Meditation

Improve Sleep Quality with Meditation

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By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“With growing pressures at work coupled with smartphone technology, it is really difficult to ‘switch off’ because you continue to receive work-related messages in the evening. Meditation programs such as Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) have been shown to be effective in treating anxiety, insomnia, and other psychological disorders” – Ute Hülsheger

 

Modern society has become more around-the-clock and more complex producing considerable pressure and stress on the individual. The advent of the internet and smart phones has exacerbated the problem. The resultant stress can impair sleep. Indeed, it is estimated that over half of Americans sleep too little due to stress. As a result, people today sleep 20% less than they did 100 years ago. Not having a good night’s sleep has adverse effects upon the individual’s health, well-being, and happiness. Yet over 70 million Americans suffer from disorders of sleep and about half of these have a chronic disorder. It has been estimated that 30 to 35% of adults have brief symptoms of insomnia, 15 to 20% have a short-term insomnia disorder, and 10% have chronic insomnia

 

Insomnia is more than just an irritant. Sleep deprivation is associated with decreased alertness and a consequent reduction in performance of even simple tasks, decreased quality of life, increased difficulties with memory and problem solving, increased likelihood of accidental injury including automobile accidents, and increased risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. It also can lead to anxiety about sleep itself. This is stressful and can produce even more anxiety about being able to sleep. About 4% of Americans revert to sleeping pills. But, these do not always produce high quality sleep and can have problematic side effects. So, there is a need to find better methods to treat insomnia. Contemplative practices have been reported to improve sleep amount and quality and help with insomnia. The importance of insomnia underscores the need to further investigate safe and effective alternatives to drugs.

 

In today’s Research News article “Mindfulness meditation for insomnia: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.” See:

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1373740115983244/?type=3&theater

or see summary below. Gong and colleagues reviewed the published research literature on the effectiveness of mindfulness meditation on insomnia. They performed a meta-analysis on six randomized controlled trials with meditation training of 6 to 8 weeks. They found that when active control groups were included in the analysis sleep quality and total wake time was significantly improved with meditation practice. While when only studies employing wait list or attention control conditions were included, the analysis showed significant improvements in the amount of time to go to sleep, sleep efficiency, and sleep quality.  Hence, the research literature reported that mindfulness meditation produced significant improvements not in amount of sleep but primarily in the quality of sleep and with meditators falling asleep faster.

 

How does meditation practice improve sleep? One obvious possible mechanism is by stress reduction. Meditation practice has been shown to reduce both physiological and psychological responses to stress and stress is known to interfere with sleep. Another possibility is that meditation practice is known to reduce mind wandering and intrusive thoughts which are often a problem in trying to go to sleep. Additionally, meditation practice is known to improve emotion regulation, and powerful emotions can interfere with sleep. Regardless, of the mechanism, meditation practice is inexpensive and safe, having very few adverse effects, and have many other beneficial effects in addition to improving sleep. There is not much to lose and potentially a great deal to gain.

 

So, improve sleep quality with meditation.

 

“Insomnia patients who completed MBSR were able to learn and use a variety of meditation techniques to fall asleep faster at bedtime, return to sleep sooner if awakened in the middle of the night, awaken more refreshed, and better cope with occasional episodes of sleeplessness.” – Amber Hubbling

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are also available on Google+ https://plus.google.com/106784388191201299496/posts

 

Study Summary

Gong H, Ni CX, Liu YZ, Zhang Y, Su WJ, Lian YJ, Peng W, Jiang CL. Mindfulness meditation for insomnia: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.. J Psychosom Res. 2016 Oct;89:1-6. doi: 10.1016/j.jpsychores.2016.07.016. Epub 2016 Jul 26.

 

Highlights

  • This meta-analysiscollates studies and provides general information on the efficacy of MM for insomnia.
  • MM can contribute to modestly improving sleep parameters.
  • MM may be a promising option for the treatment of insomnia.

Abstract

Background: Insomnia is a widespread and debilitating condition that affects sleep quality and daily productivity. Although mindfulness meditation (MM) has been suggested as a potentially effective supplement to medical treatment for insomnia, no comprehensively quantitative research has been conducted in this field. Therefore, we performed a meta-analysis on the findings of related randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to evaluate the effects of MM on insomnia.

Methods: Related publications in PubMed, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library and PsycINFO were searched up to July 2015. To calculate the standardized mean differences (SMDs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs), we used a fixed effect model when heterogeneity was negligible and a random effect model when heterogeneity was significant.

Results: A total of 330 participants in 6 RCTs that met the selection criteria were included in this meta-analysis. Analysis of overall effect revealed that MM significantly improved total wake time and sleep quality, but had no significant effects on sleep onset latency, total sleep time, wake after sleep onset, sleep efficiency, total wake time, ISI, PSQI and DBAS. Subgroup analyses showed that although there were no significant differences between MM and control groups in terms of total sleep time, significant effects were found in total wake time, sleep onset latency, sleep quality, sleep efficiency, and PSQI global score (absolute value of SMD range: 0.44–1.09, all p < 0.05).

Conclusions: The results suggest that MM may mildly improve some sleep parameters in patients with insomnia. MM can serve as an auxiliary treatment to medication for sleep complaints.

 

Settle Down Out-of-Control Teens with Mindfulness

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By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“In the last few years, mindfulness has emerged as a way of treating children and adolescents with conditions ranging from ADHD to anxiety, autism spectrum disorders, depression and stress. And the benefits are proving to be tremendous.” – Juliann Garey

 

The last component of the nervous system to develop is the higher cortical areas that underlying behavioral inhibition; the ability to hold back responses. As a result, the adolescent brain is fully developed to produce behavior and react to the environment, but is defective in the ability to withhold or restrain behaviors when inappropriate. So, adolescents are often impulsive, take unnecessary risks, and can be inappropriately aggressive, leading to disciplinary problems.

 

This late development of higher level control of behavior is responsible for some troubling statistics. Young people ages 15-24 represent only 14% of the U.S. population, but they account for 30% of the total costs of motor vehicle injuries among males. Regarding youth violence and aggression, 46% of males, and 26% of females reported they had been in physical fights, one million U.S. students took guns to school and six thousand were kicked out of school for packing weapons, the annual death toll from school shootings has more than doubled, the youth homicide rate increased by 168 percent, and juvenile arrest for possession of weapons, aggravated assault, robbery, and murder have risen more than 50 percent.

