Brain systems

Meditation Practice Alters Brain Networks in the Elderly

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Meditation Practice Alters Brain Networks in the Elderly

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“A growing body of research supports the immediate benefits of meditation, such as reduced stress and anxiety levels, lower blood pressure, and enhanced happiness. Studies on mindfulness interventions show these effects are common in as few as eight weeks. While these initial perks may be reason enough for us to practice, meditation’s positive impact appears to be even more far-reaching, potentially adding years to our lives and improving cognitive function well into old age.” – Rina Deshpande

 

Human life is one of constant change. We revel in our increases in physical and mental capacities during development, but regret their decreases 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.

 

The nervous system is a dynamic entity, constantly changing and adapting to the environment. It will change size, activity, and connectivity in response to experience. These changes in the brain are called neuroplasticity. Over the last decade neuroscience has been studying the effects of contemplative practices on the brain and has identified neuroplastic changes in widespread area. and have found that meditation practice appears to mold and change the brain, producing psychological, physical, and spiritual benefits. 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.

 

The changes in the aging brain produced by meditation are not a simple increases in tissue throughout the brain but rather increases in some area and systems and decreases in others. In today’s Research News article “A longitudinal study of the effect of short-term meditation training on functional network organization of the aging brain.” See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5428857/, Cotier and colleagues studied the neuroplastic changes in brain systems produced by meditation in the elderly. They recruited health elderly participants (average age of years) and randomly assigned them to receive either 8 weeks of meditation or relaxation training. Training occurred in 22 90-minute group classes. “Meditation participants were taught to cultivate mindfulness through paying attention to the surrounding sounds and one’s own breathing, feelings and sensations on the present moment.” “Relaxation participants were taught diaphragmatic breathing, progressive muscle relaxation and imagery relaxation techniques aimed at enhancing body awareness and reducing body tension.”

 

Before and after training the participants underwent functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) scanning of their brains. They found that after 8-weeks of meditation practice there was reduced functional connectivity in the default mode network (DMN), salience network (SN), and somatomotor network (SMN) while after relaxation training these same systems showed increased functional connectivity. Also, in the meditation group “there was decreased connectivity strength between the DMN and other modules.”

 

These are very interesting results 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.

 

Hence the current results of reduced functional connectivity in the DMN and between the DMN and other neural systems suggests that the meditation practice resulted in changes in the brain reflective of decreased mind wandering and increased focused attention. These changes can be helpful to the elderly who demonstrate increasing difficulties with attention. These changes may underlie the ability of meditation practice to reduce cognitive decline in the elderly. Hence, they suggest that meditation practice by the elderly can change their nervous systems in beneficial ways, decreasing the tendency for the mind to wander away from the task at hand and improving attentional ability and thereby reducing the deterioration of thought processes.

 

So, alter brain networks in the elderly with meditation practice.

 

“at a time when Americans are living longer than ever before but experiencing higher rates of Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative disorders, the research is an important reminder that mindfulness can exert a long-lasting influence on brain health.” – Carolyn Gregoire

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

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

 

Study Summary

 

Cotier, F. A., Zhang, R., & Lee, T. M. C. (2017). A longitudinal study of the effect of short-term meditation training on functional network organization of the aging brain. Scientific Reports, 7, 598. http://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-00678-8

 

Abstract

The beneficial effects of meditation on preserving age-related changes in cognitive functioning are well established. Yet, the neural underpinnings of these positive effects have not been fully unveiled. This study employed a prospective longitudinal design, and graph-based analysis, to study how an eight-week meditation training vs. relaxation training shaped network configuration at global, intermediate, and local levels using graph theory in the elderly. At the intermediate level, meditation training lead to decreased intra-connectivity in the default mode network (DMN), salience network (SAN) and somatomotor network (SMN) modules post training. Also, there was decreased connectivity strength between the DMN and other modules. At a local level, meditation training lowered nodal strength in the left posterior cingulate gryus, bilateral paracentral lobule, and middle cingulate gyrus. According to previous literature, the direction of these changes is consistent with a movement towards a more self-detached viewpoint, as well as more efficient processing. Furthermore, our findings highlight the importance of considering brain network changes across organizational levels, as well as the pace at which these changes may occur. Overall, this study provides further support for short-term meditation as a potentially beneficial method of mental training for the elderly that warrants further investigation.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5428857/

MORE Mindfulness for Stopping Smoking

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MORE Mindfulness for Stopping Smoking

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“I liken it to having weeds in your garden. Standard treatments—for example, avoiding triggers such as ashtrays and lighters or using substitutes such as eating carrot sticks and chewing on your pen—just pull the heads off the weeds, so they grow back. These treatments don’t uproot the craving itself. In contrast, mindfulness really gets in there and pulls up the roots.” – Judson Brewer

 

“Tobacco use remains the single largest preventable cause of death and disease in the United States. Cigarette smoking kills more than 480,000 Americans each year, with more than 41,000 of these deaths from exposure to secondhand smoke. In addition, smoking-related illness in the United States costs more than $300 billion a year. In 2013, an estimated 17.8% (42.1 million) U.S. adults were current cigarette smokers.”  (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).

 

There are a wide variety of methods and strategies to quit smoking which are to only a very limited extent effective. According to the National Institutes of Health, about 40% of smokers who want to quit make a serious attempt to do so each year, but fewer than 5% actually succeed. Most people require three or four failed attempts before being successful. One problem is that nicotine is one of the most addictive substances known and withdrawal from nicotine is very stressful, producing many physical and psychological problems, including negative emotional states and depression. In essence the addict feels miserable without the nicotine. This promotes relapse to relieve the discomfort.

 

Better methods to quit which can not only promote quitting but also prevent relapse are badly needed. Mindfulness practices have been found to be helpful in treating addictions, including nicotine addiction, and reducing the risk of relapse. But, it is not known how mindfulness produces these beneficial effects. One possibility is that mindfulness training helps to alter how rewarding smoking is, called restructuring reward processes.

