As the age-old practice of meditation continues to expand into Western culture, we are learning more about its actual effects on brain pattern and feelings of wellbeing. The benefits of this practice have caused the recent popularity among politicians, athletes, and celebrities. In addition, previous studies have shown that meditation techniques have helped people to ease anxiety, chronic pain, and the symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Despite this, we do not have a full understanding of how this takes place in the brain.
Mindfulness meditation takes place when an individual takes the time to think about his or her thoughts and emotions as merely passing events, rather than passing judgment on them or weighing their importance. This practice in turn can ease a person’s emotional stress. Recently, in order to determine how this happens, psychologists at the University Cape Town in South Africa, had subjects experience an eight-week Mindfulness Stress Based Reduction (MSBR) intervention so that could perform this type of meditation for twelve minutes as neuroscientists scanned the activity of the brain.
When comparing brain activity during this state with that of a control state where they were asked to memorize random numbers, they found that there was less activity in the insula and the prefrontal cortex. Because damage to the insula causes an individual to have less intense emotional reactions, it is likely that less activity leads to less reactivity from the subject. One of the functions of the prefrontal cortex is to provide heightened self-consciousness. When there is less activity, it means that there is less self-focus. In turn, mindfulness meditation gives people a way to distance themselves from the self, meaning that people are more inclined to let go of their worries when in this state.
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