 

It is important for society to control violent and aggressive behavior and late adolescence and young adulthood are periods when the likelihood is high. Mindfulness has been shown to reduce violence and aggression in adults. So, it would seem reasonable to investigate whether mindfulness training may be effective in helping to control the aggressive tendencies of youth. In today’s Research News article “Effect of a Mindfulness Training Program on the Impulsivity and Aggression Levels of Adolescents with Behavioral Problems in the Classroom.” See:

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1367699476587308/?type=3&theater

or see summary below or view the full text of the study at:

http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01385/full?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Psychology-w40-2016

Franco and colleagues recruited 12-19 year old youths who had multiple incidents of misbehavior in school. The students were randomly assigned to either receive 20-weeks of 15 minutes per day, 5 days per week, of open monitoring meditation, or to a wait list control condition. Before and after training the youths were measured for aggression and impulsivity with self-report psychometric scales.

 

They found that the meditation group, but not the control group, had significant reductions in overall impulsivity (14%), including significant reductions in cognitive (19%), motor (13%), and non-planned (10%) impulsivity and also significant reductions in physical (14%) and verbal (24%) aggression, and hostility (19%) and anger (16%). All of these effects had large significant effect sizes. Hence, meditation training produced marked reduction in impulsivity and aggression in these troubled adolescents.

 

These are impressive results and suggest that meditation may be very effective in helping adolescents control their impulsivity and aggression. Gaining control over their behavior may allow them to engage in their education without distraction. Meditation may have this impact as a result of its ability to improve emotion regulation, providing the youths with the ability to cope with emotions in a more positive and adaptive way. It may also act by decreasing rumination and worry and thereby reduce the effects of past issues and worries about the future to intrude on present behavior. Regardless of the explanation, the results are exciting and suggest that meditation practice should be tried for troubled youth in other settings.

 

So, settle down out-of-control teens with mindfulness.

 

“It is suggested here that there is a difference between knowing about emotions and knowing your own emotions as they are experienced. In addition to learning about emotions, there is a distinct advantage in learning how to notice what’s happening in the present moment. Attending to and identifying emotions can mitigate the emotional reaction and increase emotional balance and clarity.” –  Tina Barseghian

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are also available on Google+ https://plus.google.com/106784388191201299496/posts

 

Study Summary

Franco C, Amutio A, López-González L, Oriol X and Martínez-Taboada C (2016) Effect of a Mindfulness Training Program on the Impulsivity and Aggression Levels of Adolescents with Behavioral Problems in the Classroom. Front. Psychol. 7:1385. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01385

 

Objective: The aim of the present study was to analyze the effects of a mindfulness training psycho-educative program on impulsivity and aggression levels in a sample of high school students.

Methods: A randomized controlled trial with pre-test–post-test measurements was applied to an experimental group and a control group (waiting list). The Barratt Impulsivity Scale (BIS-11) Patton et al. (1995) and the Aggression Questionnaire (Buss and Perry, 1992) were used.

Results: Statistical analyses showed a significant decrease in the levels of impulsivity and aggressiveness in the experimental group compared with the control group. These results have important implications for improving the level of academic engagement and self-efficacy of students and for reducing school failure.

Conclusion: This is one of the first studies showing the effectiveness of mindfulness training at reducing impulsive and aggressive behaviors in the classroom. The efficacy of mindfulness-based programs is emphasized.

http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01385/full?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Psychology-w40-2016

 

Reduce Pain with Meditation Rather Than Drugs

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By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“For some people with chronic pain, mindful meditation is an appealing pain management option because it has an unusual benefit; it is something that you personally control. Unlike pain medications or medical procedures, meditation is not done to you, it is something you can do for yourself.” – Stephanie Burke

 

Pain can be difficult to deal with, particularly if it’s persistent. But, even short-term pain, acute pain, is unpleasant. Pain, however, is an important signal that there is something wrong or that damage is occurring. This signals that some form of action is needed to mitigate the damage. This is an important signal that is ignored at the individual’s peril. So, in dealing with pain, it’s important that pain signals not be blocked or prevented. They need to be perceived. Nevertheless, it would be useful to find ways to lower the intensity of perceived pain and improve recovery from painful stimuli. Pain signals are processed in the brain and the state of the brain can alter the perception of pain. Indeed, opioid drugs are very effective pain killers and they work by affecting opioid receptors in the brain that are important in the perception of pain.

 

Pain is affected by the mind. The perception of pain can be amplified by the emotional reactions to it and also by attempts to fight or counteract it. Pain perception can be reduced by aerobic exercise and mental states, including placebo effects, attention, and conditioning. Additionally, contemplative practices have been shown to reduce both chronic and acute pain. It has been shown that exercise and mental states affect pain perception via opioid receptors. Their effects on pain can be prevented by the injection of a drug, naloxone, that blocks opioid receptors. Hence, mental states appear to alter pain perception through effects on the opioid system in the brain. But, it is not known if contemplative practices act in the same way.

 

In today’s Research News article “Mindfulness-Meditation-Based Pain Relief Is Not Mediated by Endogenous Opioids.” See:

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1361495810541008/?type=3&theater

or see summary below or view the full text of the study at:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4792946/

Zeidan and colleagues examine the involvement of opioid receptors in the pain reduction produced by meditation practice. They recruited participants who had no experience with meditation and randomly assigned them to four groups. Two groups engaged in meditation for 20 minutes per day for four days, while two groups listened to an audiobook for 20 minutes per day for four days. One meditation group and one no-meditation group received a naloxone injection while the other two groups received injections of a non-active saline solution. Both participants and experimenters were blind as to whether they were receiving naloxone or saline. Before and after injection, participants were tested while meditating or resting for sensitivity to pain induced by heat to the skin. Participants rated their perceived pain to different levels of heat.

 

They found that mindfulness meditation reduced pain perception by 21% and pain unpleasantness by 36% relative to resting controls. This occurred for the meditation groups regardless of whether naloxone or saline was injected. So, the opioid receptor blocking drug naloxone had no effect on the reductions in pain produced by meditation. Hence, meditation, unlike other mental states, appears to reduce pain independent of the opioid pain system in the brain.

 

There are a number of effects of meditation that might underlie the reduction in pain perception. The stress, fear, and anxiety produced by pain tends to elicit responses that actually amplify the pain. So, reducing the emotional reactions to pain may be helpful in pain management. Meditation practices have been shown to reduce stress responses and anxiety, and to improve emotion regulation producing more adaptive and less maladaptive responses to emotions. So, it would seem reasonable that mindfulness practices would be helpful in pain management. In addition, pain is accompanied by, and frequently caused by, inflammation and meditation has been shown to reduce the inflammatory response. This may account for the mindfulness’ effects on the physical aspects of chronic pain.

