Thursday, December 26, 2013

The Neurobiology of Mindfulness

Mindfulness and meditation are the practices of putting our attention where we want it, and of cultivating greater awareness of our physical body sensations, and of the nature of our thoughts and emotions. A recent review article on the neurobiology of meditation discusses how meditation causes changes in the brain both in the moment a person is meditating, as well as long-lasting changes in the physical structure of the brain as a result of the strengthening of neural connections in specific areas. Unsurprisingly, these changes occur in the areas of the brain that relate to attention and memory, interoception (the process of looking inwards at our internal states and understanding them), sensory processing, and self-regulation (exerting control over our emotions and behaviors).

The review article further explains that practices of mindfulness and meditation have molecular effects on the body. These practices lead to increases in dopamine, a neurotransmitter that triggers motivation and feelings of pleasure, and melatonin, which plays an important role in regulating sleep. Mindfulness meditation is also associated with modulated levels of seratonin, a neurotransmitter that, among a number of things, helps to regulate mood and emotion. The practices are also associated with decreased levels of the stress hormones cortisol and norepinephrine. Together, these molecular changes can have a big impact on helping us feel calmer and less stressed, sleep better, and have improved physical health.

Keryn Breiterman-Loader

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Mindfulness: Feel Good about Eating

Though most of us don't have a clinical eating disorder, we may experience a kind of disordered eating. We may not binge to extreme levels, but we might eat in response to feeling stressed, rather than just in response to hunger. We may not be anorexic, but sometimes we might get obsessive over calories, fat, or carbs. Especially as the holiday season is upon us, maintaining a healthy relationship with our food can keep us feeling happy and healthy.

A new study out of Australia investigated the relationship between mindfulness and symptoms of disordered eating. The study asked 159 exercisers about both their exercising and eating behavior. Results indicate that yoga practice was associated with significantly fewer symptoms of disordered eating, while cardiovascular exercise was associated with greater eating disturbance. Upon further investigation, researchers discovered that the relationship between yoga and healthy eating was actually explained by differences in participants’ levels of trait mindfulness and body awareness.Thus, it is mindfulness that contributes to a more healthy relationship with food and eating.

Keryn Breiterman-Loader

Thursday, December 5, 2013

Mindfulness Training Decreases Mind Wandering

It is the nature of the mind to think, to make associations, and to wander. Though mind wandering is natural, and may have some benefits, it can also act as a hurdle to our focus and attention. Being able to focus and sustain our attention is important for allowing us to accomplish our important goals, to really listen to others, or to simply be present with ourselves and our surroundings and spend less time in our heads. Is it possible for us to train our minds to be more focused and less distractible? Recent research suggests the answer may be yes.

A couple studies at our very own University of Miami indicate that mindfulness training can help us reduce our mind wandering. In the first study, a group of participants were tested on their level of mind wandering and ability to focus before and after a one month mindfulness training retreat. Their scores were then compared to a control group, who was also tested twice, one month apart with no training. Results indicated that at baseline, the two groups didn’t differ in their levels of mind wandering, however the group who went on the retreat scored significantly better than the control group at the end of the month. In a second study, participants were randomly assigned to either an 8-week mindfulness training course, or an 8-week nutrition and health course and were tested on mind wandering both before and after the trainings. Similar to the first study, there was no difference in the groups’ baseline scores, but those who completed the mindfulness course scored significantly better than those in the nutrition and health class. Taken together, these two studies suggest that mindfulness training can actually improve our sustained attention and decrease our distractibility.

Keryn Breiterman-Loader

Thursday, November 21, 2013

Mindfulness Helps Reduce Sadness

Sometimes, humans get swallowed up by negative emotions to a point that is unhelpful in letting us move forward with our lives, and which keeps us from feeling calm or joy. The study of emotion regulation investigates how we can best manage these negative emotions. One of the best strategies this field of study has found is called cognitive reappraisal. This strategy involves reinterpreting our situation as being more positive, when our natural inclination might be to make more negative evaluations. Recent research at Duke University compares mindfulness to reappraisal in terms of how well it helps people cope with sadness.

In this study a total of 129 participants were split into three groups and were given trainings in either mindfulness or reappraisal, or were given no training at all. They were then induced to feel sadness. Results indicate that both mindfulness and reappraisal equally helped people feel less sad, as compared to those who had received no training. Afterwards, participants were given cognitive tasks to measure if one method took more cognitive resources, or took more effort than the other. Because people in the mindfulness condition did better on the cognitive tasks, researchers concluded that mindfulness is less cognitively depleting than reappraisal.

Further, regardless of condition and before undergoing any training, all participants were measured based on how much they normally utilize the strategy of reappraisal and their trait level of mindfulness. Interestingly, those who were high in trait mindfulness, but not those who habitually practiced emotion regulation experienced greater reductions in sadness.

