The benefits are seen at a molecular level, reducing the inflammatory response.
The benefits are seen at a molecular level, reducing the inflammatory response.
Mind-body practices such as meditation, yoga and Tai Chi can reverse the effects of stress on our DNA, research finds.
Usually stress causes increased levels of a molecule called nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kB).
This is involved in the reaction to stress and how our genes are expressed.
It also has a key role in how our bodies respond to infection.
Practices like meditation reduce the levels of this stress-related molecule.
They also lower the levels of cytokines in the body — these are linked to inflammation at the cellular level.
Ms Ivana Buric, the study’s first author, said:
“Millions of people around the world already enjoy the health benefits of mind-body interventions like yoga or meditation, but what they perhaps don’t realise is that these benefits begin at a molecular level and can change the way our genetic code goes about its business.
These activities are leaving what we call a molecular signature in our cells, which reverses the effect that stress or anxiety would have on the body by changing how our genes are expressed.
Put simply, MBIs cause the brain to steer our DNA processes along a path which improves our wellbeing.
More needs to be done to understand these effects in greater depth, for example how they compare with other healthy interventions like exercise or nutrition.
But this is an important foundation to build on to help future researchers explore the benefits of increasingly popular mind-body activities.”
For the study, researchers pulled together the results of 18 different studies on 846 people across 11 years.
The study was published in the journal Frontiers in Immunology (Buric et al., 2017).
Ten minutes of mindfulness meditation could be an effective alternative to painkillers, new research finds.
The quick meditation session was enough to reduce anxiety about pain and increase both pain tolerance and threshold.
The results come from a study of 24 healthy young people.
Half meditated for 10 minutes while the other half just sat quietly.
Then they plunged their hands first into warm water and then into ice water for as long as they could.
Dr Osama Tashani, the study’s first author, said:
“While further research is needed to explore this in a more clinical setting on chronic pain patients, these results do show that a brief mindfulness meditation intervention can be of benefit in pain relief.
The ease of application and cost effectiveness of the mindfulness meditation may also make it a viable addition to the arsenal of therapies for pain management.
The mindfulness mediation was led by a researcher who was a novice; so in theory clinicians could administer this with little training needed.
It’s based on traditional Buddhist teachings which focuses attention and awareness on your breathing.”
The study was published in the journal Pain Studies and Treatment (Tashani et al., 2017).
The Swedish research included 215 patients with anxiety, depression and stress-related problems.
The Swedish research included 215 patients with anxiety, depression and stress-related problems.
Learning mindfulness in a group can be just as effective as individual cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT), research finds.
Professor Jan Sundquist, who led the research, said:
“Our new research shows that mindfulness group therapy has the equivalent effect as individual CBT for a wide range of psychiatric symptoms that are common among this patient group.
We have shown in a previous study that mindfulness group therapy is just as effective as individual CBT for the treatment of typical depression and anxiety symptoms; something we also observed in the new study.”
The Swedish research included 215 patients with anxiety, depression and stress-related problems.
Half had individual CBT and the other half attended group mindfulness sessions.
The results showed that both groups improved.
Professor Sundquist said:
“As mental illnesses are increasing at a very fast rate it is absolutely essential to expand the treatment alternatives for this patient group in primary healthcare.
Our view is that the scarce resources should be partly reallocated to mindfulness group therapy so that the limited availability of individual psychotherapy can be utilised in an optimal fashion.”
It can be hard to tell what is anxiety and whether it needs treatment.
It can be hard to tell what is anxiety and whether it needs treatment.
Anxiety is a sense of uneasiness, concern or agitation that varies from mild to severe.
At the milder end, it is vague and starts to make you feel unsettled, jumpy and worried.
Towards the more severe end it provokes inner turmoil, feelings of dread and can have a serious impact on everyday life.
What is anxiety?
Everyone experiences anxiety to some degree and sometimes these responses are severe.
Examinations, medical procedures, public speaking and so on can lead to anxiety and loss of sleep.
How anxiety impacts your everyday life determines whether it is a ‘disorder’ or ‘regular’ anxiety.
Anxiety that causes persistent problems with sleeping or seriously interferes with everyday life could require some treatment.
Some people get very anxious over things which others would not consider that anxiety-provoking.
If you are worrying all the time or regularly experiencing unpleasant physical and psychological symptoms, then this could be a sign of something deeper.
Deep-rooted anxiety often leads to avoidance of the anxiety-provoking object or situation.
This type of anxiety can consistently stop you from doing the things you might otherwise like to do.