 

So, reduce pain with meditation rather than drugs.

 

“Meditation teaches patients how to react to the pain. People are less inclined to have the ‘Ouch’ reaction, and are able to control their emotional reaction to pain.” – BRIAN STEINER

 

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are also available on Google+ https://plus.google.com/106784388191201299496/posts

 

Study Summary

Fadel Zeidan, Adrienne L. Adler-Neal, Rebecca E. Wells, Emily Stagnaro, Lisa M. May, James C. Eisenach, John G. McHaffie, Robert C. Coghill. Mindfulness-Meditation-Based Pain Relief Is Not Mediated by Endogenous Opioids. J Neurosci. 2016 Mar 16; 36(11): 3391–3397. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4328-15.2016

 

Abstract

Mindfulness meditation, a cognitive practice premised on sustaining nonjudgmental awareness of arising sensory events, reliably attenuates pain. Mindfulness meditation activates multiple brain regions that contain a high expression of opioid receptors. However, it is unknown whether mindfulness-meditation-based analgesia is mediated by endogenous opioids. The present double-blind, randomized study examined behavioral pain responses in healthy human volunteers during mindfulness meditation and a nonmanipulation control condition in response to noxious heat and intravenous administration of the opioid antagonist naloxone (0.15 mg/kg bolus + 0.1 mg/kg/h infusion) or saline placebo. Meditation during saline infusion significantly reduced pain intensity and unpleasantness ratings when compared to the control + saline group. However, naloxone infusion failed to reverse meditation-induced analgesia. There were no significant differences in pain intensity or pain unpleasantness reductions between the meditation + naloxone and the meditation + saline groups. Furthermore, mindfulness meditation during naloxone produced significantly greater reductions in pain intensity and unpleasantness than the control groups. These findings demonstrate that mindfulness meditation does not rely on endogenous opioidergic mechanisms to reduce pain.

SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Endogenous opioids have been repeatedly shown to be involved in the cognitive inhibition of pain. Mindfulness meditation, a practice premised on directing nonjudgmental attention to arising sensory events, reduces pain by engaging mechanisms supporting the cognitive control of pain. However, it remains unknown if mindfulness-meditation-based analgesia is mediated by opioids, an important consideration for using meditation to treat chronic pain. To address this question, the present study examined pain reports during meditation in response to noxious heat and administration of the opioid antagonist naloxone and placebo saline. The results demonstrate that meditation-based pain relief does not require endogenous opioids. Therefore, the treatment of chronic pain may be more effective with meditation due to a lack of cross-tolerance with opiate-based medications.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4792946/

Improve Cellular Molecular Health with a Meditation Retreat

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meditation-retreat-molecular-effects2-epel

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“Researchers globally are continuing to explore how telomerase activity can be a measure of the effects of psychological stress on physical health. As they study the different types of meditation in more detail and uncover more of the benefits for cell aging, we will gain a deeper understanding of the new-found link between mind and body health. In the meantime, it seems that any type of meditation can do some good for your longevity.” – Courtney Danyel

 

Meditation practice has been shown to improve health and longevity. One way it appears to act is by altering the genes which govern cellular processes in our bodies. One of the most fundamental of these processes is cell replication. Our bodies are constantly turning over cells. Dying cells or damaged are replaced by new cells. The cells turn over at different rates but most cells in the body are lost and replaced between every few days to every few months. Needless to say were constantly renewing ourselves.

 

As we age the tail of the DNA molecule called the telomere shortens. When it gets very short cells have a more and more difficult time reproducing and become more likely to produce defective cells. On a cellular basis this is what produces aging. There is an enzyme in the body called telomerase that helps to prevent shortening of the telomere. So, processes that increase telomerase activity tend to slow the aging process. Contemplative practice has been shown to increase telomerase activity thus helping to prevent cellular aging. It is thought that this protection of telomeres could protect the body’s cells from aging and deterioration and be the basis for the increased longevity in contemplative practitioners. So, it is important to further investigate the effects of contemplative practices on telomeres and telomerase.

 

In today’s Research News article “Meditation and vacation effects have an impact on disease-associated molecular phenotypes.” See:

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1359334237423832/?type=3&theater

or see summary below, Epel and colleagues studied the impact of a 5-day intensive meditation retreat on the genes associated with health and longevity. They compared two groups of people participating in a meditation retreat, novices and experienced meditators to a novel vacation control group which spent a comparable amount of time in a spa in the same location at the same time simply relaxing. The participants were measured before and after the retreat or vacation and 1-month and 12 months later for depression, stress, mindfulness, vitality, and blood was drawn for genetic analysis.

 

They found that all three groups showed significant improvements in depression, stress, mindfulness and vitality after the treatment, which was maintained 1-month later, while the novice meditators on the retreat maintained the improvements in depression and stress at the 10-month follow-up. There were marked changes in gene expressions that were present in all groups that included genes involved in the suppression of stress-related responses and immune function related to acute-phase wound healing and inflammation. Hence, the retreat and the vacation produced change in gene expressions that reflected lower stress, wounding, and inflammation, all of which signal improved health and well-being. In addition, the experienced meditator group showed increased expression for genes associated with healthy aging and in increased telomerase levels. Hence, meditation appears to promote healthy aging and longevity by protecting the telomeres from shortening which signals aging.

 

These are outstanding results and demonstrate that a week’s break either in the form of a meditation retreat or as a simple vacation produces improved mental health and vitality and decreased stress and gene expressions reflecting reduced stress and inflammation. This is a marked endorsement of the importance of a vacation to the individual’s health and well-being. But, the addition of meditation produces additional benefits which signal healthy aging and longevity. This is a marked endorsement of meditation retreat to not only improve current well-being but also to produce healthier aging.

 

So, improve cellular molecular health with a meditation retreat.

