By: Krystyn Strother

Published: Lifelines for Health Fall 2018

In past issues we’ve talked about the general benefits mindfulness can have on our general well-being, reducing stress, coping with chronic pain, but what about the physiological effects of mindfulness?

Let’s define mindfulness as a moment-to-moment awareness of your environment and experience without judgement. It is important to highlight that mindfulness, when we talk about it this way, is not a character of your personality, it is an active state that you engage in. In other words, being a “mindful” person is not the same as practicing mindfulness. For our intents and purposes, mindfulness is an intentional practice, be it 30 seconds or 30 minutes.

When our “thoughts and feelings are observed as temporary events in the mind, instead of a reflection of oneself or reality,” we are better, and more easily, able to access calmness, clarity, and concentration (Russell, et al., 2018).

The majority of research focuses on the effect mindful meditation has on the brain and body and explores the connection between the two. Below is a highlight of compelling research showing the physiological effects formal and informal mindfulness meditation practices have.

How Does Mindfulness Affect the Body?

In 2010, Hoffman et al. looked at 39 studies exploring the use of mindfulness- based stress reduction and mindfulness- based cognitive therapy and concluded that practicing mindfulness may be useful in changing physiological processes that are at the root of many clinical issues, stress. They saw a pattern that was consistent with other evidence that mindfulness meditation increased positive physiological experiences, decreased anxiety, and decreased negative physiological experiences.

Mindfulness has the ability to initiate a relaxation response in the body. When we experience a stressful situation, the brain begins a cascade of events that affect the body called the stress response. The brain, signaling the rest of the body through the autonomic nervous system, initiates a host of involuntary functions such as increased breathing and heartbeat, and elevated blood pressure. That signal from the brain triggers a release of hormones from the adrenals that intensify the physiological changes already taking place and affects the endocrine, sympathetic nervous and immune systems. Physically, the stress response shows up as increased breathing, heartbeat, and elevated blood pressure. Those hormones have other effects on the body potentially contributing to insomnia, digestive disorders, mental health issues, heart disease, fertility, and weight gain.

Think about this cascade being initiated every time you encounter something stressful. It is no wonder chronic stress has such a profound impact on our health and wellness! Mindfulness can give rise to the relaxation response by engaging the part of the nervous system responsible for getting the body back to its baseline levels after a stressful event. The heart and respiratory rates are lowered, blood pressure drops, and tension in the muscles is released. All of those stress hormones that were released-those are greatly reduced as well.

Research shows that mindfulness meditation not only promotes awareness and understanding of one’s own thought process but also has many broad-ranging benefits from weight loss, managing inflammation, and emotional wellbeing.

Manage Inflammation & Prevent Disease

Looking at recent research; a number of leading institutions are finding a link between the brain and our immune systems. Scientists at the Center for Healthy Minds University of Wisconsin-Madison have been studying the mind-body connection and the idea that the brain and the immune system work in conjunction with one another. Their theory is that the brain influences the body’s inflammatory responses, and our ability to train the brain to intervene on those responses might prevent some chronic disease.

Weight Loss & Disordered Eating

Many studies have shown that mindfulness meditation has a great effect on the area of the brain that regulates emotions and perspective, making it easier to let negative thoughts come and go without dwelling on them. Furthermore, there are a handful of studies pointing to mindfulness meditation as an “effective intervention for emotional eating.” A 2016 study conducted by UMass Medical School Center found that mindfulness meditation helped reduce emotional eating behavior.

Manage Inflammation & Prevent Disease

Looking at recent research; a number of leading institutions are finding a link between the brain and our immune systems. Scientists at the Center for Healthy Minds University of Wisconsin-Madison have been studying the mind-body connection and the idea that the brain and the immune system work in conjunction with one another. Their theory is that the brain influences the body’s inflammatory responses, and our ability to train the brain to intervene on those responses might prevent some chronic disease.

Cellular Changes

A study published in the journal Cancer by the Tom Baker Cancer Center in Alberta, Canada suggests that mindfulness meditation can influence, “key aspects of your biology.” In this particular study, researchers were looking at the effect of mindfulness on telomere length. Telomeres are protective lengths of protein at the ends of chromosomes and can be used to determine how quickly cells age. The subjects that participated in mindfulness training on a weekly basis over a three- month period showed preserved telomere length, while the subjects that did not learn or practice mindfulness had shorter telomeres. While more research is currently being done, the idea here is that folks in this study who engaged in mindfulness meditation may have more resilient cells.

Emotional Reactivity

Many of the physiological benefits of mindfulness meditation take place within the body in ways that aren’t immediately recognizable. A 2007 study reported a decrease in emotional reactivity among participants that had anywhere from one month to 29 years of mindfulness meditation practice. Mindfulness practices stimulate and increase the density of neurons in the area of the brain that regulates emotions and decreases neuron density in the region of the brain responsible for initiating the stress response. That means, the more we engage in mindfulness practices the greater our ability to regulate emotions without initiating the stress response.

Studies suggest that our minds and bodies can affect one another, and that the benefits of mindfulness meditation have profound physiological and psychological effects. More research is being done to better understand how these benefits are achieved in the body.

There are many paths to approach mindfulness and what works for you may not work for your neighbor, partner, or child. Yoga, Tai Chi, formal and informal mindful meditation are just a handful of ways to practice mindfulness. Consider mindfulness meditation as a preventative strategy to help manage how your brain responds to events taking place in the body.

Krystyn Strother is the former program director at HUSH Meditation, strategic designer/author of the HUSH meditation curriculum, is a certifiedmeditation instructor, co-founder of NOMAD, “Adventures in Wellness”, and yoga instructor.

Krystyn’s yoga classes range from Vinyasa to Yin. In addition to her regularly scheduled classes, Krystyn guest teaches at several yoga teacher training programs throughout the country, speaks at conferences on mindfulness and stress reduction practices, teaches specialized workshops, facilitates yoga + adventure retreats, and conducts continuing education classes for currently registered RYTs.

Krystyn holds a certificate of completion in the Yoga of Awareness For Chronic Pain, an evidence- based program sponsored by the Department of Anesthesiology at OHSU.

Read more about Krystyn at krystynstrother.com

1. Russell, L., Ugalde, A., Milne, D., Krishnasamy, M., O, E., Austin, D. W., .
   . . Livingston, P. M. (2018). Feasibility of an online mindfulness-based program for patients with melanoma: Study protocol for a randomised controlled trial. Trials, 19(1). doi:10.1186/s13063-018-2575-x

2. Hofmann, S. G., Sawyer, A. T., Witt, A. A., & Oh, D. (2010). The effect of mindfulness-based therapy on anxiety and depression: A meta-analytic review. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 78(2), 169-183. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0018555

3. https://centerhealthyminds.org/news/mind-over-matter-mapping- the-two-way-street-of-the-brain-and-immune-system?utm_ content=63584016&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter

4. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27890474?utm_ content=63208938&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter

5. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/ S019566631630825X?via%3Dihub

6. https://www.sciencealert.com/world-first-evidence-suggests-that- meditation-alters-cancer-survivors-cells