Gaël Chétalat
Cyceron Public Interest Group, Caen
Équipe Neuroprésage
Inserm
Title
Can Meditation Reduce Psychoaffective Risk and Promote Healthy Brain Aging? Evidence from the Medit-Ageing Trials ?
Abstract
Late-life psychoaffective factors such as anxiety, depression, loneliness, and low well-being are increasingly recognized as modifiable contributors to brain aging and Alzheimer’s disease risk. The Medit-Ageing model proposes that mindfulness- and compassion-based meditation may exert a dual impact by reducing negative psychoaffective burden and strengthening positive psychological resources, with potential downstream effects on cognition, brain function, and biomarkers of aging.We will present results from the Medit-Ageing program, including two Inserm-sponsored randomized controlled trials. SCD-Well tested an 8-week meditation intervention versus health education in 147 older adults with subjective cognitive decline. Age-Well combined an 18-month three-arm trial in 137 cognitively unimpaired older adults (meditation, foreign-language training, passive control) with a cross-sectional study of 25 expert meditators, using behavioral, blood, sleep, and multimodal neuroimaging measures. Across studies, meditation consistently improved psychoaffective outcomes such as well-being, quality of life, compassion, socio-emotional regulation, and attention, relative to active and passive controls. Effects on cognition and biological markers were more modest, while imaging analyses suggested subtle effects on perfusion and dynamic functional connectivity. In expert meditators, long-term practice was associated with a younger brain-age index and more resilient connectivity. Overall, these findings support contemplative training as a feasible intervention in late life and highlight psychoaffective regulation as a promising target for healthy brain aging and dementia prevention.
Biosketch
Gaël Chételat, PhD, is an Inserm Research Director and co-head of the Inserm UA20 NEUROPRESAGE unit in Caen (UNICAEN / GIP Cyceron), where she leads research on brain vulnerability and resilience across the lifespan, with a particular focus on ageing and Alzheimer’s disease. Recently promoted to the prestigious Inserm rank of Directrice de Recherche de Classe Exceptionnelle (DRCE), she investigates the mechanisms underlying cognitive decline and dementia, with the goal of identifying modifiable factors and interventions to prevent or delay age-related brain disorders.
Over the past 25 years, Dr. Chételat has developed internationally recognized expertise in multimodal neuroimaging, particularly MRI and PET, combined with neuropsychology, blood biomarkers, and computational approaches. Her work has advanced the understanding of early disease mechanisms, biomarker development, and personalized risk stratification in ageing and dementia. She has coordinated several major national and international clinical research programs, including IMAP/IMAP+ and the European Medit-Ageing project, and co-founded EU-MIND, a biennial European meeting on neuroimaging in neurodegenerative diseases promoting collaboration and scientific exchange across Europe.
Dr. Chételat has authored more than 280 scientific publications, including in The Lancet Neurology, JAMA Neurology, and Alzheimer’s & Dementia. Throughout her career, she has received prestigious awards for her scientific contributions, including the De Leon Prize in Neuroimaging (Alzheimer’s Association, 2012) and the Scientific Award of the Fondation pour la Recherche Médicale (2021). She is also committed to mentoring early-career researchers, fostering scientific communities, and advancing the translation of research into clinical practice and society.