 

In today’s Research News article “Restructuring Reward Mechanisms in Nicotine Addiction: A Pilot fMRI Study of Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement for Cigarette Smokers.” See summary below or view the full text of the study at:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5360937/

Froeliger and colleagues examine whether restructuring reward processes is involved in mindfulness training’s effectiveness in aiding smoking cessation. They recruited nicotine-dependent adult smokers who reported smoking more than 10 cigarettes/day for a minimum of 2 years. They separated them into a mindfulness training group and a matched no-treatment control group. Mindfulness training, called Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement (MORE) involved 8 weekly sessions, including mindful breathing and body scan meditations, cognitive reappraisal to decrease negative emotions and craving, and savoring to augment natural reward processing and positive emotion. They were also encouraged to practice at home for 15 minutes per day. The groups were measured for smoking by self-report and breath CO2 measurement, craving to smoke, positive and negative emotions, and mindfulness. Both groups underwent functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) before and after the 8-week training. During scanning they were instructed to imagine feeling positive emotions in response to a picture or to simply look at neutral or smoking related images.

 

They found that MORE mindfulness training significantly reduced cigarette consumption and improved positive emotions following treatment. The fMRI scans revealed significant changes in brain structure and connectivity in the MORE mindfulness training group. While imagining positive reactions to pictures, after, but not before training, the MORE mindfulness trained group evidenced a significantly greater response than the control group in the rostral anterior cingulate cortex and ventral striatum. Conversely, while viewing smoking related images, the MORE mindfulness trained group evidenced a significantly lower response than the control group in the rostral anterior cingulate cortex and ventral striatum. Hence, MORE mindfulness training appeared to restructure the brain increasing brain responses to positive thoughts while decreasing them to smoking stimuli. So, treatment appeared to change the brain making it react more positively to everyday stimuli and more negatively to smoking images, reducing the emotional rewards of smoking.

 

They also found that the larger the brain response to imagining positive emotions to everyday stimuli in the rostral anterior cingulate cortex and ventral striatum the greater the positive emotions and the smaller the craving for cigarettes and the greater the reduction in cigarettes smoked. So, mindfulness training increased the response of these structures resulting in greater positive mood and a lowering of cigarette craving and consumption. This suggests that MORE mindfulness training reduces craving and smoking by changing the brain to produce less positive emotional responses to smoking.

 

These are fascinating results and encourage further, better controlled work than this pilot study that did not have an active control condition. But, the results clearly suggest that mindfulness training is effective in helping nicotine addicts stop smoking and does so by altering the brain to be more positive normally and less positive to smoking. The mindfulness training appeared to restructure the brain making smoking less rewarding and the rest of life more so, leading to reduced smoking.

 

So, MORE mindfulness for stopping smoking.

 

“Early evidence suggests that exercises aimed at increasing self-control, such as mindfulness meditation, can decrease the unconscious influences that motivate a person to smoke,” – Nora Volkow

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

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

 

Study Summary

Froeliger, B., Mathew, A. R., McConnell, P. A., Eichberg, C., Saladin, M. E., Carpenter, M. J., & Garland, E. L. (2017). Restructuring Reward Mechanisms in Nicotine Addiction: A Pilot fMRI Study of Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement for Cigarette Smokers. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine : eCAM, 2017, 7018014. http://doi.org/10.1155/2017/7018014

 

Abstract

The primary goal of this pilot feasibility study was to examine the effects of Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement (MORE), a behavioral treatment grounded in dual-process models derived from cognitive science, on frontostriatal reward processes among cigarette smokers. Healthy adult (N = 13; mean (SD) age 49 ± 12.2) smokers provided informed consent to participate in a 10-week study testing MORE versus a comparison group (CG). All participants underwent two fMRI scans: pre-tx and after 8-weeks of MORE. Emotion regulation (ER), smoking cue reactivity (CR), and resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) were assessed at each fMRI visit; smoking and mood were assessed throughout. As compared to the CG, MORE significantly reduced smoking (d = 2.06) and increased positive affect (d = 2.02). MORE participants evidenced decreased CR-BOLD response in ventral striatum (VS; d = 1.57) and ventral prefrontal cortex (vPFC; d = 1.7) and increased positive ER-BOLD in VS (dVS = 2.13) and vPFC (dvmPFC = 2.66). Importantly, ER was correlated with smoking reduction (r’s = .68 to .91) and increased positive affect (r’s = .52 to .61). These findings provide preliminary evidence that MORE may facilitate the restructuring of reward processes and play a role in treating the pathophysiology of nicotine addiction.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5360937/

 

Change the Brain with Brief Mindfulness Training

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Change the Brain with Brief Mindfulness Training

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“We can intentionally shape the direction of plasticity changes in our brain. By focusing on wholesome thoughts, for example, and directing our intentions in those ways, we can potentially influence the plasticity of our brains and shape them in ways that can be beneficial. That leads us to the inevitable conclusion that qualities like warm-heartedness and well-being should best be regarded as skills.” – Richie Davidson

 

There has accumulated a large amount of research demonstrating that meditation has significant benefits for psychological, physical, and spiritual wellbeing. Its positive effects are so widespread that it is difficult to find any other treatment of any kind with such broad beneficial effects. They range from emotion regulation, attention, cognitive performance and happiness to severe mental and physical illnesses. These effects appear to be relatively permanent which suggests that mindfulness meditation produces some relatively permanent change in the brain.

 

The nervous system is a dynamic entity, constantly changing and adapting to the environment. It will change size, activity, and connectivity in response to experience. For example, the brain area that controls the right index finger has been found to be larger in blind subjects who use braille than in sighted individuals.  Similarly, cab drivers in London who navigate the twisting streets of the city, have a larger hippocampus, which is involved in spatial navigation, than predefined route bus drivers. These changes in the brain are called neuroplasticity. Over the last decade neuroscience has been studying the effects of contemplative practices on the brain and has identified neuroplastic changes in widespread areas. In other words, meditation practice appears to mold and change the brain, producing psychological, physical, and spiritual benefits.

 

Although the effectiveness of meditation in producing psychological and physical benefits and in producing neuroplastic changes to the brain, the needed dose is not known. In other words, there is a need to investigate the effectiveness of different amounts of meditation practice and exactly what changes they produce in the brain. In today’s Research News article “Brief Mental Training Reorganizes Large-Scale Brain Networks.” See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5328965/

Tang and colleagues investigate the effects of a brief mindfulness meditation training, 10 30-minute sessions over 2 weeks, on functional connections between brain structures. The meditation training was called Integrative Body–Mind Training (IBMT) and includes body relaxation, mental imagery and open monitoring mindfulness meditation.

 

They recruited meditation naive male and female undergraduate students and collected functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) scans before and after training and compared resting functional connectivity after training to that observed at baseline. They found 105 different connectivity changes in the brains following mindfulness meditation practice. Functional connectivity was increased between the Occipital Cortex and a wide range of other areas, particularly in the Temporal Cortex, mainly the superior temporal gyrus and its pole, and the insula, and also with the frontal cortex, mainly the frontal operculum.