 

“At the retreat, the teacher warned us over and over not to look for major shifts in our lives when we got home. But my constellation of little changes seemed just evidence, really, that with continuous effort, I could change the way my mind worked. I could decouple, however briefly, my sense of self from the meat sack of mind and body. And that decoupling gave me the ability to actually control where that sack was headed next.” – Zoe Schlanger

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are also available on Google+ https://plus.google.com/106784388191201299496/posts

 

Study Summary

Epel ES, Puterman E, Lin J, Blackburn EH, Lum PY, Beckmann ND, Zhu J, Lee E, Gilbert A, Rissman RA, Tanzi RE, Schadt EE. Meditation and vacation effects have an impact on disease-associated molecular phenotypes. Translational Psychiatry (2016) 6, e880; doi:10.1038/tp.2016.164. Published online 30 August 2016

 

Abstract

Meditation is becoming increasingly practiced, especially for stress-related medical conditions. Meditation may improve cellular health; however, studies have not separated out effects of meditation from vacation-like effects in a residential randomized controlled trial. We recruited healthy women non-meditators to live at a resort for 6 days and randomized to either meditation retreat or relaxing on-site, with both groups compared with ‘regular meditators’ already enrolled in the retreat. Blood drawn at baseline and post intervention was assessed for transcriptome-wide expression patterns and aging-related biomarkers. Highly significant gene expression changes were detected across all groups (the ‘vacation effect’) that could accurately predict (96% accuracy) between baseline and post-intervention states and were characterized by improved regulation of stress response, immune function and amyloid beta (Aβ) metabolism. Although a smaller set of genes was affected, regular meditators showed post-intervention differences in a gene network characterized by lower regulation of protein synthesis and viral genome activity. Changes in well-being were assessed post intervention relative to baseline, as well as 1 and 10 months later. All groups showed equivalently large immediate post-intervention improvements in well-being, but novice meditators showed greater maintenance of lower distress over time compared with those in the vacation arm. Regular meditators showed a trend toward increased telomerase activity compared with randomized women, who showed increased plasma Aβ42/Aβ40 ratios and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) levels. This highly controlled residential study showed large salutary changes in gene expression networks due to the vacation effect, common to all groups. For those already trained in the practice of meditation, a retreat appears to provide additional benefits to cellular health beyond the vacation effect

Improve Brain Processing of Emotions in the Elderly with Meditation

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By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“Yet until recently little was known about how a few hours of quiet reflection each week could lead to such an intriguing range of mental and physical effects. Now, as the popularity of mindfulness grows, brain imaging techniques are revealing that this ancient practice can profoundly change the way different regions of the brain communicate with each other – and therefore how we think – permanently.” –  Tom Ireland

 

Meditation training has been shown to alter the nervous system, increasing the size and connectivity of structures associated with present moment awareness, higher level thinking, and regulation of emotions, while decreasing the size and connectivity of structures associated with mind wandering and self-referential thinking, known as the Default Mode Network (DMN). The brain is capable of changing and adapting in a process called neuroplasticity. As a result, the neural changes produced by meditation training become relatively permanent.

 

Meditation training has also been shown to produce improvements in emotion regulation. Most of the research to date on the neural systems altered by meditation training has focused on higher level cortical centers. But, emotions involve lower centers such as those located in the Pons in primitive brain stem. In today’s Research News article “Pons to Posterior Cingulate Functional Projections Predict Affective Processing Changes in the Elderly Following Eight Weeks of Meditation Training.” See:

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1349231245100798/?type=3&theater

or see summary below or view the full text of the study at:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5006446/

Shao and colleagues investigate the changes in connectivity between the Pons sites involved in emotions and the Posterior Cingulate Cortex and the Precuneus area which are important in the Default Mode Network (DMN). They recruited elderly (>60 years of age) participants with no experience with meditation or relaxation training through newspaper ads. They were randomly assigned to receive 8-weeks of either meditation training or relaxation training. Training occurred with 1.5-hour training sessions occurring 3 time per week. All participants received functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) brain scans and were tested with an emotion processing task both before and after training.

 

They found that after meditation training the elderly participants had moderated emotional responses that converged toward the middle, such that positive emotions were not as positive and arousing while negative emotions were not as negative and arousing as prior to training. This effect did not occur in the relaxation trained participants. They also found increased functional connectivity between the Pons emotion centers and the Posterior Cingulate Cortex and the Precuneus area components of the Default Mode Network (DMN). The increased connectivity was primarily in the Pons to DMN direction. In addition, the greater the change in the connectivity the greater the reduction in negative emotional responses by the participants. Again, these effect did not occur in the relaxation trained participants.

 

These are interesting results that extend the previous findings on improved emotion regulation after meditation training as the training was found to moderate emotional reactivity, making both positive and negative emotions less extreme. They further showed that this moderation of emotions is associated with increased connectivity between the areas of primitive emotion in the Pontine brain stem and the higher level Default Mode Network (DMN) procession in the Cerebral Cortex. These effects were shown to be due to the meditation training as relaxation training did not produce them.

 

One of the ways that emotions can get out of hand is by ruminating about past emotional responses and worrying about future emotional responses. This can increase the magnitude of emotional responses. Rumination and worry is the role of the DMN. The present research suggests that the improve emotion regulation seen after meditation training may be due to the increased influence of lower emotion centers on reducing the activation of the brain areas responsible for rumination and worry. In that way emotions can be experienced and analyzed as real time experiences and not amplified beyond their actual magnitude. This is a tremendous benefit of meditation training, allowing for more realistic appraisal of emotions.

 

So, improve brain processing of emotions in the elderly with meditation.

 

“One way to do this is mindfulness meditation, in which you observe your thoughts and feelings with the objectivity of a disinterested, nonjudgmental witness. This form of mental training gives you “the wherewithal to pause, observe how easily the mind can exaggerate the severity of a setback, note that it as an interesting mental process, and resist getting drawn into the abyss,” – Richie Davidson

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are also available on Google+ https://plus.google.com/106784388191201299496/posts

 

Study Summary

Robin Shao, Kati Keuper, Xiujuan Geng, Tatia M.C. Lee. Pons to Posterior Cingulate Functional Projections Predict Affective Processing Changes in the Elderly Following Eight Weeks of Meditation Training. EBioMedicine. 2016 Aug; 10: 236–248. Published online 2016 Jun 15. doi: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2016.06.018

 

Abstract

Evidence indicates meditation facilitates affective regulation and reduces negative affect. It also influences resting-state functional connectivity between affective networks and the posterior cingulate (PCC)/precuneus, regions critically implicated in self-referential processing. However, no longitudinal study employing active control group has examined the effect of meditation training on affective processing, PCC/precuneus connectivity, and their association. Here, we report that eight-week meditation, but not relaxation, training ‘neutralized’ affective processing of positive and negative stimuli in healthy elderly participants. Additionally, meditation versus relaxation training increased the positive connectivity between the PCC/precuneus and the pons, the direction of which was largely directed from the pons to the PCC/precuneus, as revealed by dynamic causal modeling. Further, changes in connectivity between the PCC/precuneus and pons predicted changes in affective processing after meditation training. These findings indicate meditation promotes self-referential affective regulation based on increased regulatory influence of the pons on PCC/precuneus, which new affective-processing strategy is employed across both resting state and when evaluating affective stimuli. Such insights have clinical implications on interventions on elderly individuals with affective disorders.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5006446/

