Mindfulness: The Science Behind the Practice

The practice of mindfulness is everywhere. Business leaders, professional athletes, mental health professionals, and, of course, your neighbor down the street are all discussing how being mindful can improve our mental state and general well-being. Mindfulness is used as an approach for treating pain, depression, anxiety, OCD, addiction, chronic diseases, and HIV treatment side effects, as well as an aid in weight loss and in being more productive. So what is mindfulness? And what does the research have to say about its ability to better our lives?

What Is Mindfulness?

Mindfulness can have different definitions depending on whom you ask but however one defines mindfulness, the different approaches to the practice all fall under the idea of paying attention on purpose. This can mean noticing the things we take for granted from the feel of our shoes against our feet to the ways we interact with others. More clinically, mindfulness is defined as the self-regulation of attention with an attitude toward openness.

The meditation and emphasis on being fully aware of your surroundings often associated with the practice of mindfulness have similarities to traditional Buddhist practices, but today’s reincarnation of mindfulness is entirely secular. Mindfulness-based stress reduction programs (known as MBSRs) typically focus on internal self reflection and the reduction of distractions as you focus your thoughts on the present.

The Science of Mindfulness

What are the evidence-backed benefits of participating in a mindfulness program?

1. Memory Improvement
2. Stress Reduction
3. Healthier Diet
4. Sleep Improvement

Let's explore each a little further. 

1. A mindfulness practice can help improve memory.

Mindful meditation has been shown to change the physical structure of our brains. For example, it prevents the thinning of the frontal cortex that generally happens as we get older and causes us to forget stuff. That study, led by Dr. Sara Lazar of Harvard Medical School, found that participating in an 8-week-long Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program (or MBSR program for short) led to changes in the concentration of gray matter in the areas of the brain used for learning and memory processes, emotion regulation, and perspective taking.

In another study of 48 undergraduate students, the majority of whom were female, researchers found that those who took a 2-week-long mindfulness class performed better on the reading comprehension portion of the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) test used for graduate school admissions by 16 percentile points. The class taught students to focus on physical posture and methods for focusing their attention on a task. The class also required daily meditation outside of the classroom. The authors of the study credited the improvement in scores to an increased ability to reduce distracting thoughts and an improved working memory due to the mindfulness practice.

2. Practicing mindfulness can reduce stress and anxiety.

One of the main goals of mindfulness is to reduce distractions which can be one of the main pathways for worry to take over our thoughts. So it is no surprise that in a review of 64 studies in the literature (although with only 20 being considered of acceptable quality for full analysis), MBSR programs were found to help a broad range of people in coping with clinical and nonclinical problems like anxiety and stress.

Among those studies, nursing students in Korea saw reduced anxiety levels after participating in an 8-week mindfulness program. Initial evidence suggests that mindfulness programs may also help reduce the specific stress of adjusting to a cancer diagnosis.

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3. Mindful eating can help with making healthier food choices and potentially weight loss.

When applied to eating, mindfulness might include involving all of your senses (i.e. noticing colors, smells, textures, and flavors) as well as removing distractions like television or your computer/smartphone.

A study of 150 binge eaters showed that mindful eating reduced their binge eating while also reducing some of the stress and depression related to efforts to control their diet. The Harvard Medical School has a “starter kit for mindful eating” which includes setting a timer so that meals take at least 20 minutes and eating with your less dominant hand, or even chopsticks if they are unfamiliar, to slow yourself down.

4. Mindfulness practices may help you sleep better.

In a review of 38 articles, seven of which were deemed rigorous enough for full analysis, researchers found that practicing mindfulness techniques may help improve sleep, in part by reducing the influence of “sleep-interfering cognitive practices” like worrying. The authors of the review note that the studies that found participating in an MBSR program led to “significant” improvements in sleep quality and duration were all uncontrolled experiments, so more research is needed for a truly definitive link.

The Wandering Mind

Although most studies on the effects of mindfulness emphasize the positive effects of the practice, there are a few detractors. For example, studies have shown that creativity can be increased after a short period of time devoted to a simple task that does not require concentration, thus allowing for distractions to creep in. Other studies report that physicists and writers have some of their most clever ideas while allowing their minds to wander.

How Can You Practice Mindfulness?

Researching the effects of mindfulness can be challenging without a clear, widely-agreed upon definition. How can we properly evaluate the effects of mindfulness if we are not sure that we are all studying the same thing?

So the practice of mindfulness can take many different forms, like purposefully using all of your senses in daily tasks like doing the dishes, taking note of your surroundings on your commute to work, or thinking about and savoring each bite of your lunch. You can also make focused efforts to welcome new information, including approaching issues from a different perspective, a practice that may be especially helpful to those in long-term partnerships. Other aspects of mindfulness encourage focusing on specific, individual steps toward a larger goal rather than worrying about never being able to accomplish the final result.

So when embarking on a mindfulness program, it’s best to read up on the specific kind of mindfulness practices that are shown to have the most success in the area where you are hoping to see results. If more general focus and an improved ability to combat distractions is what you’re after, you’ll have more flexibility in choosing a mindfulness program. But sticking to those with more proven results is always safest, especially in a market flooded with everyone’s hot take on how to be mindful.  

Until next time, this is Sabrina Stierwalt with Everyday Einstein’s Quick and Dirty Tips for helping you make sense of science. You can become a fan of Everyday Einstein on Facebook or follow me on Twitter, where I’m @QDTeinstein. If you have a question that you’d like to see on a future episode, send me an email at everydayeinstein@quickanddirtytips.com.

Image courtesy of shutterstock.