 

The study demonstrated that even a brief mindfulness meditation training of only 10 total hours of practice produces widespread changes in the nervous system. This is remarkable that such a small amount of training could produce such profound changes. This testifies to the power of mindfulness training to alter how our physiology processes experience. It is curious that the Occipital Cortex was found to be so involved. Occipital Cortex is involved in visual processing but Integrative Body–Mind Training (IBMT) is practiced with eyes closed. It is possible that the mental imagery was responsible for this involvement. But, it will take more research to understand the nature of the observed changes. Regardless it is clear that major changes in brain connectivity are produced even by brief mindfulness meditation practice.

 

So, change the brain with brief mindfulness training.

 

“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

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

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

 

Study Summary

Tang, Y.-Y., Tang, Y., Tang, R., & Lewis-Peacock, J. A. (2017). Brief Mental Training Reorganizes Large-Scale Brain Networks. Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience, 11, 6. http://doi.org/10.3389/fnsys.2017.00006

 

Abstract

Emerging evidences have shown that one form of mental training—mindfulness meditation, can improve attention, emotion regulation and cognitive performance through changing brain activity and structural connectivity. However, whether and how the short-term mindfulness meditation alters large-scale brain networks are not well understood. Here, we applied a novel data-driven technique, the multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) to resting-state fMRI (rsfMRI) data to identify changes in brain activity patterns and assess the neural mechanisms induced by a brief mindfulness training—integrative body–mind training (IBMT), which was previously reported in our series of randomized studies. Whole brain rsfMRI was performed on an undergraduate group who received 2 weeks of IBMT with 30 min per session (5 h training in total). Classifiers were trained on measures of functional connectivity in this fMRI data, and they were able to reliably differentiate (with 72% accuracy) patterns of connectivity from before vs. after the IBMT training. After training, an increase in positive functional connections (60 connections) were detected, primarily involving bilateral superior/middle occipital gyrus, bilateral frontale operculum, bilateral superior temporal gyrus, right superior temporal pole, bilateral insula, caudate and cerebellum. These results suggest that brief mental training alters the functional connectivity of large-scale brain networks at rest that may involve a portion of the neural circuitry supporting attention, cognitive and affective processing, awareness and sensory integration and reward processing.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5328965/

 

Strengthen the Brain to Prevent Aging Cognitive Decline with Tai Chi

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Strengthen the Brain to Prevent Aging Cognitive Decline with Tai Chi

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“Another great benefit of Tai Chi is that it’s accessible to people of all ages and fitness abilities. It’s the focus on the subtle movements that exercise the brain and boost cognitive abilities.” – Karl Romain

 

Human life is one of constant change. We revel in our increases in physical and mental capacities during development, but regret their decreases 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.

 

Hence, there is some hope for age related cognitive decline, as there is evidence that it can be slowed. There are some indications that physical and mental exercise can reduce the rate of cognitive decline and lower the chances of dementia. For example, contemplative practices such as meditation, yoga, and Tai Chi and Qigong have all been shown to be beneficial in slowing or delaying physical and mental decline with aging. Mindfulness practices have been shown to improve cognitive processes while gentle mindful exercises such as Tai Chi and Qigong have been shown to slow age related cognitive decline. Although the mindful movement practice of Tai Chi has been shown to slow cognitive decline, it is not known what neural systems are involved.

 

In today’s Research News article “Tai Chi Chuan and Baduanjin practice modulates functional connectivity of the cognitive control network in older adults.” See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5294576/

Tao and colleagues study the effects of the mindful movement practices of Tai Chi and Baduanjin, a simplified version of Tai Chi, on neural systems and cognitive processes. They recruited older adults (50-70 years of age) and assigned them to 12 weeks of Tai Chi practice, Baduanjin practice, or health education. Before and after training, they were subjected to functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (f-MRI) scanning of their brains and were measured for mental control.

 

They found that after the practice period, both the Tai Chi and Baduanjin practice groups had significantly superior mental control than the control group. Thus, the mindful movement groups were better able to comprehend and maintain task demands over a period of time. In addition, they found that Tai Chi group showed a significant decrease in functional connectivity between the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the left superior frontal gyrus and anterior cingulate cortex; and the Baduanjin group showed a significant decrease in functional connectivity between the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the left putamen and insula. Hence, the mindful movement practices altered the brain in the areas responsible for high level cognitive processes while improving cognitive control. The association between the neural and mental changes was reflected in the fact that the greater the change in functional connectivity between the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the putamen, the greater the change in mental control.

 

These results are interesting and in line with prior findings that mindfulness practices alter the nervous system in regions responsible for higher mental processes. They demonstrate that mindful movement practices also do this and at the same time improve the individual’s ability to comprehend and maintain task demands over a period of time, mental control. These practices produce these changes in older individuals. This suggests that Tai Chi may be an effective practice to restrain cognitive decline in aging individual.

 

So, strengthen the brain to prevent aging cognitive decline with Tai Chi.

 

“elderly people practising Tai Chi – an ancient Chinese form of slow, meditative exercise – just three times a week can boost brain volume and improve memory and thinking.” – The Telegraph

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

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

 

Study Summary

Tao, J., Chen, X., Egorova, N., Liu, J., Xue, X., Wang, Q., … Kong, J. (2017). Tai Chi Chuan and Baduanjin practice modulates functional connectivity of the cognitive control network in older adults. Scientific Reports, 7, 41581. http://doi.org/10.1038/srep41581

 

Abstract

Cognitive impairment is one of the most common problem saffecting older adults. In this study, we investigated whether Tai Chi Chuan and Baduanjin practice can modulate mental control functionand the resting state functional connectivity (rsFC) of the cognitive control network in older adults. Participants in the two exercise groups practiced either Tai Chi Chuan or Baduanjin for 12 weeks, and those in the control group received basic health education. Memory tests and fMRI scans were conducted at baseline and at the end of the study. Seed-based (bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, DLPFC) rsFC analysis was performed. We found that compared to the controls, 1) both Tai Chi Chuan and Baduanjin groups demonstrated significant improvements in mental control function; 2) the Tai Chi Chuan group showed a significant decrease in rsFC between the DLPFC and the left superior frontal gyrus (SFG) and anterior cingulate cortex; and 3) the Baduanjin group showed a significant decrease in rsFC between the DLPFC and the left putamen and insula. Mental control improvement was negatively associated with rsFC DLPFC-putamen changes across all subjects. These findings demonstrate the potential of Tai Chi Chuan and Baduanjin exercises in preventing cognitive decline.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5294576/