Anxiety symptoms
Anxiety typically has both psychological and physical symptoms.
Here are some typical psychological symptoms:
Feeling nervous and tense.
Finding it hard to concentrate and settle down.
Thinking a lot of negative thoughts.
Experiencing a sense of dread that something horrible is about to happen.
Sensation of the the mind being filled with thoughts rushing through it.
Physical symptoms could include:
Problems sleeping.
Feeling sick.
A churning stomach.
Breathing heavily.
Sweating.
Hot flashes.
Muscle tension and headaches.
This is not a completely list, people report many different types of physical and psychological symptoms.
Severe anxiety is also linked to depression, insomnia and misusing drugs.
It can lead to problems at work and in relationships and difficulty in enjoying everyday, pleasurable pursuits.
Causes of anxiety
There are a large range of factors that could influence whether you experience anxiety as a mental health problem.
Here are some possible causes:
Anxious personality. Some people are genetically prone to anxiety.
Childhood experiences. Bullying, hostile parents or other frightening experiences during childhood.
Long-term health problems like chronic pain are linked to anxiety.
Everyday habits such as working long hours, financial or housing problems and stress can cause anxiety.
Often, chronic anxiety stems from a variety of causes specific to your lifestyle, situation and genetics mixed together.
Types of anxiety disorders
Anxiety disorders come in various types.
These are some of the main ones:
Generalised anxiety and worry: constantly worrying about a wide range of issues, rather than something specific.
Social phobia: fear of other people and social interactions. This can stop people with social phobia from getting the things they want: relationships, promotions or just human contact in general.
Specific phobias: fears of things like the environment, snakes, spiders, enclosed spaces, blood, injections and so on.
Panic: involves the experience of intense fear, including a very strong physical reaction and the sensation of being about to die or losing complete mental control.
OCD: people experience intrusive thoughts that are repulsive to them and also possibly engaging in repetitive behaviours.
What is anxiety therapy?
Psychological therapies are very effective for anxiety disorders.
In particular, cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) has been found to help many types of anxiety disorders.
Dr Jeremy Dean’s latest book “The Anxiety Plan” is based on the principles of CBT and provides 42 strategies for dealing with anxiety.
Other ways of managing anxiety yourself include:
Support groups.
Eating healthily.
Complementary therapies like yoga and meditation.
Exercise.
Understandably, some people find self-help too difficult.
If so, psychologists, psychiatrists and other mental health professionals can provide the psychological support required.
What is anxiety medication?
Along with psychological therapies, people are often prescribed medications.
Some people find they need medication, but bear in mind that:
It can be difficult to come off medications.
Medications have all sorts of side-effects.
If possible, it is better to learn to deal with anxiety using internal, psychological resources.
Four types of medication are:
Antidepressants. Make you feel calmer, but there are side-effects.
Beta-blockers. Reduce the physical symptoms of anxiety, such as a racing heart and shaking hands. However, they do not change the psychological symptoms.
Tranquillisers. Should only be used in the short-term until you can start therapy or some other treatment.
Pregabalin (Lyrica). This is an anticonvulsant drug sometimes prescribed for anxiety.
Even if you do decide to take medication, also consider self-help options at the same time as these can work better in the long-run.
Some people say that they are just not ‘mindful’ people, and nothing can be done about it.
New research, though, suggests that even those who are not mindful can benefit from meditation to help control their emotions.
Mr Yanli Lin, the study’s first author, said:
“Our findings not only demonstrate that meditation improves emotional health, but that people can acquire these benefits regardless of their ‘natural’ ability to be mindful.
It just takes some practice.”
For the research people were asked to look at a series of upsetting images right after meditating for the first time.
Those meditating for the first time were able to control their emotions just as well as those who were naturally mindful.
They were able to rein in their emotions just as successfully after meditating as those with better inbuilt skills.
Measurements of the electrical activity in the brain also confirmed the improved emotional control after meditation.
Dr Jason Moser, a study co-author, said:
“If you’re a naturally mindful person, and you’re walking around very aware of things, you’re good to go.
You shed your emotions quickly.
If you’re not naturally mindful, then meditating can make you look like a person who walks around with a lot of mindfulness.
But for people who are not naturally mindful and have never meditated, forcing oneself to be mindful ‘in the moment’ doesn’t work.
You’d be better off meditating for 20 minutes.”
Mindfulness is the process of paying attention to thoughts, feelings and sensation in the moment.
Try these 6 steps a few times a week and enjoy the benefits of feeling your mind open up.
Try these 6 steps a few times a week and enjoy the benefits of feeling your mind open up.
