How To Unlock Your Inner Calm and Reduce Stress
The Scientific Benefits of Meditation and Mindfulness
Have you ever considered how much of your day is spent in silence?
If you’re like most people, it’s very little.
We live in a noisy world, bombarded with information and distractions. Even if you’re able to drown out the external noise, are you able to silence the internal chatter - when your mind rehashes the events of the day, worries about the future, or the pain of the past?
Constant noise disconnects us from our true selves. It leads to stress and anxiety.
When we’re overwhelmed by the noise of everyday life, it’s easy to lose sight of who we are and what we’re capable of.
Embrace the silence
When you embrace silence, you give yourself the opportunity to hear your inner voice—not the critical one that judges, but the voice that helps you along your path.
In addition to connecting with your inner voice, embracing silence through daily meditation and mindfulness offers numerous health benefits. Before outlining the key benefits, let’s consider the science.
The evolution of neuroscience
There are 80 to 100 billion neurons in the human brain. Each neuron has the ability to form thousands of connections with other neurons, leading to a complex network of trillions of synapses that enable brain cells to communicate with each other. This communication helps keep us alive and so much more.
Through the evolution of neuroscience, we better understand how our brains function and the overwhelming power we have to change them.
Did you know you can change how your brain functions?
Science has taught us that our brains are the control center of our body. Think of your brain as the CEO, directing your actions, objectives, goals, and outcomes.
We know how our brain helps us communicate and how it helps shape our perceptions of the world around us. But this knowledge is just the beginning.
During the last fifty years, with the introduction of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) into clinical practice, we have come to better understand the power we have to change how our brains work.
Using MRI technology, scientists began measuring the activity and changes in the individual parts of the brain in humans during various scenarios. That exploration continues to evolve but led to significant discoveries about neuroplasticity and the brain’s ability to change, most notably when meditation is in play.
The benefits of meditation
Research in the fields of neuroscience and quantum physics supports the benefits of mindfulness and meditation.
Dr. Fadel Zeidan is a cognitive neuroscientist, Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology in the Center of Pain Medicine at UC San Diego and the Director of the Pain Health and Mindfulness Laboratory.
In 2014, he was awarded the National Institutes of Health Mitchell Max Award for Research Excellence and personally presented his work to His Holiness, the Dalai Lama in Mongolia.
Using a Functional MRI to scan a person’s brain, he discovered it’s possible to take a snapshot of an individual’s brain activation and deactivation. The images from that study were the first to show how meditation reduces anxiety.
Zeiden noted, “When someone is stressed out or anxious, there’s an inability of a part of the brain that controls thoughts and emotions to work. The brain regions in the front, the prefrontal cortex, and the anterior cingulate cortex are deactivated…. They’re deactivated because they reflect an inability to govern or control thoughts, worries, and anxieties.”
The study also found that another brain region, the posterior cingulate cortex, is highly activated during times of anxiety and stress. This brain region is associated with mind wandering and the thoughts in our heads.
Zeiden added, “What we found was just after a very brief meditation training, meditation significantly reduced anxiety and that anxiety relief was associated with greater activation in these exact brain regions.”
Similar findings were revealed in another study led by David Cresswell at Carnegie Mellon. In that study, the group examined the stress levels of those who were unemployed and looking for work.
Like the Zeiden study, it also found that introducing mindfulness meditation reduced stress by de-coupling the connectivity between certain regions of the brain, the regions associated with processing conflict, fear, and emotions. By reducing the activation in these areas of the brain, they become less hyperactive, leading to lower levels of stress.
The same group later published work finding that mindfulness meditation can significantly reduce feelings of loneliness, even when you’re not around other people.
What drives the change in your brain?
Sara Lazar, a neuroscientist at Harvard Medical School, also used MRI technology to observe what happens to the brain while people perform certain tasks, such as yoga and meditation.
In her 2011 Ted Talk, she noted her skepticism when a yoga teacher made all sorts of claims about the benefits of yoga. However, after attending several classes, she admitted she felt calmer and better able to handle difficult situations. She even felt more compassionate toward others. Surprised by the results, she decided to do some research and was amazed at the number of studies that showed how effective yoga and meditation were in lowering stress and reducing symptoms associated with many diseases.
That’s when she refocused her research on the changes in the brain’s physical structure as it relates to yoga and meditation. She wanted to understand what caused the benefits.
Lazar went on to explain how our brains develop and adapt throughout our lives by a phenomenon called neuroplasticity. If you missed my previous posts on the topic, you may want start here.
Neuroplasticity means that the connections between neurons can be improved, new ones can be created, and old ones can be degraded. For a long time it was believed that once your “child brain” was fully developed, the only thing you could anticipate for the future was a gradual decline. But now we know that our everyday behaviors can literally change our brains.
The scientific benefits of meditation
The evolution of neuroscience has shown:
The regions of the brain associated with practicing meditation.
How those regions of the brain affect stress and impact anxiety and depression.
How activities such as yoga and meditation can make us calmer, happier and less stressed or anxious.
How quieting our minds and consistently practicing meditation, can change the structure and function of our brains.
We’ve also learned how self-regulating our feelings and emotions can impact our overall well-being.
How long do you have to meditate to see positive changes?
While there is no definitive agreement on the amount of time needed to practice meditation for optimum effects, existing studies show that even sitting in silence and meditating for as little as ten minutes a day can improve your well-being.
Where to begin
I’ve written several articles about starting a meditation practice and its benefits, but if you’ve missed those articles, here’s a brief overview of how you can begin one today.
Start small.
Set aside ten minutes each morning before your day begins.
Sit quietly, close your eyes, and focus on your breath.
Observe your thoughts without engaging with them.
If your mind wanders, bring your attention back to your breath.
That’s all. There’s no magic or required technique to start a meditation practice.
The most important part is starting and maintaining a consistent practice every day.
As you become more comfortable, you can extend the time you meditate or add another session at the end of your day.
Soon you’ll develop the ability to quiet your mind even during hectic times in your day.
If you’re still skeptical about the benefits of meditation but believe that any skill can be learned, think of meditation as a form of specialized training or exercise for your brain.
You may count the steps you take in a day to reach 10,000 or more, an important goal for your physical health, but developing and maintaining a meditation practice is just as critical to reducing stress and anxiety, regulating your emotions, and improving your cognitive function.
If you are interested in other ways to become more mindful, you may want to read another recent article on the topic: Just Breathe.
Until next week, be mindful and stay safe.
xo
Tracy
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Nice to see these tips, and I look forward to reading more.
My approach is more macro, but it also helps us live happier, more restful lives: https://livingaprincipledlife.substack.com
Wonderful tips