 

Change the Brain to Deal with Uncomfortable Sensations with Mindfulness

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Change the Brain to Deal with Uncomfortable Sensations with Mindfulness

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“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

 

The nervous system is a dynamic entity, constantly changing and adapting to the environment. It will change size, activity, and connectivity in response to experience. For example, the brain area that controls the right index finger has been found to be larger in blind subjects who use braille than in sighted individuals.  Similarly, cab drivers in London who navigate the twisting streets of the city, have a larger hippocampus, which is involved in spatial navigation, than predefined route bus drivers. These changes in the brain are called neuroplasticity. Over the last decade neuroscience has been studying the effects of contemplative practices on the brain and has identified neuroplastic changes in widespread areas. In other words, mindfulness practice appears to produce relatively permanent changes in the brain, producing psychological, physical, and spiritual benefits.

 

Dealing with aversive or painful stimuli can be stressful and difficult. There are, however, methods that can improve the individual’s ability to effectively cope with them. Indeed, mindfulness training has been shown to reduce the experience of and response to aversive stimuli and to reduce the physiological and psychological responses to stress. There are indications that mindfulness training may do so by altering the nervous system. The brain regions of the insula and the anterior cingulate cortex have been shown to be involved in interoceptive awareness, that is the conscious appreciation of the internal state of the body. Hence, these structures would be involved in the processing of aversive and painful stimuli. It would seem reasonable, then, to theorize that mindfulness training improves coping with the pain and stress produced by aversive stimuli by changing the activation of the insula and the anterior cingulate cortex.

 

In today’s Research News article “Mindfulness-based training attenuates insula response to an aversive interoceptive challenge.” See summary below or view the full text of the study at:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4692309/

Haase and colleagues recruited U.S. Marines who were undergoing pre-deployment training. They were randomly assigned to receive either the usual training or the training plus 8 weeks of mindfulness training occurring in weekly 2-hour sessions. They were also encouraged to practice 30 minutes per day by themselves. Before and after training they were measured for mindfulness, response to stressful experiences, and sleep quality. In addition, both before and after training the Marines completed a vigilance task while their brains underwent Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI scans). While they were undergoing scanning, periodically they had their breathing restricted by increasing the load on the lungs to inhale for a number of 1-minute periods. This produced oxygen restriction that was aversive and stressful. The participants rated how aversive the breathing restriction was.

 

They found that the breathing restriction was indeed aversive for both groups and there was no effect of mindfulness training on the aversiveness of the restriction. The mindfulness trained Marines, however, had significantly reduced neural responses from the insula and the anterior cingulate cortex after mindfulness training, while the control group did not. Hence, although mindfulness training did not change the perceived aversiveness of the breathing restriction, it did reduce the response of the brain areas responsible for interoceptive awareness.

 

These results suggest that mindfulness training produced neuroplastic changes in the nervous system, altering the brain areas that are responsible for reacting and consciously appreciating aversive conditions.  It has been previously demonstrated that mindfulness training reduces the experience of, and response to aversive stimuli and stress. Hence, the present findings suggest that neuroplastic alterations to the insula and the anterior cingulate cortex produced by mindfulness training may underlie the improved ability to cope with aversive stimuli.

 

So, change the brain to deal with uncomfortable sensations with mindfulness.

 

“Neuroscientists have also shown that practicing mindfulness affects brain areas related to perception, body awareness, pain tolerance, emotion regulation, introspection, complex thinking, and sense of self. While more research is needed to document these changes over time and to understand underlying mechanisms, the converging evidence is compelling.” – Christina Congleton

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

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

 

Study Summary

Haase, L., Thom, N. J., Shukla, A., Davenport, P. W., Simmons, A. N., Stanley, E. A., … Johnson, D. C. (2016). Mindfulness-based training attenuates insula response to an aversive interoceptive challenge. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 11(1), 182–190. http://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsu042

 

Abstract

Neuroimaging studies of mindfulness training (MT) modulate anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and insula among other brain regions, which are important for attentional control, emotional regulation and interoception. Inspiratory breathing load (IBL) is an experimental approach to examine how an individual responds to an aversive stimulus. Military personnel are at increased risk for cognitive, emotional and physiological compromise as a consequence of prolonged exposure to stressful environments and, therefore, may benefit from MT. This study investigated whether MT modulates neural processing of interoceptive distress in infantry marines scheduled to undergo pre-deployment training and deployment to Afghanistan. Marines were divided into two groups: individuals who received training as usual (control) and individuals who received an additional 20-h mindfulness-based mind fitness training (MMFT). All subjects completed an IBL task during functional magnetic resonance imaging at baseline and post-MMFT training. Marines who underwent MMFT relative to controls demonstrated a significant attenuation of right anterior insula and ACC during the experience of loaded breathing. These results support the hypothesis that MT changes brain activation such that individuals process more effectively an aversive interoceptive stimulus. Thus, MT may serve as a training technique to modulate the brain’s response to negative interoceptive stimuli, which may help to improve resilience.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4692309/

Change the Genes and the Brain for the Better with Mindfulness

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Change the Genes and the Brain for the Better with Mindfulness

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“Scientists looked at how mindfulness practice affected genetic differences between one group of expert meditators compared with a control group of untrained meditators. “most interestingly, the changes were observed in genes that are the current targets of anti-inflammatory and analgesic drugs.” – Perla Kaliman

 

There is an accumulating volume of research findings to demonstrate that mind-body therapies have highly beneficial effects on the health and well-being of humans. These include meditation, yoga, tai chi, qigong, biofeedback, progressive muscle relaxation, guided imagery, hypnosis, and deep breathing exercises. Because of their proven benefits the application of these practices to relieving human suffering has skyrocketed.

 

It is clear that Mind-body therapies affect the physiology. In other words, the mind can alter the body. One way it can do that is by altering the nervous system. 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.

 

The mind can also affect the physiology through altering genetic processes. The genes dictate all of the chemical processes in our bodies including the immune system and the inflammatory response. In turn, the genes can affect our minds. In fact, the genes have been shown to affect an individual’s inherent emotions and level of mindfulness.

