Mushrooms in your coffee? It may not be the first pairing that comes to mind when you think about coffee, but mushroom coffee is the latest trend in alternative health. And as it turns out, there may be quite a few potential benefits to adding medicinal mushrooms to your morning cup of Joe. Let’s take a closer look at the benefits of mushroom coffee.
What is Mushroom Coffee and How Is It Made?
Mushroom coffee is exactly what it sounds like – a coffee drink made with mushrooms. Most blends contain ground mushrooms and coffee beans. The mushroom flavor isn’t too overpowering, and when combined with the coffee, it gives the drink a slightly nutty, smooth flavor.
Because mushroom coffee is usually touted as a health drink, it usually contains medicinal or functional mushrooms rather than culinary mushrooms, like shiitake.
When making mushroom coffee, the fruiting bodies of functional mushrooms (which contain spores) are first extracted. Next, they’re ground into a fine powder and mixed with the coffee beans. Typically, mushroom coffee has a 1:1 ratio of coffee to mushrooms.
You can find this type of coffee in instant form, pods or K-cups and ground coffee.
Mushroom coffee is prepared just like any other type of coffee. You can add milk, sugar – whatever you normally add to your coffee.
Types of Mushroom Coffee
There are many different types of mushroom coffee, but the most popular varieties include mushrooms known for their medicinal properties. These include:
Lion’s Mane Coffee
Lion’s mane mushroom coffee is one of the most popular varieties because of the benefits that lion’s mane offers.
Also known as yamabushitake or hou tou gu, lion’s mane mushrooms have culinary and medicinal purposes. Research has shown that lion’s mane can help:
Reduce memory loss, promote nerve growth and even protect against Alzheimer’s disease.
Lion’s mane coffee is a popular blend because of the potential benefits it offers, and it’s commonly paired with other mushrooms to maximize the benefits.
Reishi Coffee
Iconic reishi mushrooms are known for their medicinal properties. These brown bracket mushrooms are known to help:
Boost the immune system
Promote heart health
Reduce cholesterol and blood pressure
Studies have also shown that regular consumption of reishi may help reduce depression and anxiety.
Reishi mushrooms are also known as adaptogens, which help the body better adapt to and handle stress.
Chaga Coffee
Chaga mushroom coffee, like reishi, can help with blood sugar regulation and even reduce inflammation. Some evidence suggests that chaga mushrooms can help fight cancer cells.
Chaga has a neutral taste that’s not too overpowering. When blended with coffee, you may not even taste them.
Turkey’s Tail Coffee
Turkey’s tail mushroom coffee has a slightly bitter and earthy flavor. The coffee beans help balance the flavor, but some people believe it’s still an acquired taste.
Turkey’s tail has a long history of use in traditional medicine. It’s believed to help improve immune function and reduce inflammation.
These mushrooms also contain prebiotics that can help improve digestion and feed the good bacteria in your gut.
Cordyceps Coffee
Cordyceps are actually a parasitic fungus, but they’re known for their health benefits. When taken regularly, these mushrooms can:
7 Mushroom Coffee Benefits – Is Mushroom Coffee Good for You?
Mushroom coffee blends often contain multiple types of mushrooms. The combination of these mushrooms and the coffee beans gives them their unique benefits. Some of the top benefits of mushroom coffee include:
1. More Energy and Endurance
The caffeine in mushroom coffee stimulates your central nervous system, giving you a boost of energy and helping you feel more alert.
When caffeine hits the brain, it stops the production of adenosine. When this happens:
The body can release neurotransmitters like glutamate and dopamine. These feel-good chemicals can uplift your mood and put a little pep in your step.
The body temporarily stops producing the chemicals that tell us it’s time to sleep.
These reactions make us feel more alert and energized.
But it’s not just the caffeine that can boost your energy levels and give you more endurance. Cordyceps mushroom powder, for example, can help improve endurance, stamina and oxygen capacity. Cordyceps can also support your recovery after a workout.
Other vitamins and nutrients in mushrooms can help support brain health.
2. Antioxidant and Anti-Inflammatory Properties
Medicinal mushrooms are rich in antioxidants that can help fight free radicals that damage cells. Chaga, a popular mushroom used in mushroom coffee, is especially high in antioxidants.
Many mushroom varieties also have anti-inflammatory compounds, such as:
Carotenoids
Polysaccharides
B vitamins
Inflammation is the body’s natural response to injury or illness, and it’s a necessary process. However, chronic inflammation can cause chronic disease and other health issues.
Adding mushroom coffee to your daily routine may help support your body’s response to inflammation.
3. Adaptogenic
Many mushrooms have adaptogenic properties. Adaptogens are believed to help the body adapt to physical and mental stress. They’re commonly used in Traditional Chinese Medicine and Ayurvedic medicine for these purposes.
If you’re going through a particularly stressful time, the adaptogenic properties of mushrooms may help you better cope with the stress. But be mindful of your consumption. When taking over an extended period of time, adaptogens may lose their effectiveness.
