How Mindfulness and Meditation Can Help Your Brain Health

The brain is perhaps the most interesting organ in the human body.  It is incredibly complex, dynamic and new things being discovered about the brain

“There have been numerous studies done on how meditation and mindfulness benefit your brain function and health long term, and it’s extremely beneficial in patients with mental health issues, such as anxiety, reports Dr Vanessa Ruiz, a naturopathic doctor who addresses mental health issues through mind-body therapies.  Here’s what the science is saying about meditation and mindfulness: 

Neuroscience Behind Meditation And Mindfulness 

Sara Lazar, a neuroscientist at the Harvard Medical School, studies the brain using MRI technology, analyzing changes in the brain during activities such as yoga or meditation.

During these mindful experiences, MRI imaging has shown that the physical structures of the brain can change. One study conducted revealed that meditation and mindfulness activities prevented or slowed down the thinning of the frontal cortex. This is meaningful as the frontal cortex deals with memories and maintaining volume in that area could prevent aging and memory loss. 

In a second study from Lazar, subjects were tested to see the positive effects of mindfulness and meditation. Subjects participated in eight weeks of mindfulness practices and upon completion, imaging showed a decrease in volume at the amygdala, an area of the brain that activates the fight or flight response. 

Long term, mindfulness and meditation may help  those with depression, insomnia and anxiety reduce stressful situations.

Benefits Of Meditation And Mindfulness 

Here are some of the main benefits of meditation and mindfulness that can improve the quality of your life:

·      Improves attention span and focus 

·      Increases tolerance levels

·      Improves your emotional intelligence

·      Boosts traits such as compassion, empathy, kindness, and acceptance

·      Increases self-awareness

·      Boosts emotional health

These are traits we all need if we want to live a healthy and peaceful life. However, the benefits of these don’t stop here. There are many mental health benefits of meditation and mindfulness too. Let’s explore those. 

Benefits Of Meditation And Mindfulness On Mental Health 

Here are some of the main mental health benefits of meditation and mindfulness:

·      Lower stress levels 

·      Lower anxiety

·      Can help prevent relapse into depression

·      Decreases feelings of loneliness

·      Helps fight negative thoughts and patterns

·      Improved quality of sleep

“I’ve seen many of my patients improve by implementing these in their daily practice, says Dr. Vanessa Ruiz, “people are using them because it is helping them lead a better life in a world where our brains are always in a mode of hyperactivity.”

Final Words 

If you want to lead a better life then you should introduce mindfulness and meditation practices into your life. Once you engage in these practices consistently you will notice how better your life and brain health will be.  

Join our Mindfulness Practitioner program here.

How You Can Help Patients with Chronic Pain

  Chronic pain affects millions of people globally and can lead to reduced life quality and disability (Cheung et al., 2016).  If you or your patients suffer from chronic pain, this can lead to a whole host of complications such as depression, insomnia, reduced immunity and increased chances of heart disease. Management of chronic pain utilizes long term use of NSAIDs, sedative medications, surgery, physical therapy or steroid injections, which often provide minimal to no relief. By looking towards integrative, alternative medicine and yoga, we can offer these patients increased comfort (Combs and Thorn, 2015). 

Yoga is one of the most common practice to improve health outcomes present since ancient time. The word yoga means developing a harmonious relationship between body, mind and emotions. It is an exercise based on physical and mental training. One of the main challenges in engaging patients with physical activity is the perception of pain with movement, however, a gentler with less weight-bearing and impact form of yoga that may be appropriate is restorative yoga. This form of yoga uses blocks, props and other accessories to help support patients in passive stretching. Asanas are various physical postures that are held for a specific duration and provide physical as well as psychological benefits. Restorative yoga improves flexibility passively, and reducing contractures (Kanaya et al., 2014) that are commonly seen in those with debility. Other benefits to incorporating a restorative yoga practice with patients is it can help to balance the immune system and nervous system, improves sleep, improves circulation and reduce anxiety levels. Most importantly, it has been shown to reduce pain (Kanaya et al., 2014). However, it is crucial to understand the selection and adaptation of specific Asana for an individual patient (Combs and Thorn, 2015). 

Nurses can integrate restorative yoga in their practice after attaining adequate training about accurate postures, health benefits, breathing practices, and active relaxation. Nurses already have sufficient training about positioning patients with disabilities however, restorative yoga would be an added tool to provide patients with increased comfort, improve range of motion and reduce of pain. Nurses can increase their understanding of contraindications and precautions that must be considered while placing patients in certain positions. In addition, leading patients through a deep breathing practice and meditative practice helps to increase the effectiveness of the asana. Several programs offer license and certification to integrate restorative yoga in nursing practice (Robison, Walter and Godsey, 2019).

With an increase in aging population and diverse health conditions, serious health concerns are being made towards the misuse of pain-relieving medications. Complementary and alternate therapies are attaining more popularity among healthcare practitioners to reduce pain and Yoga is one of the safest therapy. Use of Restorative Yoga is an efficient way to manage chronic pain and disability while receiving other benefits such as improved anxiety, insomnia and more. 

To receive your Certificate in Restorative Yoga, join us for our September session here. For a limited time only, get 10% off with code HEAL2024 off your registration.

References 

Cheung, C., Park, J., & Wyman, J. F. (2016). Effects of yoga on symptoms, physical function, and psychosocial outcomes in adults with osteoarthritis: a focused review. American Journal of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, 95(2), 139-151.

Combs, M. A., & Thorn, B. E. (2015). Yoga attitudes in chronic low back pain: Roles of catastrophizing and fear of movement. Complementary therapies in clinical practice, 21(3), 160-165.

Highland, K. B., Schoomaker, A., Rojas, W., Suen, J., Ahmed, A., Zhang, Z., ... & Buckenmaier III, C. C. (2018). Benefits of the restorative exercise and strength training for operational resilience and excellence yoga program for chronic low back pain in service members: a pilot randomized controlled trial. Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitation, 99(1), 91-98.

Kanaya, A. M., Araneta, M. R. G., Pawlowsky, S. B., Barrett-Connor, E., Grady, D., Vittinghoff, E., ... & Tanori, D. (2014). Restorative yoga and metabolic risk factors: The Practicing Restorative Yoga vs. Stretching for the Metabolic Syndrome (PRYSMS) randomized trial. Journal of Diabetes and its Complications, 28(3), 406-412.

Robison, G., Walter, T., & Godsey, J. (2019). Integrating Yoga Therapy into Oncology Care. Oncology Issues, 34(4), 26-35