 

Improve Cognitive, Thought, Processes with Mindfulness

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By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“People with anxiety have a problem dealing with distracting thoughts that have too much power. They can’t distinguish between a problem-solving thought and a nagging worry that has no benefit. If you have unproductive worries you can train yourself to experience those thoughts completely differently. “You might think ‘I’m late, I might lose my job if I don’t get there on time, and it will be a disaster!’ Mindfulness teaches you to recognize, ‘Oh, there’s that thought again. I’ve been here before. But it’s just that—a thought, and not a part of my core self,’” – Elizabeth Hoge

 

Stress is universal. We are constantly under some form of stress. In fact, if we don’t have enough stress, we seek out more. Moderate stress can be a good thing promoting growth and flourishing. But, it must be moderate or what is called the optimum level of stress. Too little or too much stress can be damaging. Unfortunately for many of us living in a competitive, multitasking, modern environment stress is all too often higher than desirable. In addition, many of the normal mechanisms for dealing with stress have been eliminated. The business of modern life removes opportunities for rest, extra sleep, and leisure activities. Instead people are working extra hours and limiting or passing up entirely vacations to stay competitive. Persistently high levels of stress are damaging and can directly produce disease or debilitation increasing susceptibility to other diseases.

 

It is beyond the ability of the individual to change the environment to reduce stress, so it is important that methods be found to reduce the individual’s responses to stress; to make the individual more resilient when high levels of stress occur. Contemplative practices including meditation practice have been shown to reduce the psychological and physiological responses to stress. Because of their ability to relieve stress, mindfulness trainings are increasingly being practiced by individuals and are even being encouraged in some workplaces. But, some other treatments such as exercise or biofeedback may also be effective.

 

In today’s Research News article “Comparing Daily Mindfulness Meditations, Biofeedback Exercises, and Daily Physical Exercise on Attention Control, Executive Functioning, Mindful Awareness, Self-Compassion, and Worrying in Stressed Young Adults.” See:

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1346420245381898/?type=3&theater

or see summary below or view the full text of the study at:

http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12671-016-0561-5

de Bruin and colleagues compare the efficacy of five weeks of daily mindfulness meditation, heart rate variability biofeedback, or physical exercise to reduce the psychological symptoms of stress in 18 to 40-years old adults who were highly stressed. The participants were randomly assigned to one of the three treatments and were tested prior to and after the 5-week treatment period for attention control, executive functioning, mindful awareness, self-compassion, and worrying.

 

They found that all three interventions produced statistically significant improvements in all of the outcome measures, attention control, executive functioning, mindful awareness, self-compassion, and worrying, and there were no significant differences between the treatments in their effectiveness. The exercise group practiced for 40% more hours than either the meditation or heart rate variability biofeedback groups. The fact that the groups did not differ is surprising. But, it is clear that all three therapies significantly reduce the cognitive and emotional effects of stress.

 

The advantage for the individual is that they can choose which form of therapy best suits them and their situation. Since these people are already stressed by their busy lives, it would seem that the added time commitment for exercise would be a disadvantage. Also biofeedback treatment requires greater professional attention than either meditation or exercise. So, for practical reasons, meditation would appear to be the preferable therapy for the relief of the cognitive and emotional effects of stress.

 

So, improve cognitive, thought, processes with mindfulness.

 

“Mindfulness also allows us to become more aware of the stream of thoughts and feelings that we experience and to see how we can become entangled in that stream in ways that are not helpful. This lets us stand back from our thoughts and start to see their patterns. Gradually, we can train ourselves to notice when our thoughts are taking over and realise that thoughts are simply ‘mental events’ that do not have to control us.” – Mark Williams

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are also available on Google+ https://plus.google.com/106784388191201299496/posts

 

Study Summary

de Bruin, E.I., van der Zwan, J.E. & Bögels, S.M. A RCT Comparing Daily Mindfulness Meditations, Biofeedback Exercises, and Daily Physical Exercise on Attention Control, Executive Functioning, Mindful Awareness, Self-Compassion, and Worrying in Stressed Young Adults. Mindfulness (2016) 7: 1182. doi:10.1007/s12671-016-0561-5

 

Abstract

Our Western society is characterized by multitasking, competition, and constant time pressure. Negative effects of stress for the individual (anxiety, depression, somatic complaints) and for organizations and society (costs due to work absence) are very high. Thus, time-efficient self-help interventions to address these issues are necessary. This study assessed the effects of daily mindfulness meditations (MM) versus daily heart rate variability biofeedback (HRV-BF) and daily physical exercise (PE) on attention control, executive functioning, mindful awareness, self-compassion, and worrying. Young adults (n = 75, age range 18 to 40) with elevated stress levels were randomized to MM, HRV-BF, or PE, and measurements were taken at pre-test, post-test, and follow-up. Interventions in all three groups were self-guided and lasted for 5 weeks. Generalized estimating equation analyses showed that overall, all three interventions were effective and did not differ from each other. However, practice time differed between groups, with participants in the PE group practicing much more than participants in the other two groups. Therefore, additional analyses were carried out in two subsamples. The optimal dose sample included only those participants who practiced for at least 70 % of the total prescribed time. In the equal dose sample, home practice intensity was equal for all three groups. Again, the effects of the three interventions did not differ. In conclusion, MM, HRV-BF, and PE are all effective self-help methods to improve attention control, executive functioning, mindful awareness, self-compassion, and worrying, and mindfulness meditation was not found to be more effective than HRV-biofeedback or physical exercise for these cognitive processes.

http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12671-016-0561-5

 

Improve the Brain’s Capacity for Creative Problem Solving with Meditation

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By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“meditation is the best approach we know of allowing the mind to relax and have the ability to make a surge of insight wisdom. One does not power through an “Aha! Moment” with strain and determination. Thinking and more thinking does not generate that moment of brilliance that we are pursuing. The quick flash of energy is actually the subconscious mind surging a new perspective to the conscious mind. The conscious mind is more likely to recognize the gift of brilliance that the subconscious mind has sent it, if the conscious mind is in a calm state.” – Lindsay Leimbach

 

The problem solving ability of humans has been a key to their dominance of their environment. So, it’s important that we understand it and discover how to train it and maximize it. Problem solving most frequently involves logic and reasoning, sometimes along with mathematics. In this case focused attention is the key. The mind wandering off topic interferes with the concentration required for obtaining the solution. But, when a solution does not occur and the individual fails to solve the problem a completely different process transpires producing insight. If logic and reason fail, then fanciful and out-of-the box thinking may be needed. In this case mind wandering, taking the thought process away from the failed logical strategy, is superior, often producing a solution in a flash, an “aha” moment. In this case focused attention prevents the individual from seeing an unusual or creative solution. While the mind wandering off topic increases the discursive thinking that is required for obtaining the insightful solution.

