You’re hearing about mindfulness everywhere, right?
That’s because there are amazing benefits to mindfulness and meditation!
Much of the research on mindfulness and meditation reveals the amazing neuroplasticity of our brains — while we used to think that our brains stopped developing in our early twenties, we now know that our experiences can shape our neural development well into our sixties and beyond. The more we exercise a particular neural pathway in the brain, the more we strengthen it. In the cute phrase neuroscientists use, “Neurons that fire together, wire together.”
For example, a study of London cab drivers revealed that they had larger-than-average hippocampuses (hippocampi?). The hippocampus plays an important role in memory — and the researchers concluded that all of the spatial memories the cabbies created while driving through one of the world’s largest cities actually increased the area in their brains devoted to making new memories.
Recent studies indicate that as little as 12 minutes of meditation a day, over an 8-week period, is enough to create changes in the brain! Read on for a summary of some of the most amazing findings in meditation research:
Physical Benefits
- Meditation practice has been demonstrated to increase immune function — in one study, people who meditated produced more antibodies to the flu vaccine than people who didn’t meditate (which makes me excited because I just got a flu shot yesterday!)
- Meditation is also linked to an increase in telomerase (at the end of our genes), which can possibly reduce cell damage in the body.
- Mindfulness, including eating mindfully, has been linked to weight loss.
- In one study, participants who practiced meditation lowered their blood pressure and cut their heart attack risk in half over five years.
- Meditation reduces levels of the hormone cortisol (which raises blood pressure and levels of stress).
- Taking a few deep breaths engages our parasympathetic nervous system (our “rest and digest” mode), and deactivates our sympathetic nervous system (our “fight, flight, or freeze” mode).
Mental Benefits
- Meditation increases neural connections in the brain, and has been show to strengthen myelin (the protective sheath on our neurons that facilitates signaling in the brain).
- Meditation is linked to having a longer attention span and improves concentration.
- Meditation increases activity in the prefrontal cortex (associated with planning and judgment) and in the anterior cingulate (associated with emotional regulation, learning, and memory).
- In one study, participants who meditated for 30 minutes a day for 8 weeks had an increase in gray matter in the regions of the brain associated with memory, sense of self, and empathy.
- Students who meditated prior to an exam performed better than students who did not. The researchers linked meditation to improved cognitive functioning.
Emotional Benefits
- Mindfulness and meditation practices have been extensively linked to easing symptoms of depression and anxiety, and these techniques are used in many therapy settings.
- A 2007 study of students who had been taught meditation techniques revealed a decrease in test anxiety, nervousness, and self-doubt, and an increase in focus and concentration. Further studies have shown reduced absenteeism and suspensions in schools where mindfulness programs have been implemented.
- Mindfulness and meditation help us learn to turn off the negative self-talk or rumination that our minds often resort to when left on their own.
- Meditation reduces our emotional reactivity. One study found that mindful stress reduction practices actually decreased the size of people’s amygdala (responsible for our aggression, anxiety, and fear — an overactive amygdala is associated with depression).
- These practices can make us more compassionate. People who meditate show more activation in the area of the brain associated with empathy when they are exposed to someone who is suffering.
The Anecdotal Evidence
This information is impressive, but is also very clinical. I want to end with some personal stories about the benefits of mindfulness and meditation.
I love this post from Michelle Noehren of CTWorkingMoms, What I Know About Motherhood Now That I Practice Meditation. Michelle writes, “I’ve experienced a dramatic drop in my anxiety level and I feel like I’ve healed some relationships in my life that were difficult, not because the other person changed anything, but because I now fully understand that I have the ability to change situations solely based upon the way I think.”
I have shared with you my experiences with postpartum depression and anxiety. In addition to seeking professional help, I have greatly benefited from practicing mindfulness and meditation. I am a lot calmer than I used to be in dealing with my children, often responding now with compassion and a hug, rather than reacting with anger. Practicing mindfulness has indeed made me a better parent.
It has also helped me in overcoming my depression. The first time I read about rumination {the negative self-talk often associated with depression} I was shocked to see it listed as a symptom of depression. I thought everyone did that! If we had a bad morning getting ready for school, my 20-minute drive to work was filled with thoughts of what a terrible mother I was, worrying my life would never feel normal again with these two little children to take care of, and anticipating the continuation of the drama when picking them up after work and then starting over with mama-stress and dinner-time battles…. By the time I got to work I was emotionally exhausted, and found little joy in being a teacher or a mother.
Mindfulness and meditation have made me so much more aware of my thoughts, and how I can stop my mind from dwelling on the negative. I now realize my thoughts are just the stories I tell myself about my life, they are not my life itself. The emotions come and go, and I don’t need to waste my energy indulging anger, worry, or frustration. Mindfulness allows me to find the skillful response instead of jumping to an emotional reaction. I pay attention to the present moment and become aware of the good that’s always there, waiting to be seen.
As I have begun sharing this practice with colleagues, teachers, and students, many people have thanked me for teaching mindfulness. A common theme has emerged in all of the stories I hear from people who have discovered these techniques — almost always, they will say, “Mindfulness changed my life.”
I know it has changed my life. And that’s why I want to share it with all of you.
*****
{meditation photo credit: AlicePopkorn via photopin cc}
{rocks photo credit: julochka via photopin cc}
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