We all suffer from the pressures of life from time-to-time.
Time spent relaxing can naturally provide a great antidote.
But relaxation is an art-form in itself that needs to be learnt.
Not everyone is born a good relaxer!
Some people even find time designated for ‘relaxing’ to be terrifying — they would rather be rushing around, keeping busy.
That is only because they haven’t worked out the best way to relax yet.
Try these six steps to help open up your mind and live in the moment.
Step 1: Make time
It can be hard to make time, but believe me it will be worth it.
You will probably need an hour, although whatever time you can spare is fine.
Make sure you won’t be distracted during this time.
Step 2: Wind down
The first step is to wind down from the frenetic pace at which life is lived nowadays.
Very simple activities that allow your mind to wander free will work for this.
Cooking a familiar meal, listening to music, taking a walk — you will know what works best for you.
If you use more formal methods like progressive muscle relaxation or meditation, that is also fine.
Try to avoid alcohol for winding down — it has side-effects and makes it hard to maintain your focus.
Similarly, TV and anything too stimulating will also make it difficult for you to wind down.
The mind needs space to expand.
Step 3: Find positive emotions
Use your memory to locate positive emotions.
Focus on a good moment in your life.
It doesn’t have to be anything major, although it can be.
Simply a nice smell, the sense of satisfaction of a small job well done or even a memory from years ago will do.
Focus in on that memory for a while and let the emotion wash over you.
Explore it for as long as you like.
Step 4: Give thanks
Consider one or two things in life that you feel grateful for.
They could be anything, but people often choose relationships, such as family and friends.
Or perhaps it could be your health, or even someone who did you a small kindness recently.
Let your mind dwell on that feeling for a while.
Step 5: Wave at negative thoughts floating past
When letting the mind float free, sometimes it ends up on negative thoughts.
Try to notice these and let them go.
It is important not to push them away, but just to notice them and accept them — just as you might wave at an acquaintance as you pass them on the street.
Then gently refocus your mind to a positive thought or something you are grateful for.
Step 6: Deep focus
After a time, you will probably start to enter a more peaceful state of mind.
Here it feels like you have more time…
…and that your time is your own.
Now you have a choice.
If you are enjoying being like this, then carry on.
If you have something meditative that will maintain the state, then now is the time to turn to that.
Open a book you have been meaning to read, start a journal, draw a picture or whatever it is you are in to.
But, if you do choose an activity, make sure it is one that does not disrupt the state of deep focus.
Turning on the TV, for example, will likely ruin the moment.
Shopping online, reading the news or playing video games will not help you maintain the feeling.
Far better than any of those is to maintain the sense of deep focus for as long as you can — even if you focus on nothing more than enjoying the moment.
In fact: especially if you do nothing more than enjoy the moment.
~~~~~~~
Why not try these six steps a few times a week and see how it makes you feel….?
In this modern age of multitasking, everyone could do with boosting their attention.
In this modern age of multitasking, everyone could do with boosting their attention.
1. Learn something new
Simply learning new information or using existing knowledge in new ways can help boost attentional skills, a new study finds.
It’s just the same way that young children learn to ‘train’ their brains: they learn new things about the world.
Acquiring knowledge and then thinking about how it fits into what we already know helps boost our attention.
2. Eat chocolate
Dark chocolate can improve attention and a new formula may also lower blood pressure, a study shows.
Professor Larry Stevens, who conducted the study, said:
“Chocolate is indeed a stimulant and it activates the brain in a really special way.
It can increase brain characteristics of attention, and it also significantly affects blood pressure levels.”
The study measured the effects of eating 60% cacao chocolate (commonly called dark chocolate) on the brain waves of 122 participants.
They found that chocolate boosted attention and people were more alert for a period — although their blood pressure increased.
3. Meditate
Practising meditation can help improve your focus while reading, a study finds.
For the research, some people were sent on a one-month intensive vipassanā meditation training program.
They then took a reading test which had nonsensical sentences deliberately placed within it.
Compared with a control group, those who had been practising meditation were better able to detect the gibberish, suggesting they were paying more attention.
4. Self-check
Learning to periodically self-check can improve attention and help people focus better on tasks, recent research finds.
The study used brain imaging to predict when people were starting to lose their focus on a boring task they were given.
The researchers found that after just one training session to improve attention, those who had received the feedback performed better than a control group.
5. Count your breaths
A short breathing exercise is enough to refocus the minds of highly distracted people, new research finds.
Heavy media multitaskers benefited most from simply counting their breaths, psychologists found.
