There are 80 to 100 billion neurons in a human brain, and every single one of them can form
thousands of connections with other neurons, leading to a complex network of hundreds of
trillions of synapses that enable brain cells to communicate with each other.
Psychologist Rick Hanson, describes it as “Like a computer network built from five
hundred trillion transistors, each representing a “bit” of information depending on whether
it is “on” or “off”.” Yet, despite the best efforts and findings
of modern neuroscience, the true functioning of our mind remains one of the greatest and
most fascinating mysteries. We know a lot about how our brain helps us stay alive, communicate,
and perceive the world around us. But this knowledge, however brilliant, continues to
change at an extraordinary pace and represents only a tip of a gigantic iceberg whose full
beauty is hiding well from our sight. Is it then preposterous to consider that something
as trivial as focusing our mind and breathing steadily for a short time every day could
have a profound effect on our well-being? Is it in our power at all to make changes
to our own brain?
The script for this video was written by Kristyna Zapletal, writer & coach for leaders and entrepreneurs.
You can find more about her and her inspiring articles in the description below.
Neuroscientists have been studying the effects of mindfulness techniques on our brains, with
some pretty compelling results. The introduction of Magnetic Resonance Imagining (MRI) into
clinical practice in the 1980s has resulted in substantial scientific advancement. Since
then, researchers have been able to measure the activity and changes in the individual
parts of the brain in humans. Sara Lazar, a neuroscientist at Harvard Medical
School, uses the MRI technology to look at very fine, detailed brain structures and see
what is happening to the brain while a person is performing a certain task, including yoga
and meditation. According to her own words, Lazar herself
used to be sceptical about the lofty claims her yoga teacher had made about the emotional
benefits of meditations she should have expected to experience. When after attending several
classes, she indeed felt calmer, happier, and more compassionate, she decided to re-focus
her research on the changes in the brain’s physical structure as a result of meditation
practice. CAN MEDITATION GENUINELY CHANGE BRAIN STRUCTURE?
In her first study, Lazar looked at individuals with extensive meditation experience, which
involved focused attention on internal experiences(no mantras or chanting). The data proved, among
others, that meditation may slow down or prevent age-related thinning of the frontal cortex
that otherwise contributes to the formation of memories. The common knowledge says that
when people get older, they tend to forget stuff. Interestingly, Lazar and her team found
out that 40–50-year-old meditators had the same amount of gray matter in their cortex
as the 20–30-year-old ones.
For her second study, she engaged people who had never meditated before and put them through
a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction training program, where they took a weekly class and
were told to perform mindfulness exercises, including body scan, mindful yoga, and sitting
meditation, every day for 30 to 40 minutes. Lazar wanted to test the participants for
positive effects of mindfulness meditation on their psychological well-being and alleviating
symptoms of various disorders such as anxiety, depression, eating disorder, insomnia, or
chronic pain. After eight weeks, she found out that the
brain volume increased in four regions, from which the most relevant were:
HIPPOCAMPUS: a seahorse-shaped structure responsible for learning, storage of memories, spatial
orientation, and regulation of emotions. TEMPOROPARIETAL JUNCTION: the area where temporal
and parietal lobes meet and which is responsible for empathy and compassion.
On the other hand, the one area whose brain volume decreased was the AMYGDALA: an almond-shaped
structure responsible for triggering the fight-or-flight response as a reaction to a threat, whether
real or only perceived.
Here, the decrease in gray matter correlated with changes in the levels of stress. The
smaller their amygdala became, the less stressed people felt, even though their external environment
remained the same. It proved that the change in amygdala reflected the change in the people’s
reactions to their environment, not in the environment itself.
WHAT IS THE MAIN DRIVER OF CHANGE IN OUR BRAIN? Our brain develops and adapts throughout our
whole lives. This phenomenon, called neuroplasticity, means that gray matter can thicken or shrink,
connections between neurons can be improved, new ones can be created, and old ones degraded
or even terminated. For a long time it was believed that once
your “child brain” was fully developed, the only thing you could anticipate for the
future was a gradual decline. Now we know that our everyday behaviors literally change
our brains. And it seems that the same mechanisms which allow our brains to learn new languages
or sports can help us learn how to be happy. Neuroscientist Lara Boyd from the University
of British Columbia points out that the human brain changes in three ways to support learning
of new things: 1. CHEMICAL — Transfer of chemical signals
between neurons, which is linked to short-term learning improvements (e.g. of a memory or
a motor skill). 2. STRUCTURAL — Changes in connections between
neurons, which are linked to long-term learning improvements.
These mean that the brain regions that are important for specific behaviors may change
their structure or enlarge. These changes need more time to take place, which underlines
the importance of a dedicated practice. And number 3. FUNCTIONAL — Increased excitability
of a brain region in relation to a certain behavior.
In essence, the more you use a particular brain region, the easier it is to trigger
its use again. IS HAPPINESS A GIFT OR A DEVELOPED SKILL?
If we embrace the idea that our well-being is a skill that can be cultivated, then it’s
obvious that meditation is simply a form of exercise tailored for our brain. While there
is not enough scientific data available to measure the benefits of a 5-minute versus
a 30-minute mindfulness session, the way in which our brain changes over time suggests
that we can actively foster lasting results with regular practice.
Scientists from the Center for Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin-Madison define
well-being from the viewpoint of these 4 areas: SUSTAINED POSITIVE EMOTION
In a study that examined response to positive images, individuals with higher activity in
those brain regions linked to positive emotions reported a higher level of psychological well-being.
RECOVERY FROM NEGATIVE EMOTION There is evidence that mindfulness training
leads to greater resilience to painful stimuli. In this study, experienced meditators reported
the same pain intensity as individuals with little mindfulness experience, but less unpleasantness.
PRO-SOCIAL BEHAVIOR AND GENEROSITY Behavior that increases social bonds and improves
the quality of social relationships increases well-being. Research then suggests that compassion
can be cultivated with mental training. MINDFULNESS AND MIND-WANDERING
Mindfulness, defined as paying attention to the present moment without judgment, makes
people happier. A study where a smartphone app was used to monitor people’s thoughts,
feelings, and actions showed that their minds were wandering approximately half of the time,
and while doing so they reported significantly more unhappiness.
We tend to blame our brain a great deal — for inability to remember, for making us feel
bad, for being slow… — as if it was a capricious ruler whom the rest of our body
needs to follow no matter what. We refuse to assume responsibility for our brain’s
health and our mind’s happiness. If we did, we could experience this phenomenal organ
becoming our loyal friend rather than an eternal enemy.
We understand that to be able to run a 10k race or to do 50 pushups, we should exercise
regularly. Yet we get put off when our brain doesn’t yield results instantly. Like: “Hey,
I’ve meditated for 20 min and I still feel awful. What a new-age hype!”
The human brain is extremely plastic and establishes new neural connections daily. These intricate
networks, however, need to be reinforced and consolidated through our behavior, just like
a path through a forest needs to be walked, otherwise it will be grown over and eventually
disappear. Meditation can relax you and regulate your
emotions in the short term, but it can also change your brain permanently if you approach
it as a form of mental exercise. Any type of learning is a highly individual
process, with the common denominator being plain hard work. And science shows that if
we invest our effort into reprogramming our brains, it can truly guide us towards a better
life. Do you meditate? If so how does it make you
feel? And if not would you consider it after watching this? Comment and lets have a discussion
below. Thanks again to Kristyna Zapletal for the
script for this video. You can find more about her and her inspiring articles in the description
below.