 

There has been a considerable amount of research over the last decade on the effects of mind-body therapies on the nervous system and gene expression. In today’s Research News article “The Embodied Mind: A Review on Functional Genomic and Neurological Correlates of Mind-Body Therapies.” See summary below. Muehsam and colleagues review and summarize these studies. They categorized the studies as either top-down, where mind-body therapies alter the physiology by altering attention, intention, and cognitive processes, or bottom-up, where the physical processes involved in mind-body therapies affect the nervous system. Hence, mind-body therapies act by altering the immune systems and the nervous system.

 

One of the primary actions of mind-body therapies is to reduce the psychological and physiological responses to stress which, in turn, affects wellness and well-being.  Studies indicate that these therapies alter the response of the brain-hormone axis that results in the production of glucocorticoids and alters the balance of sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. Both of these effects alter gene expression, cellular aging, immune function, and healthy brain function. In addition, mind-body therapies can alter the immune systems inflammatory processes via action on the vagus nerve. This reduces the damage that can occur due to chronic stress producing chronic inflammation. Thus mind-body therapies act by eliminating or lessening the harmful effects of chronic stressors, thus allowing the body’s innate healing responses to be fully expressed.

 

The second major way mind-body practices impact the individual’s health and well-being is through neuromodulation. Mind-body practices alter the individual’s cognitive/affective state which have been shown to influence activity in brain regions including orbitofrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, amygdala, hippocampus, and somatosensory cortex. These practices alter the volume of brain tissue, its activity, and its connectivity with other brain regions and appear to produce relatively permanent changes in the brain via neuroplasticity. In addition, they decrease the size and connectivity of structures associated with mind wandering and self-referential thinking, known as the Default Mode Network (DMN). These changes, in turn, affect attention, learning, and emotion regulation, all of which are important for psychological health.

 

So, the published research literature reflects an increasing understanding of not only the beneficial effects of mind-body practices, but also the physiological processes and mechanisms though which these benefits occur. This produces a clear picture that mind-body practices act through the nervous and immune systems to improve the health and well-being of the practitioners.

 

“Mindfulness:  a way to keep our brains healthy, to support self-regulation and effective decision-making capabilities, and to protect ourselves from toxic stress. It can be integrated into one’s religious or spiritual life, or practiced as a form of secular mental training.  When we take a seat, take a breath, and commit to being mindful, particularly when we gather with others who are doing the same, we have the potential to be changed.” – Christina Congleton

 

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

Muehsam D, Lutgendorf S, Mills PJ, Rickhi B, Chevalier G, Bat N, Chopra D, Gurfein B. The Embodied Mind: A Review on Functional Genomic and Neurological Correlates of Mind-Body Therapies. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2016 Dec 22. pii: S0149-7634(16)30325-6. doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2016.12.027. [Epub ahead of print] Review.

 

Highlights

  • Functional genomic and neurological correlates of mind-body practices are reviewed.
  • EEG and Neuroimaging correlates of mind-body therapies and meditation are reviewed.
  • Mechanisms of action by which mind-body practices influence health outcomes are discussed

Abstract

A broad range of mind-body therapies (MBTs) are used by the public today, and a growing body of clinical and basic sciences research has resulted in evidence-based integration of many MBTs into clinical practice. Basic sciences research has identified some of the physiological correlates of MBT practices, leading to a better understanding of the processes by which emotional, cognitive and psychosocial factors can influence health outcomes and well-being. In particular, results from functional genomics and neuroimaging describe some of the processes involved in the mind-body connection and how these can influence health outcomes. Functional genomic and neurophysiological correlates of MBTs are reviewed, detailing studies showing changes in sympathetic nervous system activation of gene transcription factors involved in immune function and inflammation, electroencephalographic and neuroimaging studies on MBT practices, and persistent changes in neural function and morphology associated with these practices. While the broad diversity of study designs and MBTs studied presents a patchwork of results requiring further validation through replication and longitudinal studies, clear themes emerge for MBTs as immunomodulatory, with effects on leukocyte transcription and function related to inflammatory and innate immune responses, and neuromodulatory, with effects on brain function and morphology relevant for attention, learning, and emotion regulation. By detailing the potential mechanisms of action by which MBTs may influence health outcomes, the data generated by these studies have contributed significantly towards a better understanding of the biological mechanisms underlying MBTs.

Reduce Amygdala Mediated Stress responses with Mindfulness

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Reduce Amygdala Mediated Stress responses with Mindfulness

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“It is vital to practice mindfulness to ensure you help the mind to relieve stress. Notably, constant fear and anxiety are likely to sabotage and hinder achievements. Mindfulness can be effective in dealing with both stress and anxiety.“ – Pick the Brain

 

Stress is an integral part of life. In fact, I’ve quipped that the definition of death is when stress ceases. People often think of stress as a bad thing. But, it is in fact essential to the health of the body. If the muscles are not stressed to some extent they deteriorate. As it turns out, this is also true for the brain. The same goes for our psychological health. If we don’t have any stress, we call it boredom. In fact, we invest time and resources in stressing ourselves, e.g. ridding rollercoasters, sky diving, competing in sports, etc. We say we love a challenge, but, challenges are all stressful. So, we actually love to stress ourselves. In moderation, it is healthful and provides interest and fun to life.

 

If stress, is high or is prolonged, however, it can be problematic. It can damage our physical and mental health and even reduce our longevity, leading to premature deaths. So, it is important that we employ methods to either reduce or control high or prolonged stress or reduce our responses to it. Mindfulness practices have been found routinely to reduce the psychological and physiological responses to stress. It is known that stress not only affects the body but also affects the brain, producing changes particularly in neural circuits involving the Amygdala. Mindfulness also alters the brain, particularly neural circuits involved in attention, executive functions, and emotion regulation. This suggests that mindfulness may also alter the Amygdala circuits in the brain to affect the stress responses.

 

In today’s Research News article “Mindfulness meditation training alters stress-related amygdala resting state functional connectivity: a randomized controlled trial.” See:

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1470331626324092/?type=3&theater

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

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4666115/

Taren and colleagues recruited adult participants from the community and measure perceived stress and also scanned their brains with functional magnetic imaging (f-MRI). They found that the greater the perceived stress in the individual the greater the functional connectivity between the Amygdala and the Cingulate Cortex. This verified the notion that stress can act by altering the neural circuits involving the Amygdala but was correlational and did not demonstrate causation.