 

Mindfulness is the ability to focus on what is transpiring in the present moment. It involves a greater emphasis on attention to the immediate stimulus environment. Mindful people generally have better attentional abilities and have fewer intrusive thoughts and less mind wandering. As a result, mindfulness has been shown to be associated with differences in thought processes. Most of the time these differences are associated with beneficial results, but sometimes they can lead to negative outcomes including a greater tendency to have false memories. So mindfulness should improve problem solving involving logic, reason, and focused attention, while it should interfere with insightful, creative problem solving.

 

These two forms of problem solving are, in general, associated with different neural systems. Focused attention involves a number of brain structures centered in the frontal lobes. Creative, discursive thinking involves a system of structures known as the Default Mode Network (DMN) involving the parietal lobe, cingulate cortex, and insula. One way to investigate the influence of mindfulness on creative problem solving is to look at the activity of these two systems during problem solving and insight before and after mindfulness training.

 

In today’s Research News article “Short-term meditation modulates brain activity of insight evoked with solution cue.” See:

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1341430935880829/?type=3&theater

or see summary below or view the full text of the study at:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4994853/

Ding and colleagues randomly assigned participants to receive either meditation training, integrative body–mind training (IBMT), or simple relaxation for 10 days, 30 minutes per day. Before and after the training they had the participants perform a task that requires creative thought known as the Remote Associations Test, which also frequently produces “aha’ moments when the solution is seen. The task was performed while the participants’ neural activity was measured in a functional Magnetic Resonance (f-MRI) scanner.

 

They found that after the meditation training the participants were significantly better at the Remote Associations Test. They then looked at the brain activity when the solution was not found and they were presented with the solution, producing an “aha’ moment. They found that after meditation training the brain activity of the two groups differed in this “aha’ moment. There was significantly greater activation found in the right cingulate gyrus, insula, putamen, as well as in the right inferior frontal gyrus, and the bilateral middle frontal gyrus, inferior parietal lobule and superior temporal gyrus. Some of these structures are involved in focused logical reasoning while others are part of the mind wandering system (DMN).

 

The “aha’ moment produced in this study involves logic in analyzing the possibilities and seeing that the proposed solution actually solves the problem and also the discursive, creative though to see how the unusual (remote) solution is appropriate. These findings suggest that mindfulness training alters the nervous system making it able to both utilize the focused logical systems and the mind wandering, discursive systems better to solve this kind of problem. Hence, it appears that meditation training enhances both logical and insightful problem solving by enhancing the activity of their underlying neural systems.

 

So, improve the brain’s capacity for creative problem solving with meditation.

 

“If, individually and collectively, we can be more mindful of the way we employ problem-solving strategies, we could release a great deal of human potential from the damaging effects of stress.” – Matthew Kalman Mezey

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are also available on Google+ https://plus.google.com/106784388191201299496/posts

 

Study Summary

Ding, X., Tang, Y.-Y., Cao, C., Deng, Y., Wang, Y., Xin, X., & Posner, M. I. (2015). Short-term meditation modulates brain activity of insight evoked with solution cue. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 10(1), 43–49. http://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsu032

 

Abstract

Meditation has been shown to improve creativity in some situation. However, little is known about the brain systems underling insight into a problem when the person fails to solve the problem. Here, we examined the neural correlation using Chinese Remote Association Test, as a measure of creativity. We provide a solution following the failure of the participant to provide one. We examine how meditation in comparison with relaxation influences the reaction of the participant to a correct solution. The event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging showed greater activity, mainly distributed in the right cingulate gyrus (CG), insula, putamen, inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), and the bilateral middle frontal gyrus (MFG), the inferior parietal lobule (IPL) and the superior temporal gyrus (STG). This pattern of activation was greater following 5 h of meditation training than the same amount of relaxation. Based on prior research, we speculate on the function of this pattern of brain activity: (i) CG may be involved in detecting conflict and breaking mental set, (ii) MFG/IFG may play an important role in restructuring of the problem representation, (iii) insula, IPL and STG may be associated with error detection, problem understanding or general attentive control and (iv) putamen may be activated by ‘Aha’ feeling.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4994853/

 

Reduce Brain Asymmetries with Meditation

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By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“The practice appears to have an amazing variety of neurological benefits – from changes in grey matter volume to reduced activity in the “me” centers of the brain to enhanced connectivity between brain regions.” – Alice G. Walton

 

The higher centers of the human brain are contained in two separate hemispheres. Over evolutionary history these hemispheres have taken on different functions. For most people the left hemisphere has become responsible for language, mathematics, logic, and the activities of the right side of the body while the right hemisphere has become responsible for spatial ability, emotions, artistic expression, and the activities of the left side of the body. These differences in function are accompanied with differences in the sizes of the structures and their interconnectivity on the two sides.

 

Contemplative practices such as meditation, yoga, and tai chi have been shown to produce changes in the sizes, activity, and connectivity of brain structures through a process called neuroplasticity. The degree to which these practices might alter the differences between the hemispheres, however, has not been extensively studied. In today’s Research News article “Shifting brain asymmetry: the link between meditation and structural lateralization.” See:

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1340603669296889/?type=3&theater

or see summary below or view the full text of the study at:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4994843/

Kurth and colleagues investigate the effects of long-term meditation practices on the differences between the hemispheres. They recruited adult long-term meditators (> 4 years, mean 19 years of practice) and matched control subjects and subjected their brains to Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scans. These brain images were then analyzed for structural differences between the hemispheres.

 

They found that the meditators had larger parietal lobes and less difference between the two hemispheres than the non-meditators who had right hemispheres larger than the left. This difference was particularly centered in a parietal lobe structure called the precuneus. In addition, the greater the number of years of meditation practice, the larger the left hemisphere and the smaller the right hemisphere producing less of a difference between the sides. This decrease in the differences between the hemispheres was also present in the anterior cingulate cortex with the greater the number of practice years the smaller the differences.

