for figures B–D are extracted from the linear models presented in Table 1. In Figs. 1G and H, the years of meditation practice was set to zero for controls. In Fig. 1H, the regression line for men is not traced because of their limited number. In the violin plots (Figures B–D), the white dot is the median, the thick vertical line corresponds to the interquartile range and the thin vertical line to the 95% confidence interval. The bulge corresponds to the kernel density estimation to show the distribution shape of the data. Wider sections of the violin plot represent a higher probability that the samples will have a given IEAA value, the skinnier sections represent a lower probability.