What is mindfulness and why does it matter to our health?
Using mindfulness to make positive changes through awareness of the self.
Recommended Groups and teachers:
North Devon’s Mindfulness and yoga team - Dan and Gemma Peppiatt - www.yogalikewater.com
Thai Chi - Steve Shackleton - www.kinesiohealth.com
Qigong - Acacia Therapies
Yoga hub of teachers: www.thecommunityyogaproject.co.uk
Somatic Yoga - www.westernwellbeing.co.uk
Apps:
Headspace App, The mindfulness App, Calm, mindfulness coach App
Breath work:
Wim Hof Method App, iBreath-Relax and Breath AppBreathwrk App
Useful websites
https://trauma-recovery.ca/recovery/mindfulness/
https://dharmaseed.org/talks/
https://www.ummhealth.org/center-mindfulness
https://www.simplywellblog.org/2020/05/29/stepping-into-mindfulness/
Mindfulness definition: a mental state achieved by focusing one's awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one's feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations, used as a therapeutic technique.
Chronic stress impacts our mind and bodies. It affects our hormones, digestion, sleep cycles, immune system and our ability to manage emotions and day to day tasks (Rabin, 2002) Prolonged cortisol production negatively affects every cell in our bodies, by suppressing the immune system, disrupting growth hormones and insulin resistance, leading to chronic health conditions (Sher, 2005: Ockenfels et al., 1995).
What constitutes as stress?
Unfortunately, the world we now live in is stressful for everyone to some degree (Abe & Abe, 2019: Aydemir & Ulusu, 2020). Biologically we are designed to spend much of our time outside, moving as a tribe, working together to raise children, utilizing individual strengths for the survival of the community (Western & Bekvalac, 2020). Many hours per day would have been spent mindfully engaging in the present task (Johnson-Jennings et al., 2020). When danger presented itself in the form of a predatory animal, humans ran from the danger (the nervous system would shut down non vital processes such as digestion to send energy, blood and oxygen to the peripheries (arms and legs), sending out highly useful hormones such as Adrenaline, Cortisol and Norepinephrine (Depue & Monroe, 1986), if survived, cortisol levels would decline and the Parasympathetic nervous system would activate returning diaphragmatic breathing, calming the Vagus nerve, signalling safety to return to rest and digestion (Chu et al., 2021). We now live in a world where our stressors are constantly with us, this activates the fight or flight hormones too often, taking its toll on he body. We often have long-term perceived problems we have to chip away at and there is only so much we can add to the pile before we experience overwhelm and ill health (Liu et al., 2020).
Of course, we have evolved over time to cope with the changing world to a degree. We have developed many skills, acquired knowledge and we have the ability to survive and thrive in these times (Ramos et al., 2019), but we need self-awareness, the ability to focus on what is important and to avoid the other distractions internally and externally which bombard us on a daily basis (Broderick, 2005). Those distractions include constant phone pinging with messages, emails, social media, rumination, work, family, and children all wanting a piece of our time, until we have no time to think, apply self-care or make future plans. Those distractions can spiral downwards until we left chronically stressed, fatigued, with poor health and vitality (Semple, 2010).
Awareness
The cerebellum (small brain) has 10% of the brains volume but 50% of the brain’s neurons (Herculano-Houzel, 2009). It is Responsible for vision, eating, proprioception, motor co-ordination, language, and emotion processing (it is the sensory information center for the whole body) (Rizzolatti & Sinigaglia, 2008). To be able to process information at speed, allowing us to live largely unconsciously (on auto drive), it needs to make predictions based on our past experiences (Ohyama et al., 2003). This is an efficient way to navigate daily life, but it requires some effort to create wanted changes. In the case of muscle injuries - muscle memory is both advantageous and restrictive; because the brain completes the movement sequence before the movement has begun, so we must override the automatic response, using tricks such as muscle energy techniques and PNF creating new pathways of movement (Chaitow & Crenshaw, 2006).