 

Taren and colleagues then went on to examine the effects of meditation practice on these Amygdala circuits. They recruited unemployed community participants who were seeking employment and also exhibited high stress levels and randomly assigned them to either an intensive 3-day mindfulness meditation condition or a 3-day rest and relaxation condition. The mindfulness practice consisted of the 8-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program condensed into an intensive 3-day period. In the rest and relaxation condition, the participants engaged in similar activities to those included in an MBSR program but were instructed to do them in a restful way rather than a mindful way. Before and after the 3-day intervention the participants underwent f-MRI scans of their brains.

 

The researchers found that prior to the intervention period both groups displayed relatively high functional connectivity of the Amygdala with the Cingulate Cortex, but following meditation training, but not relaxation, there was a significant reduction in this connectivity. They also found that a biological marker of stress, cortisol levels, was inversely related to reductions in the connectivity; the greater the reduction in connectivity the greater the reduction in the cortisol levels. This suggests that mindfulness training reduces stress responses by reducing the ability of the Amygdala to affect other brain regions.

 

These results are interesting and provide evidence of the types of changes in the brain produced by mindfulness training that underlie the stress reducing properties of mindfulness training. The Amygdala is known to be involved in stress responses and emotionality so reducing its ability to affect other neural structures would appear to be critical for mindfulness’ stress reducing properties. Hence, a coherent picture is emerging of the physiological mechanisms underlying the ability of mindfulness to reduce stress responses.

 

So, reduce amygdala mediated stress responses with mindfulness.

 

“The picture we have is that mindfulness practice increases one’s ability to recruit higher order, pre-frontal cortex regions in order to down-regulate lower-order brain activity. In other words, our more primal responses to stress seem to be superseded by more thoughtful ones.” – Adrienne Taren

 

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

Taren, A. A., Gianaros, P. J., Greco, C. M., Lindsay, E. K., Fairgrieve, A., Brown, K. W., … Creswell, J. D. (2015). Mindfulness meditation training alters stress-related amygdala resting state functional connectivity: a randomized controlled trial. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 10(12), 1758–1768. http://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsv066

 

Abstract

Recent studies indicate that mindfulness meditation training interventions reduce stress and improve stress-related health outcomes, but the neural pathways for these effects are unknown. The present research evaluates whether mindfulness meditation training alters resting state functional connectivity (rsFC) of the amygdala, a region known to coordinate stress processing and physiological stress responses. We show in an initial discovery study that higher perceived stress over the past month is associated with greater bilateral amygdala-subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (sgACC) rsFC in a sample of community adults (n = 130). A follow-up, single-blind randomized controlled trial shows that a 3-day intensive mindfulness meditation training intervention (relative to a well-matched 3-day relaxation training intervention without a mindfulness component) reduced right amygdala-sgACC rsFC in a sample of stressed unemployed community adults (n = 35). Although stress may increase amygdala-sgACC rsFC, brief training in mindfulness meditation could reverse these effects. This work provides an initial indication that mindfulness meditation training promotes functional neuroplastic changes, suggesting an amygdala-sgACC pathway for stress reduction effects.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4666115/

 

Change the Brain for Healthy Aging with Meditation

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Change the Brain for Healthy Aging with Meditation

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“With recent neuroscientific findings, meditation as a practice has been shown to literally rewire brain circuits that boost both mind and body health. These benefits of meditation have surfaced alongside the revelation that the brain can be deeply transformed through experience –  a quality known as “neuroplasticity.”” –  Quora

 

The nervous system is a dynamic entity, constantly changing and adapting to the environment. It will change size, activity, and connectivity in response to repeated or prolonged experiences. For example, the brain area that controls the right index finger has been found to be larger in blind subjects who use braille than in sighted individuals.  Similarly, cab drivers in London who navigate the twisting streets of the city, have a larger hippocampus, which is involved in spatial navigation, than predefined route bus drivers. These changes in the brain are called neuroplasticity. Over the last decade neuroscience has been studying the effects of contemplative practices on the brain and have identified neuroplastic changes in widespread areas. In other words, meditation practice appears to mold and change the brain, producing psychological, physical, and spiritual benefits.

 

The seemingly simple behavior of meditation is actually quite complex. Adding to the complexity is that there are a variety of different meditation techniques. To begin to understand exactly how meditation works to produce its benefit, it is important to determine what various contemplative techniques do. So, there is a need to test and compare the effects of a variety of techniques and variations. There are a number of different ways to classify contemplative techniques including focused attention techniques such as breath meditation of loving kindness meditation and active meditations such as yoga or tai chi. All of these techniques, even though very different, have been shown to improve the physical and mental health of the individual. A comparison of the effects on the brain of these different techniques could reveal what neural changes are in common that might explain the common benefits and which are unique to the specific techniques.

 

In today’s Research News article “The Neural Mechanisms of Meditative Practices: Novel Approaches for Healthy Aging.” See:

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1463868163637105/?type=3&theater

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

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5110576/

Acevedo and colleagues review the published research literature on the changes to the brain produced by focused meditation and active meditation. In particular, they compared the results for meditation practices that have a single focus, such as breath meditation or loving kindness meditation, versus those that active meditations that involved multiple foci of attention, such as chanting, active postures, breathing practices, or working with a partner. They discovered 7 studies in the literature that investigated the neural changes produced by focused type meditation practices and 6 studies that investigated active meditation practices.

 

They report that the research has identified a set of brain structures that are involved in attention, memory, conscious awareness, reward, and emotional regulation that are affected in common with both focused and active meditative practices. These are the same areas that tend to deteriorate with aging, This may explain why meditation tends to slow down the mental deterioration that occurs even in healthy aging.

 

Focused meditation uniquely activated areas involved in sensory and emotional integration, self-control, body awareness, and movement. So, focused meditation may have greater effects on emotion regulation and conscious awareness of the body and movement resulting in greater self-control. On the other hand, active meditations appeared to uniquely affect brain regions that are involved in “willful acts,” language, and movement, as well as social processes. Hence the two forms of meditation have benefits in common and some benefits that are unique to the type of meditation practice.

 

These results are reasonable given the natures of the meditation types, where focused meditation appears to benefit internal awareness while active meditation appears to benefit control of willful behavior of language and movement. Both types appear to have extensive positive benefits and appear to counteract the degenerative changes occurring with healthy aging. But their differences suggest that each may be better for different kinds of people and different disorders. Future research should explore the utility of each for targeted physical or psychological weaknesses in the individual.