The mindfulness task simply involved counting groups of nine breaths: nine inhales and nine exhales.
Participants did this a few times before being given tests of their attention.
Dr Green explained:
“No one can stay focused on it indefinitely.
When you notice your attention slipping away, you bring it back over and over.
You’re practicing that skill, refocusing your attention.”
6. Brightly coloured room
Brightly coloured rooms can boost your concentration, new research finds.
This is because people perform at their best when somewhat stimulated.
Too much and too little stimulation, though, tends to make people’s performance worse.
The study’s results showed that participants’ reading comprehension was higher in the vividly painted red and yellow rooms.
7. A little language learning
Mental agility can be increased by even a relatively small amount of language learning.
After only a week of study, students show improved attention skills — as well as learning a new language.
Language learners were better able to switch their attention and filter out irrelevant details.
Continuing to learn a new language led to sustained improvements 9 months later, the researchers also found.
Study included over-55s who had simple memory problems like forgetting names and appointments.
Study included over-55s who had simple memory problems like forgetting names and appointments.
Meditation and yoga are more effective than memory games or crosswords for fighting memory problems linked to Alzheimer’s, new research finds.
Researchers compared two groups of people aged over 55 who reported memory problems like losing things, forgetting names and appointments.
One group were given crosswords and memory training to do over 12 weeks.
The other group did both yoga and meditation for an equivalent amount of time.
Professor Helen Lavretsky, one of the study’s authors, explained the results:
“Memory training was comparable to yoga with meditation in terms of improving memory, but yoga provided a broader benefit than memory training because it also helped with mood, anxiety and coping skills.”
Both groups did one hour per week of their respective tasks.
Kundalini yoga was the type practiced in classes.
It involves focusing on breathing, chanting as well as the visualisation of light.
At home, people in the yoga group practiced 20 minutes of Kirtan Kriya meditation, which is a part of Kundalini yoga.
This type of yoga and meditation has been used in India for hundreds of years.
The researchers found that memory improvements were similar across both the groups.
However, people who did yoga and meditation had better visuo-spatial memory: the type used for navigating and recalling locations.
Yoga and meditation also had better results in reducing depression and anxiety.
It helped people develop higher levels of resilience and increased their ability to cope.
Brain scans showed significant differences in brain function in the yoga meditation group which were not seen in the others.
Mr Harris Eyre, the study’s first author, said:
“Historically and anecdotally, yoga has been thought to be beneficial in aging well, but this is the scientific demonstration of that benefit.
We’re converting historical wisdom into the high level of evidence required for doctors to recommend therapy to their patients.”
Professor Lavretsky concluded:
“If you or your relatives are trying to improve your memory or offset the risk for developing memory loss or dementia, a regular practice of yoga and meditation could be a simple, safe and low-cost solution to improving your brain fitness.”
The study was published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease (Harris et al., 2016).
Laptops and tablets are changing the way we think about information — maybe for the worse.
Laptops and tablets are changing the way we think about information — maybe for the worse.
If you want to make more intellectual leaps, it may be better to print out information than read it on a laptop or tablet.
Using tablets and laptops reduces the ability to think in abstract ways, a new study finds.
Instead, people using these digital devices tend to concentrate more on the concrete details of their work.
For the research people read a series of texts either on paper or on a laptop/tablet.
They were then asked questions about them afterwards.
Some of these tested their abstract understanding and others tested their concrete understanding.
When reading off paper, people performed roughly 30% better on questions that required a leap of understanding.
However, the results were reversed when the questions simply required concrete answers.
Dr Geoff Kaufman, one of the study’s authors said:
“There has been a great deal of research on how digital platforms might be affecting attention, distractibility and mindfulness, and these studies build on this work, by focusing on a relatively understudied construct.
Given that psychologists have shown that construal levels can vastly impact outcomes such as self-esteem and goal pursuit, it’s crucial to recognize the role that digitization of information might be having on this important aspect of cognition.”
The conclusions come from four studies with over 300 people.
Professor Mary Flanagan, a study co-author, said:
“Compared to the widespread acceptance of digital devices, as evidenced by millions of apps, ubiquitous smartphones, and the distribution of iPads in schools, surprisingly few studies exist about how digital tools affect our understanding — our cognition.
Knowing the affordances of digital technologies can help us design better software.
Sometimes, it is beneficial to foster abstract thinking, and as we know more, we can design to overcome the tendencies — or deficits — inherent in digital devices,”
The study was presented at ACM CHI ’16, the ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems on May 10, 2016.
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