Promote Healthy Aging with Mindfulness
By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.
“the Buddha – surely the archetypal meditator – is reputed to have lived to 80, which must have been an exceptionally ripe old age in 5th century BCE India. And according to Buddhist scriptures, even after 80 years in this realm of existence, in the end it wasn’t old age that finished him off but food poisoning.” – James Kingsland
Human life is one of constant change. We revel in our increases in physical and mental capacities during development, but regret their decline during aging. The aging process involves a systematic progressive decline in every system in the body, the brain included. This includes our mental abilities which decline with age including impairments in memory, attention, and problem solving ability. It is inevitable and cannot be avoided. Using modern neuroimaging techniques, scientists have been able to view the changes that occur in the nervous system with aging. In addition, they have been able to investigate various techniques that might slow the process of neurodegeneration that accompanies normal aging. They’ve found that mindfulness practices reduce the deterioration of the brain that occurs with aging restraining the loss of neural tissue. Indeed, the brains of practitioners of meditation and yoga have been found to degenerate less with aging than non-practitioners.
Mindfulness also appears to be effective for an array of physical and psychological issues. It appears to strengthen the immune system and reduce inflammation. It has also been shown to be beneficial in slowing or delaying physical and mental decline with aging. and improve cognitive processes. Since the global population of the elderly is increasing at unprecedented rates, it is imperative to investigate methods to slow physical and mental aging and mitigate its effects. In today’s Research News article “Mindfulness Training for Healthy Aging: Impact on Attention, Well-Being, and Inflammation.” See summary below or view the full text of the study at:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5289973/
Fountain-Zaragoza and Prakash review and summarize the published research literature of the effects of mindfulness training on attention, wellbeing, and the inflammatory response in the elderly.
They report that the research builds a strong case that mindfulness training reduces the loss of attentional abilities with aging. Mindfulness training was also reported to prevent or lessen age related deterioration of the nervous system which help to maintain cognitive abilities with aging. The benefits of mindfulness training, however, go beyond the cognitive sphere to emotions. The literature is clear that mindfulness training reduces emotional distress and improves emotion regulation, results in increased social support, and promotes psychological wellbeing in the elderly. In addition, the published research indicates that mindfulness training reduces the inflammatory response, a key component of chronic disease. This suggests that mindfulness training also improves physical health and wellbeing. So, the literature indicates that mindfulness training in the elderly supports healthy aging and prevents or reduces the cognitive, emotional, psychological and physical declines that occur with aging and does so by reducing the deterioration of the brain that accompanies aging.
It is remarkable that something as simple as mindfulness training could have such widespread and profound benefits supporting healthy aging. Based upon this research it would appear reasonable to suggest that mindfulness training be highly encouraged for the aging population and perhaps included in standard treatment programs for the elderly. Personal care and nursing homes might be well served to include mindfulness training in their services.
So, promote healthy aging with mindfulness.
“While we might expect our bodies and brains to follow a shared trajectory of development and degeneration over time, by actively practicing strategies such as meditation, we might actually preserve and protect our physical body and brain structure to extend our golden years and shine even more brightly in old age.” – Sonima.com
CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies
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Study Summary
Fountain-Zaragoza, S., & Prakash, R. S. (2017). Mindfulness Training for Healthy Aging: Impact on Attention, Well-Being, and Inflammation. Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, 9, 11. http://doi.org/10.3389/fnagi.2017.00011
Abstract
The growing interest in mindfulness interventions for use in aging samples has been met with promising evidence of cognitive, emotional, and physiological benefits. The purpose of this review is to provide an overview of the impact of mindfulness training on three areas of functioning in older adults: behavioral and neural correlates of attentional performance, psychological well-being, and systemic inflammation. We have previously proposed that mindfulness training is uniquely suited as a rehabilitative tool for conferring both cognitive and emotional benefits for older adults. Specifically, mindfulness training’s promotion of focused attention may mitigate the decline of attentional control abilities across late development and allow older adults to capitalize on their preserved emotion regulation abilities. Existing evidence points to some improvements in facets of attentional control in older adults, although some studies have shown no benefits in performance. Further, there is evidence of enhancements in both psychological and physical aspects of well-being, and accompanying improvements in systemic inflammation, following mindfulness training. The scientific investigation of mindfulness training is still relatively nascent, with only a limited number of studies, particularly randomized controlled trials utilizing active comparison conditions. It will be important for future research to incorporate placebo-controlled comparison groups to clearly establish the causal role of mindfulness practices in promoting holistic health in older adults.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5289973/