POSITIVE EFFECT OF MINDFULNESS MEDITATION ON STRESS

MEDITATION The term meditation refers to a broad variety of practices that includes techniques designed to promote relaxation, build internal energy or life force and develop compassion, love, patience, generosity and forgiveness. Meditation is the practice of turning your attention to a single point of reference. It can involve focusing on the breath, on bodily sensations, or on a word or phrase known as a mantra. In other words, meditation means turning your attention away from distracting thoughts and focusing on the present moment.

MINDFULNESS Mindfulness refers to a psychological quality that involves – Bringing one’s complete attention to the present experience on a moment to moment basis / Involves paying attention in a particular way: 1. on purpose

2. In the present moment 3. Non judgmentally 4. Non-elaborative

In which each feeling , thought, or sensation that arises in the attentional field is acknowledged and accepted as it is.

TWO COMPONENT MODEL OF MINDFULNESS: Bishop, Lau, and colleagues (2007) : First Component

- Self regulation of attention - Maintained on an immediate experience - Allows for increased recognition of mental event in the present moment. - Self regulated attention involves – awareness of one’s current thoughts, feelings, and surroundings.

Second Component

- Involves adopting a particular orientation towards one’s experiences in the present moment - The orientation consists of – curiosity, openness and acceptance.

HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT 1979 – Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn founded – MINDFULNESS BASED – STRESS REDUCTION PROGRAM at university of Massachusetts. Aim – to treat the chronically ill This sparked a growing interest and application of mindfulness ideas and practices in the medical world. Many of the mindfulness based clinical treatments we have today have been inspired by teachings from the east, particularly from the Buddhist traditions, where mindfulness is the 7th step of the Noble Eightfold path taught by Buddha.

Although originally a part of Buddhism, there is nothing inherently religious about mindfulness. It is often taught independent of religious/ cultural connotation. Psychotherapists have adapted and developed mindfulness techniques into a promising cognitive behavioral therapies – Acceptance and commitment therapy.

Current research suggests that it is useful in the treatment of – 1. Pain

2. Stress 3. Anxiety 4. Depressive relapse

5. Disordered eating 6. Addiction 7. Improving immune system

Researchers attempt to define and measure results of mindfulness primary through controlled, randomized studies of mindfulness intervention on various dependent variables.

The most common scales are – 1. The Attention Awareness Scales 2. The Cognitive and Affective Mindfulness Scale etc Through the use of scale – one can know the changes in levels of mindfulness, which has been correlated with subjective well-being, health and performance.

THE RESEARCH ON THE OUTCOMES OF MINDFULNESS FALLS INTO 2 MAIN CATEGORIES: 1) Stress reduction – human response to stressors in the environment produces emotional and physiological changes in individual human body in order to cope with that stress.

This process most likely evolved to - help us attend to immediate concerns in our environment to better our chances of survival. But in modern society, much of the stress felt is not beneficial in this way. Stress is shown to have several negative effects on health, happiness, and overall wellbeing.

FINDINGS James and Shapiro (2007) conducted a study to show that – mindfulness meditation may be specific in its ability to “reduce distractive and ruminative thoughts and behaviours.

This may provide a “unique mechanism by which mindfulness meditation reduces distress. Brown (2003) found declines in mood disturbance and stress following mindfulness interventions. Garland (2009) found declines in stress after mindfulness interventions, which are potentially due to the positive re-appraisal of what were at first appraised as stressors. Jha (2010) found that a sufficient mindfulness meditation training practice may protect against functional impairments associated with high-stress contexts.

2) mindfulness as a tool to raise and sustain “positive” emotions and their relative outcomes: Davidson (2003) found that mindfulness meditation increased brain and immune function in positive ways, but highlighted the need for additional research. Brown (2009) investigated subjective well-being and financial desire. He found a large discrepancy between financial desires and financial reality correlated with low subjective wellbeing but that the accumulation of wealth did not tend to close the gap.

Mindfulness however was associated with a lower financial – desire discrepancy and thus higher subjective well-being, so mindfulness may promote the perception of “having enough”.

META-ANALYSIS - 2003 Stated - Mindfulness – based stress reduction involves Continuous awareness of consciousness •Does not seek to censor thoughts Conclusion –

•Maybe useful for individuals attempting to cope with clinical and non-clinical problems •It is helpful for – chronic pain, cancer patients and coronary heart disease. •Significant improvement was observed in both physical and mental health measures.

Mindfulness and related techniques such as meditation are intended to train attention in order to provoke insight. A wider and more flexible attention span makes it easier to –

Be aware of situation To be objective in emotionally/ morally difficult situations

Achieve a state of responsiveness

MEDITATION AND STRESS Research in Harvard medical school – during meditation, physiological signals show – A decrease in respiration Increase in heart rate Increase in blood oxygen saturation levels

NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH “Practicing meditation has been shown to induce some changes in the body…some types of meditation may work by affecting the automatic nervous system of the body. The systematic nervous system (aka – “fight or flight system) is responsible for our reaction to stress and fear. The parasympathetic nervous system (aka – “rest and digest”) is active during times of rest.

“It is thought that some types of meditation might work by reducing activity in the SNS and increasing activity in the PNS.

GOLEMAN: AMYGDALA AND PREFRONTAL CORTEX Danial Goleman & Tara Bennett-Goleman – meditation works because of relationship between the amygdala and prefrontal cortex. Amygdala decides if we should get angry anxious etc.

Makes rapid decisions and has a powerful effect on our emotions and behavior, linked to survival needs. Prefrontal cortex – makes us stop and think about things. Aka the inhibitory center. Very good at analyzing and planning, but it takes a long time to make decisions.

GRAY AND WHITE MATTER Studies done by Yale, Harvard, General Hospital shows that mediation – increases gray matter in brain

Slows down deterioration of the brain as a part of natural aging process. Experiment included – 20 individuals with intensive Buddhist “insight meditation” training and 15 who did not meditate.

RESULTS OF THE STUDY: Brain scan – those who meditated had an increased thickness of grey matter in parts of the brain that are responsible for attention and processing sensory input.

Increase ranged from 0.004 – 0.008 inches and was proportional to amount of meditation

MEDITATION AND EEG RECORDINGS Skilled meditators showed a significant rise in the gamma wave activity (80 – 120 Hz range) during meditation. These meditators had 40 years of training in Buddhist – based mental training.

Experienced meditators also showed increased gamma activity while at rest and not meditating.

THE RELAXATION RESPONSE Dr. Herbert Benson of Mind – Body Medical Institute, affiliated with Harvard University reports that – Meditation induces a host of biochemical and physical changes in the body. These changes are collectively referred to as – “relaxation response”

It included – 1. Metabolism 2. Heart rate 3. Respiration 4. Blood pressure 5. Brain chemistry

CRITICISMS Various scholars have criticized how mindfulness has been defined/ represented in recent western psychology publications.  Alan Wallace stated that an influential definition of mindfulness in psychology literature significantly differs from definition given by Buddha himself, and by much Buddhist tradition.

CONCLUSION Mindfulness meditation results into – 1. Higher subjective well-being, so it may promote the perception of “having enough”. 2. Positive correlation against reduction of stress. 3. Increase brain and immune function in positive ways. 4. Significant improvement in both physical and mental health measures 5. Increases gray matter in brain 6. Slows down deterioration of the brain as a part of natural aging process. However, further research in this field is required for more significant empirical evidence.

THANK YOU!

By Tvishi Sharma