Behaviour and thought process change also needs consistent awareness, a change in perception and a solid action plan. When setting goals for self-care it is important to tackle 1-2 goals at a time, as it takes a lot of energy to consciously train your thought processes and behaviour patterns (Ordóñez et al., 2009). Quite often the behaviour change will be entangled within many other behaviours and lifelong habits e.g., the inability to say no; leads to taking on too much, leaving nothing for yourself.
Untangling longstanding patterns takes time and can feel very uncomfortable. We are programmed to live using the least amount of energy possible and to feel safe or familiar (McKay et al., 2021), regardless of whether the behaviour or thought processes have a negative impact on our lives. The brain does not take the conscious awareness into consideration, it just seeks safety. Consequently when we change behaviours, we experience feelings of fear, which we interpreted as dangerous and highly uncomfortable (anxiety) often propelling us back into old patterns (Bandura, 1981).
If, however we use this awareness to understand ourselves, address inner conflicts and we give ourselves space (meditation time) to identify the feelings, knowing we are safe but may need to self-sooth with healthy activities that bring us joy (a woodland walk, a cuppa with a friend for example), and we consistently use mindfulness daily, we can drown out the noise and distractions and take back control of our lives (Goldin & Gross, 2010).
It takes 8 weeks to thicken the grey matter which shrinks due to chronic stress (Lövdén et al., 2013).
Aggarwal, (2020) Cortisol crosses the blood brain barrier and changes the architecture of brain by action on glucocorticoid and mineralocorticoid receptors present mainly on the hippocampus, amygdala, prefrontal cortex, hypothalamus and thus altering the learning, thinking of the stressed person.
Neuroplasticity
Cramer et al., (2011). Neuroplasticity can be defined as the ability of the nervous system to respond to intrinsic or extrinsic stimuli by reorganizing its structure, function, and connections. It was thought that we had a set number of neurons and when they died, we could not regenerate but accept the cognitive decline. We now know that we can change our brains in short periods of time, synapses are replaced as soon as the stress is terminated (Fuchs & Flügge, 2014).
The great news is that it takes 8 weeks of consistent mindfulness to thicken the grey matter in your brain. The grey matter naturally thins as we get older, however chronic stress speeds up this process leading to cognitive decline, becoming more susceptible to degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s (Sartori et al., 2012). We now know we can positively change this through exercise, nutrition and mindfulness.
Studies have shown that mindfulness and meditation in all its forms can reduce rumination and circular intrusive thoughts and leads to improved emotional identification and regulation (Conklin et al., 2019: Epel, 2016: Daubenmier, 2012: Lavretsky et al.,2013).
Mindfulness can be as simple as bringing your awareness to the present moment and setting an intention. You could be cooking the tea and set an intention to pay attention to the process, quieting the mind through focus on the task, allowing feelings and thoughts to come up and fall away.
You could set an alarm for 3 x daily 5 mins of breathwork, Chi-gong, yoga or guided meditation, or your own preferred movement sequence which brings focus on the task.
Meditation comes in many forms. You can try:
7 Ways to Make Mindfulness More Fun (chopra.com)
What is Dancing Mindfulness? - Dancing Mindfulness
7 Movement Meditation Practices To Clear Your Mind | Mindfulness Box
A firm daily practice is needed to creative positive changes in a short period of time. We do hold the power to transform our lives through small daily practices.
Book recommendations
References
Aggarwal, A. (2020). Hypothalamo-Pituitary-Adrenal axis and Brain during Stress, Yoga and Meditation. International Journal of Health and Clinical Research, 3(9), 96-103.
Aydemir, D., & Ulusu, N. N. (2020). Influence of lifestyle parameters–dietary habit, chronic stress and environmental factors, jobs–on the human health in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic. Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness, 14(3), e36-e37.
Bandura, A. (1981). Self-referent thought: A developmental analysis of self-efficacy. Social cognitive development: Frontiers and possible futures, 200(1), 239.
