{"id":13964,"date":"2016-01-28T11:00:56","date_gmt":"2016-01-28T11:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/?p=13964"},"modified":"2023-03-16T14:36:27","modified_gmt":"2023-03-16T14:36:27","slug":"meditation-and-the-brain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/meditation-and-the-brain.htm","title":{"rendered":"Mindfulness Meditation and the Brain \u2013 3 Effects That Will Surprise You"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_13971\" style=\"width: 410px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/wp-content\/uploads\/1676300378_82bca3caac.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-13971\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-13971\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13971\" src=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/wp-content\/uploads\/1676300378_82bca3caac-400x297.jpg\" alt=\"meditation and the brain \" width=\"400\" height=\"297\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/wp-content\/uploads\/1676300378_82bca3caac-400x297.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/wp-content\/uploads\/1676300378_82bca3caac.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-13971\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">By: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/alicepopkorn\/1676300378\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\" \">Alice Popkorn<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"color: #333399;\">by Andrea M. Darcy<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/meditation-and-psychotherapy.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Meditation<\/span><\/a> has become a normal and popular thing. But is it worth it? And what&#8217;s going on when you meditate? Time to learn about meditation and the brain.<\/p>\n<h2>Meditation and psychotherapy<\/h2>\n<p>Meditation is increasingly used by psychotherapists and counsellors to help their clients regulate moods.<\/p>\n<p>The subject of extensive research over the last fews decades, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/mindfulness-and-therapy.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">mindfulness meditation<\/span> <\/a>is now seen as an <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/nice-guidelines-mental-health-evidence-based-practice.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">evidence- based practise<\/a><\/span> (proven by research to help ) for:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/stress-vs-anxiety.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">anxiety<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li>addiction<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/depression-help-guide.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">depression<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/myths-about-adhd-in-adults.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">attention issues<\/a><\/span>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It&#8217;s also been found to increase <a href=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/depression-and-creativity.htm\">creativity<\/a>, help people <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/relationship-conflict-still-fighting.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">manage conflict<\/a><\/span>, and lead to a greater sense of psychological wellbeing overall.<\/p>\n<h2>Mindfulness meditation and the brain &#8211; what is it doing in there?<\/h2>\n<p>But what is mindfulness meditation actually doing to your brain? Should you be worried or excited?<\/p>\n<h2>1. Meditation is keeping your brain youthful.<\/h2>\n<p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fpsyg.2014.01551\/full\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">2015 study<\/span> <\/a>carried out at the department of neurology at UCLA scanned the brains of 50 long-term meditators (all had meditated from between 4 to 46 years). It <strong>found they had a slower rate of grey matter atrophy than their non-meditating counterparts<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Why does this matter? <strong>Grey matter in the frontal cortex is associated with your working memory and your decision making skills.<\/strong> The human brain loses size and volume from around aged 20 onwards. And the the deterioration of grey matter in your brain means more functional impairment (making it harder to remember things and figure things out).<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_13974\" style=\"width: 410px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-13974\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13974\" src=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/wp-content\/uploads\/14601014695_30cfe1972d-1-400x225.jpg\" alt=\"effects of meditation\" width=\"400\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/wp-content\/uploads\/14601014695_30cfe1972d-1-400x225.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/wp-content\/uploads\/14601014695_30cfe1972d-1.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-13974\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">By: Allan Ajifo<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>So meditation is basically preserving your brain, acting as an &#8216;anti-ager&#8217;. And making you less likely to experience mental illness and dementia. <\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"color: #800080;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC1361002\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Another similar study<\/span><\/a> connected to Harvard medical school not only supported that mindfulness meditation was increasing the grey matter in the brains of meditators. It also found that the 50-year old meditators in the sample group has the same amount of grey matter as an average 25 year-old.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>Of course such studies have variables that mean much more research needs to be done.<\/strong> For example, were the meditators also living a more healthy lifestyle than their non-meditating counterparts? And would other forms of meditation besides the approved mindfulness meditation have similar affects? Regardless, the results are promising.<\/p>\n<h3>2. Meditation is making your brain grow in useful ways.<\/h3>\n<p>What if you&#8217;ve never meditated before? Is your grey matter beyond repair?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Don&#8217;t panic.<\/strong> A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC3004979\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">study connected to Harvard medical school<\/span> <\/a>that took 16 people who hadn&#8217;t meditated before and put them through a program of mindfulness mediation found fascinating results.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"color: #800080;\">Increases in grey matter were found in several areas of the brain after only eight weeks of meditating. The changes were in parts of the brain like the hippocampus that are connected to learning, <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a style=\"color: #800080; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/what-is-perspective.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">having a perspective<\/a><\/span>, memory, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/emotional-regulation-skills.htm\">regulating emotions<\/a>.