 

These are interesting results that suggest that meditation practice reduces the differences between the hemispheres in the parietal lobe and anterior cingulate cortex. These areas are components of a neural system termed the Default Mode Network (DMN) which is activated during unfocused conscious activity deemed mind wandering. Meditation, with its emphasis on focused attention has been shown to reduce the size and connectivity of the DMN and mind wandering. Kurth and colleagues’ study suggests that meditation also reduces the differences in the sizes of the DMN in the two hemispheres.

 

These interesting findings suggest that long-term meditation practice may produce greater balance between the two hemispheres and this suggests greater intermixing of their separated functions; integrating the tow hemispheres’ functions. So, logical thinking and emotions intermix, art and language work together, the two sides of the body work more harmoniously and the individual attains a greater integrated wholeness. This is certainly one of the goals of meditation practice and the change in the hemispheric differences may signal success.

 

So, reduce brain asymmetries with meditation.

 

“The impact that mindfulness exerts on our brain is borne from routine: a slow, steady, and consistent reckoning of our realities, and the ability to take a step back, become more aware, more accepting, less judgmental, and less reactive. Just as playing the piano over and over again over time strengthens and supports brain networks involved with playing music, mindfulness over time can make the brain, and thus, us, more efficient regulators, with a penchant for pausing to respond to our worlds instead of mindlessly reacting.” –  Jennifer Wolkin

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are also available on Google+ https://plus.google.com/106784388191201299496/posts

 

Study Summary

Kurth, F., MacKenzie-Graham, A., Toga, A. W., & Luders, E. (2015). Shifting brain asymmetry: the link between meditation and structural lateralization. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 10(1), 55–61. http://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsu029

 

Abstract

Previous studies have revealed an increased fractional anisotropy and greater thickness in the anterior parts of the corpus callosum in meditation practitioners compared with control subjects. Altered callosal features may be associated with an altered inter-hemispheric integration and the degree of brain asymmetry may also be shifted in meditation practitioners. Therefore, we investigated differences in gray matter asymmetry as well as correlations between gray matter asymmetry and years of meditation practice in 50 long-term meditators and 50 controls. We detected a decreased rightward asymmetry in the precuneus in meditators compared with controls. In addition, we observed that a stronger leftward asymmetry near the posterior intraparietal sulcus was positively associated with the number of meditation practice years. In a further exploratory analysis, we observed that a stronger rightward asymmetry in the pregenual cingulate cortex was negatively associated with the number of practice years. The group difference within the precuneus, as well as the positive correlations with meditation years in the pregenual cingulate cortex, suggests an adaptation of the default mode network in meditators. The positive correlation between meditation practice years and asymmetry near the posterior intraparietal sulcus may suggest that meditation is accompanied by changes in attention processing.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4994843/

 

Reduce Stress and Improve Health with Meditation

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By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“If you have unproductive worries, you can train yourself to experience those thoughts completely differently. You might think ‘I’m late, I might lose my job if I don’t get there on time, and it will be a disaster!’ Mindfulness teaches you to recognize, ‘Oh, there’s that thought again. I’ve been here before. But it’s just that—a thought, and not a part of my core self,’” – Elizabeth. Hoge

 

We spend approximately 25% of our adult lives at work. How we spend that time is immensely important for our overall well-being, including our psychological and physical health. Indeed, the work environment has even become an important part of our social lives, with friendships and leisure time activities often attached to the work environment. But, more than half of employees in the U.S. and nearly 2/3 worldwide are unhappy at work. This is primarily due to the fact that stress is epidemic in the workplace. A recent Harris poll found that 80 percent of workers feel stressed about one or more things in the workplace. This stress can lead to physical and psychological problems for managers and employees, including fatigue, sleep problems, depression, absenteeism, lower productivity, lower job satisfaction, and personal and professional burnout. Indeed, 46.4% of employees, report having psychological distress.

 

Mindfulness training of employees is a potential help with work related stress. It has been shown to reduce the psychological and physical reactions to stress overall and particularly in the workplace and to reduce burnout. A problem in implementing mindfulness programs in the workplace is the time required for the training. This makes many managers reticent to try it. So, it is important to develop programs that do not seriously impact on work time. A mindfulness training program that can be delivered quickly in a single session would be optimum. In today’s Research News article “Effect of yoga based techniques on stress and health indices using electro photonic imaging technique in managers.” See:

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1333462190011037/?type=3&theater

or see summary below or view the full text of the study at:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4969271/

Kushwah and colleagues investigate the effectiveness of Cyclic Meditation on stress and psychological well-being in managers. Cyclic Meditation is a mixture of meditation practice and yoga postures that are alternated. It can be implemented in a single 35-minute session. They recruited managers and assigned them randomly to either receive a Cyclic Meditation practice or a 35-minute period of supine rest. Assessments of health status and stress were measured with an indirect Electro Photonic Imaging (EPI) technique that was taken before and after the practice.

 

They found that that the Cyclic Meditation group in comparison to the rest group had a significant, 14.5%, reduction in stress and an 18.5% increase in health status. This is potentially an important finding as the intervention was delivered in a single 35-minute session. This may be highly acceptable for managers in the workplace and make it more likely that they would participate. This would also be a cost-effective strategy that would be acceptable to cost conscious employers.

 

The findings, however, are very short-term. More research is needed to determine if the single intervention has lasting effects or if the effects can be sustained by repeated, perhaps daily practice. It is impossible to determine if the meditative component or the yoga component of the practice or both in combination were responsible for the effects. Since, both meditation practice and yoga practice have been shown separately to reduce stress, it is likely that both were responsible for the current effects. More research is needed to investigate whether their effects are additive in reducing stress and improving health.

 

So, reduce stress and improve health with meditation.

 

“Meditation is a simple technique that, if practiced for as few as 10 minutes each day, can help you control stress, decrease anxiety, improve cardiovascular health, and achieve a greater capacity for relaxation.” – WebMD

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are also available on Google+ https://plus.google.com/106784388191201299496/posts

 

Study Summary

Kushwah, K. K., Srinivasan, T. M., Nagendra, H. R., & Ilavarasu, J. V. (2016). Effect of yoga based techniques on stress and health indices using electro photonic imaging technique in managers. Journal of Ayurveda and Integrative Medicine, 7(2), 119–123. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaim.2015.05.001

Abstract

Background: Meditation techniques are known to elicit relaxation response in which moving meditation which combines the practice of yoga postures and guided relaxation is known as Cyclic Meditation reported helpful in reducing the sympathetic arousal and improving health of practitioners.

