Meditation and Mindfulness: A Look at the Research
Not sure if anyone gets as giddy as I do about meditation research, but I just love reading about this topic! It’s so fascinating! Each quarter, I’ll add a handful of published articles on meditation and mindfulness to highlight the historical and recent research studies uncovering their profound effects on mental, emotional, and physical well-being.
The Research
Mind-Wandering Increases in Frequency Over Time During Task Performance: An Individual-Participant Meta-Analytic Review Anthony P. Zanesco, Ekaterina Denkova, Amishi P. Jha Published: Journal Psychological Bulletin, March 2024
Summary: Our minds often wander off-task toward unrelated thoughts in the midst of situations requiring continued focus. The extent of these lapses has not been well-established in the scientific literature. We present a large-scale review and meta-analysis of 68 research reports investigating the frequency of mind-wandering in over 10,000 individuals who completed attention demanding tasks. Our results confirm that the tendency to mind wander is ubiquitous and reliably grows in strength over time during ongoing task performance. Individuals are focused on something other than their current task upward of 50% of the time toward the end of the task they are performing. Mind-wandering is therefore a consequential factor involved in our difficulty maintaining attention over time.
Mindfulness-Based Interventions in Psychiatry
Benjamin G. Shapero, Ph.D.,corresponding author Jonathan Greenberg, Ph.D., Paola Pedrelli, Ph.D., Marasha de Jong, M.D., and Gaelle Desbordes, Ph.D.
Published: American Psychiatric Association Online, January 2018
Summary: This research article provides an overview of mindfulness meditation, highlighting its recent surge in popularity and its implementation in treating psychiatric disorders. It discusses mindfulness as a natural human state and describes interventions aimed at integrating mindfulness into daily life. Additionally, it reviews the efficacy of mindfulness-based interventions, identifying their cognitive, psychological, and neural mechanisms that contribute to psychiatric improvements. Ultimately, it is the author’s suggestion to include meditation incorporation into treatment strategies.
Short-term autonomic and cardiovascular effects of mindfulness body scan meditation
Blaine Ditto, Ph.D., Marie Eclache, B.A., Natalie Goldman, B.A.
Published: Annals of Behavioral Medicine, Volume 32, Issue 3, December 2006
Summary: This research explores the immediate physiological effects of body scan meditation, a component of mindfulness training. Findings suggest that body scan meditation leads to increased cardiac parasympathetic activity. The parasympathetic nervous system is one of the two main divisions of the autonomic nervous system, which controls involuntary bodily functions. It is responsible for the body’s “rest and digest” response, which is the opposite of the fight-or-flight response regulated by the sympathetic nervous system. The parasympathetic nervous system helps to conserve energy and promote relaxation by slowing heart rate, increasing intestinal and glandular activity, and promoting digestion. It plays a crucial role in maintaining homeostasis, or the body’s internal balance, by counteracting the effects of stress and promoting recovery after stressful situations.
About Us
Founded by long-time meditator, Missy McMahon, beingbetter meditation is a private practice offering mindful awareness and meditation coaching for businesses and individuals. Learn more by exploring our corporate and individual offerings.