Broderick, P. C. (2005). Mindfulness and coping with dysphoric mood: Contrasts with rumination and distraction. Cognitive therapy and research, 29(5), 501-510.
Conklin, Q. A., Crosswell, A. D., Saron, C. D., & Epel, E. S. (2019). Meditation, stress processes, and telomere biology. Current opinion in psychology, 28, 92-101.
Cramer, S. C., Sur, M., Dobkin, B. H., O'Brien, C., Sanger, T. D., Trojanowski, J. Q., ... & Vinogradov, S. (2011). Harnessing neuroplasticity for clinical applications. Brain, 134(6), 1591-1609.
Daubenmier, J., Lin, J., Blackburn, E., Hecht, F. M., Kristeller, J., Maninger, N., ... & Epel, E. (2012). Changes in stress, eating, and metabolic factors are related to changes in telomerase activity in a randomized mindfulness intervention pilot study. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 37(7), 917-928.
Depue, R. A., & Monroe, S. M. (1986). Conceptualization and measurement of human disorder in life stress research: the problem of chronic disturbance. Psychological bulletin, 99(1), 36.
Epel, E. S., Puterman, E., Lin, J., Blackburn, E. H., Lum, P. Y., Beckmann, N. D., ... & Schadt, E. E. (2016). Meditation and vacation effects have an impact on disease-associated molecular phenotypes. Translational psychiatry, 6(8), e880-e880.
Fjell, A. M., & Walhovd, K. B. (2010). Structural brain changes in aging: courses, causes and cognitive consequences. Reviews in the Neurosciences, 21(3), 187-222.
Fuchs, E., & Flügge, G. (2014). Adult neuroplasticity: more than 40 years of research. Neural plasticity, 2014.
Goldin, P. R., & Gross, J. J. (2010). Effects of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) on emotion regulation in social anxiety disorder. Emotion, 10(1), 83.
Herculano-Houzel, S. (2009). The human brain in numbers: a linearly scaled-up primate brain. Frontiers in human neuroscience, 31.
Johnson-Jennings, M., Billiot, S., & Walters, K. (2020). Returning to our roots: Tribal health and wellness through land-based healing. Genealogy, 4(3), 91.
Lavretsky, H., Epel, E. S., Siddarth, P., Nazarian, N., Cyr, N. S., Khalsa, D. S., ... & Irwin, M. R. (2013). A pilot study of yogic meditation for family dementia caregivers with depressive symptoms: effects on mental health, cognition, and telomerase activity. International journal of geriatric psychiatry, 28(1), 57-65.
Liu, Q., Luo, D., Haase, J. E., Guo, Q., Wang, X. Q., Liu, S., ... & Yang, B. X. (2020). The experiences of health-care providers during the COVID-19 crisis in China: a qualitative study. The Lancet Global Health, 8(6), e790-e798.
Lövdén, M., Wenger, E., Mårtensson, J., Lindenberger, U., & Bäckman, L. (2013). Structural brain plasticity in adult learning and development. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 37(9), 2296-2310.
McKay, M., Davis, M., & Fanning, P. (2021). Thoughts and feelings: Taking control of your moods and your life. New Harbinger Publications.
Ockenfels, M. C., Porter, L., Smyth, J., Kirschbaum, C., Hellhammer, D. H., & Stone, A. A. (1995). Effect of chronic stress associated with unemployment on salivary cortisol: overall cortisol levels, diurnal rhythm, and acute stress reactivity. Psychosomatic medicine, 57(5), 460-467.
Ordóñez, L. D., Schweitzer, M. E., Galinsky, A. D., & Bazerman, M. H. (2009). Goals gone wild: The systematic side effects of overprescribing goal setting. Academy of Management Perspectives, 23(1), 6-16.
Rabin, B. S. (2002). Understanding how stress affects the physical body. The link between religion and health: Psychoneuroimmunology and the faith factor, 43-68.