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Mindfulness, Increased Attentional Control, and Decreased Anger

Mindfulness, as defined by Jon Kabat-Zinn, founder of the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program, is "paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally.” Thus, research has focused on how practicing mindfulness influences our attention and our emotional experiences. Recent research from Spain conducted on psychotherapists in training investigated just these two questions. Half the participants participated in an 8-week mindfulness training course. Results indicated that mindfulness training increased attentional control and decreased anger.

Keryn Breiterman-Loader

Thursday, November 7, 2013

Mindfulness and Emotion Regulation

Experiencing the full spectrum of emotions means we’re a healthy human being, however we sometimes experience emotions (particularly negative ones) that seem to linger long past their time. Sometimes we get attached to an emotion and keep coming back to it over and over again. This can hinder us from moving forward with our lives, from focusing on other important things, or simply prevent us from feeling happy and peaceful. Thus, regulating our emotions can be useful. Research on emotion regulation has found that one of the most effective strategies for regulating our emotions is cognitive reappraisal, or reinterpreting our situation as being more positive when our habitual evaluation would be a negative one.

Mindfulness has long been associated with emotion regulation, however a recent study indicates mindfulness may facilitate emotion regulation by enhancing cognitive reappraisal. In their experiment, researchers had participants undergo one week of mindfulness training. When tested after the training, researchers found that the level of state mindfulness achieved during their mindfulness meditation was positively associated with greater cognitive reappraisal after the meditation, and over time. The greater the level of state mindfulness achieved, the greater their likelihood of utilizing cognitive reappraisal.

Keryn Breiterman-Loader

Friday, November 1, 2013

Mindfulness Helps Lower Blood Pressure

High blood pressure is one of the physical manifestations of stress in our bodies. One well studied benefit of practicing mindfulness is its effect on stress reduction. In fact, one of the most popular and well-researched mindfulness courses in the US is the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. The course teaches mindfulness practices with a focus on how they might be used to help reduce stress.

In one study examining the effects of MBSR on stress, researchers put all participants in a stressful situation, during which they measured participants’ blood pressure. Then, half of the participants took the MBSR course, after which all participants again were put in a stressful situation and had their blood pressure measured. Results showed that participants who took the MBSR course had a decrease in blood pressure as compared to before they took MBSR. This suggests that MBSR may help reduce blood pressure levels and blood pressure reactivity to stress.

Keryn Breiterman-Loader

Thursday, October 24, 2013

The Social Aspect of Mindfulness

Much mindfulness research has focused on the effects of mindfulness on the self - how mindfulness relates to our emotions, our body, our brains, and our wellbeing. In addition to how mindfulness impacts our individual selves, mindfulness can also impact our relationships and how we interact with others.

A series of studies published in the Journal of Personality ad Social Psychology propose the concept of social mindfulness, which they describe as both the skill and motivation to make other-regarding choices. Their first series of studies found that people with more other-oriented mindsets acted more prosocially, measured by their likelihood of leaving others with more choices, and thus with more personal control over their situation. Further studies discovered that people who were more socially mindful were viewed more favorably by others, and that people displayed more social mindfulness to strangers with more trustworthy faces. The trait of social mindfulness was also related to other personality traits, including Honesty-Humility and Agreeableness, Empathy, and prosocial value orientation.

Keryn Breiterman-Loader

Thursday, October 17, 2013

Mindfulness Associated with Decreased Levels of Stress Hormone

Many of us experience chronic stress, whereby even at the end of the day when we are resting and ready for bed, we are still ramped up from the day. Scientists measure this resting level of stress by looking at the level of a stress hormone called cortisol, measured in the evening before bed when we are presumably not in the middle of a major stressful event. Cortisol is generally released as a part of our natural fight/flight/freeze response intended to help our bodies deal with threatening situations. Because in the modern day we tend to encounter (or think about) mildly stressful events all day, we tend to have constant, low levels of cortisol in our bodies all the time. This can hinder our body’s natural rest and recovery.

A new study published in the Journal of Health Psychology found that increases in mindfulness are associated with decreases in resting cortisol levels. The study looked at people who went to a 3-month long meditation retreat. Researchers found that both before and after the retreat, the higher an individual’s mindfulness score, the lower their cortisol level.  Further, those who experienced an increase in mindfulness after the retreat also experienced a decrease in their resting levels of cortisol.

Keryn Breiterman-Loader

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

The Science of Mind Wandering


It is the mind's nature to wander.  Anyone who has practiced mindfulness meditation has no doubt quickly realized this truth. According to some studies, as much as 50% of our waking hours are spent in some form of mind-wandering. And though the practice of mindfulness encourages a returning of the wandering mind to the original object of attention, research is beginning to explore the nature of mind wandering and the costs and benefits it has in store for us.

In an overview on research into mind-wandering was published in the Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology, Jonathan Schooler and Benjamin Mooneyham, of the University of California at Santa Barbara, discuss the costs involved with mind-wandering and how it affects performance on different cognitive tasks. They also assess the potential benefits of mind-wandering.