4. Lower Caffeine Levels
If you’re like many coffee drinkers, you probably consume multiple cups of coffee each day. But all of that caffeine can make you feel jittery and miserable.
One great advantage of mushroom coffee is that it doesn’t contain quite as much caffeine as regular coffee. In fact, the mushroom coffee you find in stores and online usually contains about half the caffeine of regular coffee.
With lower caffeine levels, you get the benefits of improved focus and alertness without the jitters.
If you’re sensitive to caffeine or you just want to lower your intake, mushroom coffee may be an excellent choice for you. However, it’s still essential to check the packaging for specifics on the caffeine content.
5. Helps Support the Immune System
Mushrooms are well-known for their immune-supporting effects. When mushroom coffee contains the whole mushroom (both the fruiting bodies and the mycelium), they also contain prebiotic fiber that promotes healthy gut flora.
All of the antioxidants, sterols, peptides, proteins, vitamins and minerals in mushrooms help further support the immune system.
Test tube studies have found that Turkey’s tail mushrooms and their fermented substrates have some immune-boosting effects.
6. May Promote Liver Health
Mushroom coffee can contain a variety of mushrooms, including those that help support liver health.
Reishi, for example, has properties that promote liver function and may even prevent liver disease. It can help the body flush out toxins more efficiently.
One study found that reishi may have properties that prevent liver damage. This effect is thanks to the mushroom’s antioxidant properties and ability to fight immune responses that hinder liver function.
7. May Improve Digestion
Some mushrooms contain polysaccharides like beta-glucans, which behave like prebiotics and help boost digestion.
Improve glucose, triglycerides and cholesterol levels in diabetic mice
Improve insulin sensitivity
Prebiotics can help support the production of healthy gut bacteria, which can play a role in your digestion and immune system health.
So, if you’re looking for ways to boost your digestion or improve your gut health, mushroom coffee may help.
The Takeaway
While mushroom coffee has many reported benefits, it’s important to remember that more research is needed to support these claims. You’ll find plenty of anecdotal evidence of these benefits, but there’s no guarantee that you’ll experience them yourself.
That being said, mushroom coffee is still worth trying and adding to your daily routine. It’s an excellent way to change up your morning routine while fueling your body with antioxidants and essential nutrients.
Mindful living can be challenging for us modern humans. We go through the motions, and we’re constantly bombarded with distractions that take us out of the present moment. A recent study found that 96% of participants were living their daily lives on autopilot.
We get up, go to work or school, come home and watch TV or stare at our phone screens until it’s time for bed. Then, we wake up and do it all over again. Of course, this isn’t true for everyone, but it’s a common story for people across the world.
Learning how to be more mindful in your everyday life can help you truly live in and enjoy the present moment. Although challenging, you can learn how to live mindfully. Here’s how.
7 Simple Tips for Mindful Living
1. Do Less
In today’s world, we value busyness above all else. If we’re not doing something or going somewhere, we must be wasting valuable time, right? This planet is full of human DOings and not enough human BEings.
If you want to live more mindfully, declutter your mind and live a healthy lifestyle, do less. It’s okay to say “no.” It’s okay to do nothing. Give yourself permission to just be in the moment without judgment or expectations.
When you have less on your plate, you have more time for being in the present moment.
2. Lower Your Expectations
If you’re like most people, you probably make plans and set goals. Maybe you expect things to go a certain way or for life to pan out exactly as you mapped it out.
Let’s say that you’re planning a trip to Europe. You have hopes and expectations of seeing all of these beautiful things and meeting new people. But during your trip, you encounter bad weather, your partner gets sick, and you wind up spending half the trip stuck in a hotel room. Your high expectations leave you feeling disappointed and angry. This was supposed to be the trip of a lifetime.
Expecting what life cannot give us is a surefire way to be disappointed. To live more mindfully, lower your expectations. Better yet, throw them out of the window. Because when you have an idea of how things should go, you’re only living in the future instead of living in the moment.
When you have no expectations, life becomes an adventure. You never know what’s around the corner, and you adapt to change without missing a beat.
3. Ditch the Distractions
The average person now spends 4.2 hoursper day using apps on their phones. That’s up 30% from 2019. In some parts of the world, people spend an average of 5 hours a day on their phones. This doesn’t include the amount of time people spend streaming TV and movies or watching television.
We are living in a world of distractions and information overload. It can be challenging to stay rooted in reality and the present moment when distractions are just a tap away.
To live mindfully, ditch the distractions. I’m not asking you to throw your phone out the window or cancel your Netflix subscription (although you can if you want!). But be mindful of the time you’re spending on these things.
Put away your phone when you’re eating with your family. Instead of spending hours playing games on your phone, give yourself 20-30 minutes. Be with the people you love.
Limiting your screen time and eliminating as many distractions as possible will help you be mindful of every moment. Because you can’t be present if you’re constantly trying to escape reality.
