The Neuroscience of Mindfulness

With the inevitable distractions and responsibilities of everyday life, it is difficult to stay in the present moment while frequently worrying about the future or dwelling on the past. However, practicing mindfulness has extensive benefits on psychological well-being that make it worthy of incorporating into one’s daily routine. Mindfulness does not only have to be sitting still and focusing on your breath as it is typically depicted. While this type of meditation suits some, one can also practice mindfulness while eating, walking, or doing any other activities of daily living by pivoting one’s attention to their feelings and perceptions in the present moment. By adding a form of mindfulness into one’s routine that suits them, people can become more aware of their thought processes to understand themselves and the world around them in a conscious manner. 

Like many people, it is not uncommon to feel skeptical about the miraculous claims made about the effects of mindful meditation, yoga, and other practices that focus one’s attention on the present moment. Even Sara Lazar, a neuroscientist at Harvard Medical School, was skeptical about the claimed emotional benefits of meditation. After attending several yoga classes and experiencing the benefits of feeling “calmer, happier, and more compassionate, she decided to re-focus her research on the changes in the brain’s physical structure as a result of meditation practice.”In Lazar’s first study researching mediation’s neurological effects, she analyzed individuals with extensive meditation experience, “which involved focused attention on internal experiences.” Her findings concluded that meditation slows down and prevents age-related thinning of the frontal cortex evidenced by, surprisingly, 40–50-year-old meditators having the same amount of gray matter in their cortex as the 20–30-year-old ones. The frontal cortex contributes to the formation of memories, and thus meditating serves as a neuroprotective factor in cognitive function. 

Next, Lazar’s second study analyzed individuals who did not practice mindful meditation and tested the participants for “positive effects of mindfulness on their psychological well-being and alleviating symptoms of various disorders such as anxiety, depression, eating disorders, insomnia, or chronic pain.” After eight weeks of practicing mindful meditation, mindful exercise, and other practices, Lazar found that the brain volume increased in the hippocampus, or the structure of the brain responsible for learning, memory storage, and emotional regulation, and the temporoparietal junction, which is responsible for empathy and compassion. In contrast, an area of the brain whose volume decreased was the amygdala, or the structure responsible for triggering the fight-or-flight reaction in response to a perceived threat. The decrease in the gray matter of the amygdala “correlated with changes in the levels of stress,” even when their external environment remained unchanged as the participants’ perception of their environment changed as opposed to changes in their environment. 

The brain is made up of billions of neurons, each one forming thousands of connections with other neurons yielding hundreds of trillions of synapses that allow brain cells to communicate with one another. The brain also has plasticity, meaning that the organ has the ability to learn, grow, and change over time. Gray matter can thicken or shrink, new connections between neurons can be created, and old ones can be terminated throughout an individual’s lifetime. While much about the human brain is not fully understood, Lazar’s findings of mindful practices’ effects on the human brain suggest that everyday behaviors can change the structure of the organ leading to extensive benefits to the individual’s cognitive health. Just as dwelling on negative thoughts and feelings contributes to a negative perception of one’s environment, focusing on the positive, possibly through mindful practices, allows oneself to retrain the brain to make new connections and ultimately process information in a positive light.

Like nearly everything else in life, consistency is key. While the brain is plastic, the intricate networks of the brain need to be “reinforced and consolidated through our behavior just like a path through a forest needs to be walked, otherwise it will be grown over and eventually disappear.” By finding a form of mindfulness and meditation that suits one’s personal preferences, meditators can experience the short term benefits of emotional regulation. Over time, mindful individuals can permanently change their brain’s structure and improve their overall mental health.

References:

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/your-brain-work/200910/the-neuroscience-mindfulness 

https://positivepsychology.com/mindfulness-brain-research-neuroscience/ 

https://observer.com/2017/06/neuroscience-mindfulness-brain-when-you-meditate-development/