August Neuroscience Roundup for Mindful Leaders

For this month’s Round-Up, we explore mindfulness in schools, how mindfulness regulates pain, finding meaning in life by appreciating the little things, the cognitive benefit of self-reflection, and why the serotonin theory of depression might not be as compelling as we think. We have summarized the main ideas and key takeaways below with links to the full articles.

School Mindfulness Programs: Why Some Work and Others Don’t    

In an updated meta-analysis, researchers of the My Resilience in Adolescence (MYRIAD) Project discovered that the outcome of mindfulness training in schools may not be as straightforward as originally thought. After compiling data from 37 UK-based studies, including some that looked at the long-term effects of mindfulness based programs (MBPs) on both students and teachers, there was no clear indication that mindfulness training was benefiting youths’ mental health and wellbeing more than other methods being implemented by schools.

Key Points:

• While mindfulness-based programs (MBPs) have a small-to-medium scale positive effect on improving mental health and executive skills in the short term among youth and adolescents, these same benefits are no longer present 6-months or one-year later. 
• Many factors could have influenced these findings, including a lack of interest among teens (~80% failed to practice regularly outside of class), variances in instruction quality (students of more enthusiastic teachers enjoyed sessions more and tended to practice more), and the type of mindfulness practice. 
• MBPs have great potential to benefit students, but need to be better designed and implemented, particularly as scientists are still exploring which MBP mechanisms directly impact mental health. Schools should consider how to make MBPs that are accessible and engaging, which may mean tailoring them to the particular age group and/or health profiles of individual students.

Read the full article here.

Brain Imaging Reveals How Mindfulness Boosts Pain Regulation  

During this study, participants had their brain activity recorded during a mildly painful experience (a heat-based stimulus was applied on their forearm) after either an 8-week mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) course (experimental group) or a similar course except without the mindfulness training (control group). Brain activity was measured with an innovative technique developed by Dartmouth professor Tor Wagner, in which two brain-wide signatures of pain-related activity are recorded. Unlike more psychological self-reported measures of pain, this method provides more insight into the neurobiological mechanism of action going on. The researchers then brought in experienced meditators to undergo the same neuroimaging pain task. 

Key Points:

• After taking the 8-weeks MBSR course, those in the experimental group showed a significant reduction in the brain signature associated with sensory intensity of pain, a change not observed in the control group. This suggests that mindfulness training directly changes how sensory signals are interpreted by the brain among new mindfulness practitioners.  
• Long-term mindfulness training also affects one’s pain response, but not in the same way as in novice practitioners. Experienced meditators showed differences in the other brain signature, the one associated with the influences that shape pain indirectly (such as differences in attention, beliefs or expectations/factors increasing perceived level of distress).
• Mindfulness-based interventions could be a promising approach for effectively treating and managing pain without requiring invasive procedures or potentially addictive drugs like opioids. 

Read the full article here.

Searching for Meaning? Try Appreciating the Small Things

Existential psychologist Joshua Hicks proposes a fourth fundamental pathway toward developing meaning in life: appreciating and finding value in experiences, what he coins, “experiential appreciation”. Most psychologists agree that there are three factors underlying one’s subjective sense of a meaningful life: the feeling that one’s life makes sense, having clear long-term goals and a sense of purpose, and the belief that your actions matter to others. Hicks argues that experiential appreciation should be added to the list, and to prove it, he implemented a series of studies designed to measure experiential appreciation and how that corresponds to perceptions of meaning in life (MIL). 

Key Points:

• Across all seven studies, Hicks and his team found evidence to support their hypothesis that experiential appreciation (i.e. appreciating the little things in life) predicts subjective judgements of MIL. For instance, those who watched a short sequence of nature footage from Planet Earth reported greater feelings of experiential appreciation than those who watched a brief instructional wood-working video, which in turn, increased their MIL judgements.
• While some individuals may be more naturally inclined to recognize intrinsic beauty, anyone can develop this skill by slowing down and engaging in mindful appreciation of the little things around them — an act that can help cultivate a more meaningful existence.

Read the full article here. 

Self-Reflection Linked to Improved Late-Life Cognition and Brain Health  

A recently published study led by a team at UCL found that self-reflection, the active evaluation of one’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, can offer protection against adverse health effects, particularly those related to dementia. Researchers measured self-reflection in two cohorts of older individuals (mean ages of 69 and 73), as well as global cognition, glucose metabolism, and amyloid deposition, three markers affected by Alzheimer’s disease.

Key Points:

• Greater self-reflection was associated with better global cognition and higher glucose metabolism. There was no effect on amyloid deposition (a build-up of harmful proteins seen in Alzheimer’s patients). 
• While these findings suggest that self-reflection leads to improved cognition, further longitudinal and experimental studies are needed to rule out the possibility that people with better cognition are just better at self-reflection.
• Regardless of how it specifically fights cognitive decline (assuming it does), self-reflection has been linked to many other benefits, like recovery from depression and better cardiovascular health. 

Read the full article here. 

The Serotonin Theory of Depression: A Systematic Umbrella Review of the Evidence  

A recent large-scale umbrella review examining relevant serotonin research calls into question the widely-accepted serotonin theory of depression. Much of the scientific and medical community, as well as the general population, believe that depression is the result of a chemical imbalance (mainly a lack of serotonin). This serotonin-based hypothesis of depression also provides the justification for the use of antidepressants. The publication of this paper marks the first time researchers have synthesized all the relevant evidence on serotonin and depression — including systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and large data-set analyses — into a single comprehensive review. Animal studies or those concerned with depression in particular physical conditions (like Parkinson’s disease) or a particular subtype of depression (such as postpartum or bipolar depression) were excluded.

Key Points:

• In reviewing the major research on serotonin, there is no clear and convincing evidence that depression is associated with and/or caused by lower serotonin activity. 
• Most studies found no reduction in serotonin activity between individuals with depression and those without. Similarly, methods to reduce serotonin availability through tryptophan depletion failed to lower mood in volunteers.
• There was limited evidence to support the possibility that long-term antidepressant use may reduce serotonin concentration.
• Despite such a substantial research effort based on this serotonin-hypothesis, the evidence has not proven a biochemical imbalance to underlie depression. The authors conclude that it’s time for the scientific community to acknowledge that this largely-accepted theory of depression is not empirically substantiated. 

Read the full article here.