 

So, change the brain for healthy aging 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

Acevedo, B. P., Pospos, S., & Lavretsky, H. (2016). The Neural Mechanisms of Meditative Practices: Novel Approaches for Healthy Aging. Current Behavioral Neuroscience Reports, 3(4), 328–339. http://doi.org/10.1007/s40473-016-0098-x

 

Abstract

Objectives: Meditation has been shown to have physical, cognitive, and psychological health benefits that can be used to promote healthy aging. However, the common and specific mechanisms of response remain elusive due to the diverse nature of mind–body practices.

Methods: In this review, we aim to compare the neural circuits implicated in focused-attention meditative practices that focus on present-moment awareness to those involved in active-type meditative practices (e.g., yoga) that combine movement, including chanting, with breath practices and meditation.

Recent Findings: Recent meta-analyses and individual studies demonstrated common brain effects for attention-based meditative practices and active-based meditations in areas involved in reward processing and learning, attention and memory, awareness and sensory integration, and self-referential processing and emotional control, while deactivation was seen in the amygdala, an area implicated in emotion processing. Unique effects for mindfulness practices were found in brain regions involved in body awareness, attention, and the integration of emotion and sensory processing. Effects specific to active-based meditations appeared in brain areas involved in self-control, social cognition, language, speech, tactile stimulation, sensorimotor integration, and motor function.

Summary: This review suggests that mind–body practices can target different brain systems that are involved in the regulation of attention, emotional control, mood, and executive cognition that can be used to treat or prevent mood and cognitive disorders of aging, such as depression and caregiver stress, or serve as “brain fitness” exercise. Benefits may include improving brain functional connectivity in brain systems that generally degenerate with Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and other aging-related diseases.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5110576/

 

Improve Neural Regulation of Negative Emotions with Mindfulness

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Improve Neural Regulation of Negative Emotions with Mindfulness

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“Meditation might help depression, stress and anxiety but it’s not a ‘positive thinking’ tool that pretends everything is fine when it isn’t. It’s a way of being able to be with things as they are, in pain or in grief. It’s a way of being able to experience those inevitable parts of life, without your brain running away with its thoughts and making things worse, or pushing them away and resisting them.  It’s a way of being happy when we are happy, and to be fully present with our happiness, without holding onto that feeling too tightly because we fear the alternative.  And that’s where true peace lives.” – Ruth Rosselson

 

We’re very emotional creatures. Without emotion, life is flat and uninteresting. They are so important to us that they affect mostly everything that we do and say and can even be determinants of life or death. Anger, fear, and hate can lead to murderous consequences. Anxiety and depression can lead to suicide. At the same time love, joy, and happiness can make life worth living. Our emotions also affect us physically with positive emotions associated with health, well-being, and longevity and negative emotions associated with stress, disease, and shorter life spans.

 

There is a prevalent popular notion that to effectively deal with negative emotions such as grief and sadness, they have to be fully expressed and experienced. This is in general true as repression of powerful emotions can have long-term negative consequences. But, overexpressing emotions such that they become a focus of worry and rumination also has negative consequences. So, the key to dealing with powerful negative emotions is the middle way, to allow their expression, but then letting them go and moving on. A method to enhance this middle way is mindfulness. It has been shown to improve emotion regulation. People either spontaneously high in mindfulness or trained in mindfulness are better able to be completely in touch with their emotions and feel them completely, while being able to respond to them more appropriately and adaptively. In other words, mindful people are better able to experience yet control emotions. The ability of mindfulness training to improve emotion regulation is thought to be the basis for a wide variety of benefits that mindfulness provides to mental health.

 

Mindfulness appears to act on emotions by producing relatively permanent changes to the nervous system, increasing the activity, size, and connectivity of some structures while decreasing it for others in a process known as neuroplasticity. So, mindfulness practice appears to affect emotion regulation by producing neuroplastic changes to the structures of the nervous system that underlie emotion. In today’s Research News article “Minding One’s Emotions: Mindfulness Training Alters the Neural Expression of Sadness.” See:

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1456402104383711/?type=3&theater

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

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5017873/

Farb and colleagues investigate the nervous system’s response to a negative emotion, sadness, in people trained in mindfulness. They recruited participants and randomly assigned them to either receive an 8-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program or to a wait-list control group. Before and after training the participants were measured for anxiety, depression, and symptoms of psychopathology. Following training the participants had sadness induced by having them watch 3-min film clips from sad vs. neutral movies. They watched the movies while their brains were scanned with functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (f-MRI).

 

They found that MBSR produced significant decreases in anxiety, depression, and in symptoms of psychopathology that were not apparent in the wait-list control group. Watching the sad movie clips, the sadness induction, produced a significant increase in sadness and in the activity in the brain structures associated with the Default Mode Network (DMN) that normally gets activated by self-reflective and ruminating thinking. Significantly, they found that the group who received MBSR training had a significantly lower neural response in the DMN to the sadness induction. This occurred in spite of the fact that the sadness induction produced equivalent increases in sadness in both groups. At the same time, the MBSR group showed a greater activation of the visceral and somatosensory areas of the cortex.

 

These findings suggest that mindfulness training improves mental health by altering the neural response to negative emotional states, in this case sadness. The fact that the responses of the visceral and somatosensory areas were heightened in the mindfulness trained participants suggests that they felt the emotional state more deeply. At the same time, the reduced activation of the Default Mode Network (DMN) in the mindfulness trained participants suggests that sadness produced less self-reflection, worry, and rumination. This suggests that the brain better regulates the response to the emotions after mindfulness training. Hence the finding suggest that mindfulness training improves the brain’s emotion regulation processes and thereby reduces anxiety, depression and the symptoms of psychopathology.

 

So, improve neural regulation of negative emotions with mindfulness.