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>So not only might your brain grow in positive ways, but you might be calmer and clearer after only a few months of mindfulness. You&#8217;ll also feel better. Regulating emotions is a part of psychological wellbeing, helping you <a href=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/what-is-impulsivity.htm\">avoid impulsiveness<\/a> and mood swings.<\/p>\n<h3>3. Meditation is stopping your brain from chasing its own tail.<\/h3>\n<div id=\"attachment_13976\" style=\"width: 410px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/wp-content\/uploads\/6780180314_9795ff6152.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-13976\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-13976\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13976\" src=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/wp-content\/uploads\/6780180314_9795ff6152-400x266.jpg\" alt=\"meditation and the brain \" width=\"400\" height=\"266\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/wp-content\/uploads\/6780180314_9795ff6152-400x266.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/wp-content\/uploads\/6780180314_9795ff6152.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/wp-content\/uploads\/6780180314_9795ff6152-180x120.jpg 180w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-13976\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">By: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/_tar0_\/6780180314\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\" \">Taro the Shiba Inu<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/myths-about-adhd-in-adults.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Feeling like your thoughts are scattered?<\/span><\/a> The average mind spends around 50% of it&#8217;s awake time wandering, and it shows in brain scans.\u00a0 A network of brain areas called the &#8216;default-mode network&#8217; (DMN) is activated, known for what is called &#8216;self referential processing&#8217;.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"color: #800080;\">Why is a wandering brain a problem? The DMN network is associated to things like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/adult-adhd-case-study.htm\">attention difficulties<\/a>, anxiety, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/adult-adhd.htm\">ADHD<\/a>, and Alzheimer&#8217;s disease. A scattered mind is also connected to low moods.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>But a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pnas.org\/content\/108\/50\/20254.full\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">2011 study at Yale University<\/span><\/a> did brain scans that showed that main bits of<\/strong> the DMN were reasonably deactivated in experienced mindfulness meditators. Instead, they had stronger connections happening between parts of the brain implicated in self-monitoring and cognitive control.<\/p>\n<p>The study had a very small sample group, but it does offer the idea that mindfulness meditation might make your brain more focussed and also make you a less self-obsessed, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/being-happy-why-is-it-so-hard.htm\">happier person<\/a> in the process.<\/p>\n<h2>I&#8217;m interested. What sorts of therapists use meditation?<\/h2>\n<p>Many psychotherapists in the UK nowadays integrate practises of mindfulness into their work with clients.You might want to ask your therapist its something they have training with and let them know you are interested.<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #800080;\">Want to find a talk therapy that specifically specialises in using mindfulness?\u00a0 Try a session with a psychotherapist trained in<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a style=\"color: #800080; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/mindfulness-based-cognitive-therapy-london.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> mindfulness-based cognitive<\/a><\/span><a style=\"color: #800080;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/mindfulness-based-cognitive-therapy-london.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> therapy<\/a> or <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a style=\"color: #800080; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/acceptance-and-commitment-therapy-london.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">acceptance and commitment therapy<\/a><\/span>.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p class=\"p1\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-117271 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/wp-content\/uploads\/headshot-yellow-e1675110089673-150x150.png\" alt=\"Andrea M. Darcy mental health expert\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/wp-content\/uploads\/headshot-yellow-e1675110089673-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/wp-content\/uploads\/headshot-yellow-e1675110089673-200x200.png 200w, https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/wp-content\/uploads\/headshot-yellow-e1675110089673-50x50.png 50w, https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/wp-content\/uploads\/headshot-yellow-e1675110089673.png 268w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span style=\"color: #333399;\">Andrea M. Darcy is a mental health and wellbeing expert and writer. She loves to take difficult concepts and make them easy for anyone to understand. Find her on Instagram @am_darcy<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Andrea M. Darcy Meditation has become a normal and popular thing. But is it worth it? And what&#8217;s going on when you meditate? Time to learn about meditation and the brain. Meditation and psychotherapy Meditation is increasingly used by psychotherapists and counsellors to help their clients regulate moods. The subject of extensive research over [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":13974,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"yes","_lmt_disable":"no","footnotes":""},"categories":[315],"tags":[389],"class_list":["post-13964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mindfulness","tag-meditation","has_thumb"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.0 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Mindfulness Meditation and the Brain \u2013 3 Effects That Will Surprise You - Harley Therapy\u2122 Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Meditation and the brain - is it having a positive affect on your grey matter? 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Darcy","author_link":"#"},"uagb_comment_info":2,"uagb_excerpt":"by Andrea M. Darcy Meditation has become a normal and popular thing. But is it worth it? And what&#8217;s going on when you meditate? Time to learn about meditation and the brain. Meditation and psychotherapy Meditation is increasingly used by psychotherapists and counsellors to help their clients regulate moods. The subject of extensive research over&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13964"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13964\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":138401,"href":"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13964\/revisions\/138401"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13974"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}