Objectives: The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of Cyclic Meditation on stress and health indices in managers as measured by Electro Photonic Imaging (EPI) technique.

Materials and methods: EPI technique was used to assess participants before and after 35 min of Cyclic Meditation (CM) and equal duration of Supine Rest (SR) session. A total of sixty six male managers, age ranges from 35 to 60 years (mean ± SD 53.97 ± 5.96) were included in the study. EPI parameters, including Activation Coefficient, Integral Area left and right and Integral Entropy, left and right were taken for statistical analyses.

Results: Cyclic Meditation has produced a highly significant reduction in stress level, whereas this reduction was not found significant within SR group. There was a significant improvement in health index ‘Integral Area’ values in both left and right sides within the CM group while only IA right side showed a significant improvement within the CM group. The integral entropy value right side decreased significantly within the CM group, whereas IE left was found deteriorated within the SR group. Moreover, only IE left side has shown a significant difference between the groups.

Conclusion: The investigations in this study suggest that Cyclic Meditation practice reduces stress and improves psychosomatic health indices more effectively than Supine Rest in managers.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4969271/

 

Permanently Improve Brain Dynamics with Meditation Practice

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By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“The nature of brain vs. mind vs. consciousness is a question that may remain unanswerable but the important thing to remember is to live in awareness of how interconnected each of these aspects of yourself really are. Using these tips, you will grow in self-awareness and strengthen your connections with the deepest parts of your consciousness.” – Operation-Meditation

 

We spend a tremendous amount of our time with our minds wandering and not on the task or the environment at hand. We daydream, plan for the future, review the past, ruminate on our failures, exalt in our successes. In fact, we spend almost half of our waking hours off task with our mind wandering. You’d think that if we spend so much time doing this it must be enjoyable. But, in fact research has shown that when our mind is wandering we are actually unhappy compared to when we are paying attention to what is at hand.

 

A system of the brain known as the Default Mode Network (DMN) becomes active during wind wandering and relatively quiet during focused on task behavior. It is involved when we are engaged in internally focused tasks such as recalling deeply personal memories, daydreaming, sleeping, imagining the future and trying to take the perspective of others. The DMN involves neural structures including the medial prefrontal cortex, anterior and posterior cingulate cortices, precuneus, inferior parietal cortex, and lateral temporal cortex. These areas of the DMN are functionally connected, such that they are simultaneously active during mind wandering.

 

Meditation is known to reduce the size and activity of the Default Mode Network (DMN) through a process known as neuroplasticity where the size and connectivity of neural structures are modified by experience. In today’s Research News article “Temporal Dynamics of the Default Mode Network Characterize Meditation-Induced Alterations in Consciousness.” See:

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1330785286945394/?type=3&theater

or see summary below or view the full text of the study at:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4956663/

Panda and colleagues further investigate the effects of meditation on the DMN. They recruited male experienced meditators with over 20 years of daily meditation experience and a matched group of non-meditators. They then simultaneously measured brain activity with both functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (f-MRI) and with electroencephalography (EEG) both while the participants were at rest and during meditation.

 

They found that the meditators in comparison to the non-meditators had reduced connectivity of the posterior cingulate cortex that was further reduced during meditation. The posterior cingulate cortex is a key structure of the DMN. This suggests that meditation reduces the ability of the DMN to produce mind wandering. They also found increased connectivity in the middle frontal and middle temporal gyri that increased further during meditation. These are both structures associated with focused attention. These effects suggest that meditation experience increases the activity of the attentional system while decreasing the activity of the mind wandering system.

 

Panda and colleagues analyzed the electroencephalography (EEG) signals recorded simultaneously with the functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (f-MRI) characterizing periods of stable activity over brief periods of time called microstates. They found that meditators had these stable states more often and for longer periods of time both at rest and during meditation. The more years of meditation practice the greater the increased stability in the DMN. With the non-meditators these stable states in the DMN occurred more frequently and for longer periods during meditation. These findings suggest that meditation increases stability of the DMN and extensive meditation experience permanently alters the DMN to be more stable all of the time.

 

These findings suggest that meditation reduced the activity of the Default Mode Network (DMN) briefly during meditation or permanently with experience with meditation. This further suggests that meditation experience permanently alters the tendency for the mind to wander both during meditation and also at rest. The studies of the alterations of the nervous system with meditation suggest that the changes in the states of consciousness seen with meditation are reflected in changes in the underlying neural systems, producing great focus and less mind wandering.

 

So, permanently improve brain dynamics with meditation practice.

 

“we do know that meditation is a tool that can change brain activity to bring it closer to this optimal, high-performance brain wave pattern. Subjective experiences of meditators with this optimal brain wave pattern reveal that they experience bliss in this state.” – Shanida Nataraja

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are also available on Google+ https://plus.google.com/106784388191201299496/posts

 

Study Summary

Panda, R., Bharath, R. D., Upadhyay, N., Mangalore, S., Chennu, S., & Rao, S. L. (2016). Temporal Dynamics of the Default Mode Network Characterize Meditation-Induced Alterations in Consciousness. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 10, 372. http://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2016.00372

Abstract

Current research suggests that human consciousness is associated with complex, synchronous interactions between multiple cortical networks. In particular, the default mode network (DMN) of the resting brain is thought to be altered by changes in consciousness, including the meditative state. However, it remains unclear how meditation alters the fast and ever-changing dynamics of brain activity within this network. Here we addressed this question using simultaneous electroencephalography (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to compare the spatial extents and temporal dynamics of the DMN during rest and meditation. Using fMRI, we identified key reductions in the posterior cingulate hub of the DMN, along with increases in right frontal and left temporal areas, in experienced meditators during rest and during meditation, in comparison to healthy controls (HCs). We employed the simultaneously recorded EEG data to identify the topographical microstate corresponding to activation of the DMN. Analysis of the temporal dynamics of this microstate revealed that the average duration and frequency of occurrence of DMN microstate was higher in meditators compared to HCs. Both these temporal parameters increased during meditation, reflecting the state effect of meditation. In particular, we found that the alteration in the duration of the DMN microstate when meditators entered the meditative state correlated negatively with their years of meditation experience. This reflected a trait effect of meditation, highlighting its role in producing durable changes in temporal dynamics of the DMN. Taken together, these findings shed new light on short and long-term consequences of meditation practice on this key brain network.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4956663/