 

“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it – always.”- Mahatma Gandhi

 

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

Farb, N. A. S., Anderson, A. K., Mayberg, H., Bean, J., McKeon, D., & Segal, Z. V. (2010). Minding One’s Emotions: Mindfulness Training Alters the Neural Expression of Sadness. Emotion (Washington, D.C.), 10(1), 25–33. http://doi.org/10.1037/a0017151

 

Abstract

Recovery from emotional challenge and increased tolerance of negative affect are both hallmarks of mental health. Mindfulness training (MT) has been shown to facilitate these outcomes, yet little is known about its mechanisms of action. The present study employed functional MRI (fMRI) to compare neural reactivity to sadness provocation in participants completing 8 weeks of MT and waitlisted controls. Sadness resulted in widespread recruitment of regions associated with self-referential processes along the cortical midline. Despite equivalent self-reported sadness, MT participants demonstrated a distinct neural response, with greater right-lateralized recruitment, including visceral and somatosensory areas associated with body sensation. The greater somatic recruitment observed in the MT group during evoked sadness was associated with decreased depression scores. Restoring balance between affective and sensory neural networks—supporting conceptual and body based representations of emotion— could be one path through which mindfulness reduces vulnerability to dysphoric reactivity.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5017873/

 

Improve the Brain’s Regulation of Emotions in PTSD with Mindfulness

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By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“Mindfulness can help people train themselves to get unstuck from a vicious cycle of negative thinking, often a cornerstone of trauma.” – Jennifer Wolkin

 

Experiencing trauma is quite common. It has been estimated that 60% of men and 50% of women will experience a significant traumatic event during their lifetime. But, only a fraction will develop Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). But this still results in a frightening number of people with 7%-8% of the population developing PTSD at some point in their life. For military personnel, it’s much more likely for PTSD to develop with about 11%-20% of those who have served in a war zone developing PTSD.

 

PTSD involves a number of troubling symptoms including reliving the event with the same fear and horror in nightmares or with a flashback. PTSD sufferers avoid situations that remind them of the event this may include crowds, driving, movies, etc. and may avoid seeking help because it keeps them from having to think or talk about the event. They often experience emotional numbing including difficulty experiencing positive or loving feelings toward other people, avoiding relationships, memory difficulties, or see the world as dangerous and no one can be trusted. Sufferers may feel hyperarousal, feeling keyed up and jittery, or always alert and on the lookout for danger. They may experience sudden anger or irritability, may have a hard time sleeping or concentrating, may be startled by a loud noise or surprise. Obviously, these are troubling symptoms that need to be addressed.

 

It is clear that a key problem with PTSD sufferers is a difficulty with regulating emotions. So, a technique, like mindfulness training, that improves emotion regulation may be beneficial. Indeed, mindfulness training has been found to be particularly effective for PTSD. Hence, it is important to further investigate mindfulness relationships to emotion regulation in PTSD sufferers in order to optimize treatment. In today’s Research News article “A Pilot Study of Mindfulness-Based Exposure Therapy in OEF/OIF Combat Veterans with PTSD: Altered Medial Frontal Cortex and Amygdala Responses in Social–Emotional Processing.” See:

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1407398169284105/?type=3&theater

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

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5028840/

King and colleagues recruited combat veterans with PTSD and examined the effects of mindfulness training on the brain’s processing of emotional stimuli in veterans with PTSD. The veterans were randomly assigned to receive either 16-weeks of, 2-hour sessions, once a week, of group psychotherapy or Mindfulness-Based Exposure Therapy (MBET). MBET involved mindfulness training, self-compassion training, psycho-education, and mindfulness prolonged exposure therapy. Their brains were scanned with functional Magnetic Imaging (f-MRI) 2-weeks before and 2-weeks after training while they were presented with faces expressing either neutral, angry, or fearful emotions.

 

They found that Mindfulness-Based Exposure Therapy (MBET) produced a marked significant reduction in PTSD symptom severity that was greater than that produced by group therapy. They found that regardless of therapy type that relief of PTSD symptoms was associated with increased activation of the dorsal prefrontal cortex which is usually under active in PTSD sufferers. They also found increased activation in brain areas associated with emotion regulation, the medial prefrontal cortex and the rostral anterior cingulate cortex. In addition, the MBET trained veterans showed greater increases in amygdala and fusiform gyrus responses to angry faces, as well as increased response in medial prefrontal cortex to fearful faces. These responses suggest that the mindfulness training resulted in the veterans’ brains being more engaged in processing threatening stimuli.

 

These findings suggest that mindfulness training improves PTSD symptoms by improving the brain’s ability to process emotional stimuli. By paying greater attention to these stimuli they become better at regulating their emotional responses to them. Since, PTSD involves problems with emotions, the improved emotion regulation would be particularly beneficial to the veterans allowing them to better cope with the emotions produced in response to their memories or environmental stimuli.

 

So, improve the brain’s regulation of emotions in PTSD with mindfulness.

 

“Mindfulness can help people cope with and manage their trauma memories, explore their patterns of avoidance when confronting reminders of their trauma, and better understand their reactions to their symptoms. It helps them feel more grounded, and to notice that even very painful memories have a beginning, a middle and an end — that they can become manageable and feel safer. It’s hard work, but it can pay off.” – Anthony King

 

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

King, A. P., Block, S. R., Sripada, R. K., Rauch, S. A. M., Porter, K. E., Favorite, T. K., … Liberzon, I. (2016). A Pilot Study of Mindfulness-Based Exposure Therapy in OEF/OIF Combat Veterans with PTSD: Altered Medial Frontal Cortex and Amygdala Responses in Social–Emotional Processing. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 7, 154. http://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2016.00154

 

Abstract

Combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is common among returning veterans, and is a serious and debilitating disorder. While highly effective treatments involving trauma exposure exist, difficulties with engagement and early drop may lead to sub-optimal outcomes. Mindfulness training may provide a method for increasing emotional regulation skills that may improve engagement in trauma-focused therapy. Here, we examine potential neural correlates of mindfulness training and in vivo exposure (non-trauma focused) using a novel group therapy [mindfulness-based exposure therapy (MBET)] in Afghanistan (OEF) or Iraq (OIF) combat veterans with PTSD. OEF/OIF combat veterans with PTSD (N = 23) were treated with MBET (N = 14) or a comparison group therapy [Present-centered group therapy (PCGT), N = 9]. PTSD symptoms were assessed at pre- and post-therapy with Clinician Administered PTSD scale. Functional neuroimaging (3-T fMRI) before and after therapy examined responses to emotional faces (angry, fearful, and neutral faces). Patients treated with MBET had reduced PTSD symptoms (effect size d = 0.92) but effect was not significantly different from PCGT (d = 0.43). Improvement in PTSD symptoms from pre- to post-treatment in both treatment groups was correlated with increased activity in rostral anterior cingulate cortex, dorsal medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), and left amygdala. The MBET group showed greater increases in amygdala and fusiform gyrus responses to Angry faces, as well as increased response in left mPFC to Fearful faces. These preliminary findings provide intriguing evidence that MBET group therapy for PTSD may lead to changes in neural processing of social–emotional threat related to symptom reduction.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5028840/