Link to summary on sciencedaily.com:
Seven-year follow-up shows lasting cognitive gains from meditation
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/04/180405093257.htm

Link to actual published study:

Cognitive Aging and Long-Term Maintenance of Attentional Improvements Following Meditation Training
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs41465-018-0068-1

This study is the first of its kind in that it undertakes a long-term study of the effects of meditation on a person’s cognitive state throughout a period of seven years. 

The study followed 60 people experienced in meditation who attended three-month meditation retreats while receiving instruction in meditation techniques from a Buddhist scholar. The retreats involved group meditations twice daily, with individual practice for about six hours a day. 
 
Dubbed “The Shamatha Project”, its scope is broader than any other study in this field. The study has not only drawn the attention of scientists, but of Buddhist scholars as well - the Dalai Lama has endorsed the project. 

The participants were observed to show improvements in the ability to focus attention and handle stressful situations immediately after the meditation retreats. Meditators also reported an increased feeling of general well-being at this time. Researchers also followed up with participants six months later, and then again at eighteen months, and then again at 7 years after the meditation retreats. 

The study shows that the gains that were observed just after the retreats, in terms of attention and focus, were partly retained seven years later. Of the 40 participants who still responded after seven years, this effect was even more pronounced in older participants who had maintained a regular meditation practice over this time period. Quoting from the article, “Compared to those who practiced (meditation) less, these participants maintained cognitive gains and did not show typical patterns of age-related decline in sustained attention.” 

It was also seen that the benefits from meditation seemed to have leveled off after the retreats, even in those who practiced the most. This noteworthy observation induced one researcher (Anthony Zanesco) to say, “This could have implications for how much meditation can, in fact, influence human cognition and the working of the brain.”

This kind of study really excites me, as it is literally the synthesis of science and religion. And to no one’s particular surprise, everybody wins! To me, this kind of cooperation between previously separate (and at times, completely antagonistic) fields of knowledge is exactly what both need to not only survive, but grow in the healthiest ways possible. Science can and should be tempered with the spiritual, and the spiritual can and should be tempered with science. In my opinion, both have been stagnant for a long time, and this is just the kind of catalyst that can bring so many good things to us, such as brand new fields of study. 

I do have some questions regarding the study that I hope are also in the minds of those to conducted it:

1. If cognitive improvements were had by older participants who meditated regularly, what kinds of implications could this have for Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia? 
2. If scientifically observable improvements in coping with stress, attention, and general well-being can happen after 3 months of intensive meditation, what kind of progress could a human being make if they practiced for 6 months? A year? Obviously, one could speculate a great deal here, and it makes me wonder what kinds of achievements have been made by reclusive meditators down through history - monks, hermits, holy men of all creeds and religions. 
3. Children’s minds are very elastic, as we all know. If we can observe these kinds of improvements in older people, what would our society be like if we taught our children to meditate regularly?