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The research about therapeutic inventions are becoming more and more popular as time progresses. However there isn’t much research in this topic to determine whether or not therapeutic techniques actually help the brain or not. In this study, it reported a controlled longitudinal study to investigate pre post changes in the brain grey matter concentrations attribute to participation in an MBSR program.
Mindfulness meditation has been getting more and more attention to researchers , mindfulness is designed to have an ¨in the moment¨ type of behavior that omits judgmental stances, experiences compassion and have a clear state of mind.It has been suggested that this process is associated with a perceptual shift (Carmody, 2009), in which one’s thoughts and feelings are recognized as events occurring in the broader field of awareness.
In earlier years neuroimaging studies were practiced with techniques such as electroencephalography (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). In this study, researchers, performed a meditation study that were as follows: no meditation classes in the past 6 months, no more than four classes in the past 5 years, or 10 classes in their lifetime; 25 to 55 years old; no contraindications for MRI scanning (i.e., metallic implants, claustrophobia); commitment to attend all eight classes and perform the prescribed daily homework. Eighteen healthy, right-handed individuals were enrolled in the study, eight male and 10 female, with a mean age of: 37.89 years (S.D.: 4.04 years). Due to discomforts during the first MRI scanning session, two participants did not return for the second session. The resulting sample consisted of six male and 10 female participants with a mean age of 38.0 years (S.D.: 4.1 years). Ethnicities were as follows: 13 Caucasians, one Asian, one African American, and one multi-ethnic. Participants had an average of 17.7 years of education (S.D.: 1.9 years).The control sample consisted of 17 participants (11 male and six female) with a mean age of 39.0 years (S.D.: 9.2 years) and an average of 17.3 years of education (S.D.: 1.8 years). Ethnicities were as follows: 13 Caucasians, two Asians, two African American, and one Hispanic. The groups did not differ in age (t (22.3)= 0.56; P= 0.58),or education (t (30)=−0.56, P= 0.58).And while most of the study seemed solid, I questioned what kind of backgrounds did the people in the studies have, such as what qualified as physically and psychology healthy.
The study’s criteria was based on: no meditation classes no meditation classes in the past 6 months, no more than four classes in the past 5 years, or 10 classes in their lifetime; 25 to 55 years old; no contraindications for MRI scanning (i.e., metallic implants, claustrophobia);commitment to attend all eight classes and perform the prescribed daily homework.The study was conducted for about 8 weekly group gatherings that lasted for 2.5 hours each time, plus 1 full day ( around 6.5 hours) during the week 6 of the course. The training exercises targeted at developing the capacity for mindfulness ( which includes awareness of in the present moments, with no judgments) and include a body scan, mindful yoga, and sitting meditation.
The mindful yoga experiment contained simple, slow movements and gentle stretches which are coordinated with breath and a non harming attitude towards the body. Participants are encouraged to find themselves in their most comfortable, free state of mind to honor their body limitations. It was also advised to do sitting meditation, which is about bringing awareness of the sensations of breathing, then evolve to include awareness of different modalities (such as sounds, sight, taste, other body sensations, thoughts and emotions).
The results of the study were as followed:Improvements in mindfulness repeated measures ANOVAs confirmed significant group-by-time interactions for three of the five mindfulness subscales (acting with awareness: F (1,26)=16.87, Pb0.001; observing: F (1,26)=7.09, P= 0.013; non-judging: F (1,26)= 4.61, P= 0.041; describing: F (1,26)=1.95, P=0.175; non-reactivity: F (1,26)=2.79, P=0.107). Paired t-tests confirmed significant increases in the MBSR group (acting with awareness: t (13)=3.665, P=0.003; observing: t (13)=4.218, P=0.001; non-judging: t (13)=3.580, P=0.003), but not the control group (observing: t (13)=−0.698, P=0.498; acting with awareness: t (13)=−1.991, P=0.068; non-judging: t (13)=0.657, P=0.523; twotailed). That is, MBSR participants significantly increased their mindfulness scores on these three scales.
In other words, the grey matter in the ROI analysis supported the increase in the left hippocampus in the MBSR group, meaning that there was structural change after the 8 weeks of mindful meditation. Also there was an increase of grey matter concentrations in the PCC, TPJ, and the cerebellum in the MBSR, but there was no difference in the brain regions of the control group
This study demonstrates the brain’s gray matter concentration changes in a 8 week mindfulness stress relief study compared to a controlled group. It was hypothesized that the grey matter in concentration would increase 3 and it did! There was a significant increase in the grey concentration matter in the PCC, TPJ, and the cerebellum as explained previously.
Emotions and cognitive roles make a significant impact in the psychological functioning , the morphological changes in these regions might contribute to the positive effects of the meditation to the well being of a person.
According to the researchers, there were some details that needed to be addressed. It was stated that some of the positive effects were not exactly due to the socialization of groups, stress education or the soft exercises. It was also noted that exercise is known to increase the neurogenesis in the hippocampus (van Praag et al., 1999). Since it also has an important role in long term learning, structural changes might be related to the typical learning in the MBSR course to those found in the study of medical students of learning new intel. However, comparing the data founding in the experimental group to the control group, the control group had no significant change whatsoever. Another question that happened was why were these experiments not being performed, well it could have been the lack of resources or it was just the lack of interest, according to a researcher, it is unclear why previous cross sectional studies of meditators have not identified group differences in these regions. It is possible that small differences existed but were not detected due to the lack of power in the previous small cross sectional studies, or that structural changes are transient and change might be maximal when a skill is newly acquired (Driemeyer et al., 2008).
In addition, there was also an absence of change in grey matter concentration and the amount of homework, which mean that the amount of homework and the amount of time spent on it, is not the main force behind the results but it is the MBSR participation as a whole which influenced the changes.
As for the popular press article, it had a particular aspect in which the press didn’t inform particular details such as the kinds of participants that the study gathered or different perspectives, however it did get the main parts in. The study was about how meditation affects the brain throughout time. The article has a personal bias as a skeptic but since there hasn’t been much research i don’t blame them. The author stayed on topic for most of the article, there were a couple of inputs here and there but they aren’t distracting such as the upbringing of the blood pressure and heart disease. The tone of the article was based yet it gave it credit where it deserved. I liked the article, it was simple enough to understand and has a clear upfront of where the author stands.
References
- Davidson, R.J., Kabat-Zinn, J., Schumacher, J., Rosenkranz, M., Muller, D., Santorelli, S.F., Urbanowski, F., Harrington, A., Bonus, K., Sheridan, J.F., 2003. Alterations in brain and immune function produced by mindfulness meditation. Psychosomatic Medicine 65, 564–570
- Driemeyer, J., Boyke, J., Gaser, C., Buchel, C., May, A., 2008. Changes in gray matter induced by learning — revisited. PLoS ONE 3, e2669.
- Carmody, J., 2009. Invited commentary: evolving conceptions of mindfulness in clinical settings. Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy 23, 270–280.
- Hölzel, Britta K, et al. “Mindfulness Practice Leads to Increases in Regional Brain Gray Matter Density.” Psychiatry Research, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 30 Jan. 2011, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3004979/.
- van Praag, H., Kempermann, G., Gage, F.H., 1999. Running increases cell proliferation and neurogenesis in the adult mouse dentate gyrus. Nature Neuroscience 2, 266–270.
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