4. Connect to Your Senses
Your body is equipped with five incredible senses. Use them to ground you in the present and be aware of each moment. After all, the practice of mindfulness is all about being aware of all the sensations, smells, sounds, tastes and sights in the world around you.
How can you connect with your senses? Do a body scan.
Pay attention to your breathing (a.k.a. mindful breathing). Feel the ebb and flow of each breath. Notice any feelings that come through. Be aware of the sound of your breath. Conscious breathing is a powerful mindfulness practice.
Observe the world around you. What do you see?
Listen closely to the sounds around you. What do you hear?
What do you smell or taste?
Going through each individual sense can help you really become fully immersed in the moment. Make this a part of your regular practice to pull yourself into the present when you’re feeling distracted or moving on autopilot.
5. Accept and Observe Discomfort
The mindful life is all about being aware of and observing the present moment, and that includes negative emotions. As much as we would like to believe that life is rainbows and butterflies, it’s not. It can be hard to accept discomfort because our natural reaction is to find a way to escape it.
But life is not always easy or even enjoyable. It can be tough – grueling even. We grieve. We hurt. We get sick. Our loved ones pass on and leave us behind. Instead of running away from discomfort, pain or emotion, accept it. Observe it. In fact, open the door and welcome those difficult emotions. Acknowledge them, and then let them go.
The mindfulness practice, or meditation in general, you learn how to put space between yourself and your negative emotions and thoughts. You accept and observe discomfort without attachment or judgment.
The next time you feel sad, angry or anxious, pause for a moment and just allow your emotions to roll over you like a wave. It takes time, practice and patience to the art of mindful living, so be kind and patient with yourself as you learn how to accept discomfort.
6. Practice Gratitude
When you practice gratitude, you become mindful of all the wonderful things in your life. So, before you go to bed tonight, take a moment to identify three things you’re grateful for. You can write these things down in a journal if you like, but that’s not necessary. Just reflect on the day and express your appreciation in life. Make gratitude a daily habit.
In addition to helping you live more mindfully, gratitude can also help:
Gratitude is a powerful thing, and it helps you become keenly aware of your blessings, which can have positive effects on your mental health.
7. Shake Things Up
If you want to learn how to become mindful, shake up your usual routine.
Take a new route home
Try a new restaurant
Strike up a conversation with a stranger
Breaking patterns and getting out of your usual routine anchors you to the present moment. Because when you’re just going through the motions and doing the same thing day in and day out, you’re living on autopilot. Tiptoe out of your comfort zone and notice how something as small and simple as changing your route home from work can bring you to the present moment.
Why does this happen? Because when you’re doing something new, you don’t know what to expect. When you venture into the unknown, you must be alert and aware of the world around you so that you can act accordingly.
Mindful Living is an Art and Science
Although it’s difficult to master the art of mindful living, it’s well worth the effort. Because when you do, you find beauty, contentment and peace of mind regardless of what’s going on around you. Use these mindful living tips to start living in the present.
Mindfulness is all the rage today, but this practice has ancient roots. Thanks to modern research, science has managed to demystify mindfulness and meditation. But how exactly do you practice it?
If you’re new to the idea of mindfulness, you may be wondering what it is, its benefits and how to get started with it.
What is Mindfulness?
Mindfulness is a concept that’s hard to define because it comes in so many different forms. Even something as simple as washing the dishes can be transformed into a mindfulness practice.
At its heart, mindfulness is about being calmly aware of the present moment without judgment.
Simply put, you are keenly aware of where you are and what you are doing, but you’re not reacting or judging the moment. Imagine a chaotic street and one person sitting calmly and peacefully at the center of it all. That’s the idea of mindfulness. No matter what is happening at any given moment, we are aware of it, but we are not reacting to it.
Everyone – no matter your age or where you come from – can practice mindfulness. But in today’s modern world, where we are constantly bombarded with information and distraction, it can be challenging to tap into this innate ability.
Fortunately, you can use several techniques and exercises to practice mindfulness and help you enter this state of mind (more on that soon).
What is the History of Mindfulness?
Mindfulness is a practice that dates back thousands of years. The exact origin of the practice is unknown, but it’s a concept with roots in Eastern religious and secular traditions, including Buddhism, Hinduism and yoga. Scholars also argue that the idea of mindfulness also has roots in Islam, Judaism and Christianity.
Still, practitioners and teachers today generally learned about mindfulness in either the Hindu or Buddhist tradition.
Jon Kabat-Zinn is credited with bringing the concept of mindfulness from the East to the West. He founded the Center for Mindfulness, which is located at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. He is also the creator of the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, or MBSR, eight-week program.
Kabat-Zinn studied mindfulness under Buddhist teachers, including the well-known Thich Nhat Hanh. Then, he integrated the idea of mindfulness into Western science to create his program.
How Does Mindfulness Make You Feel?
Because mindfulness is a personal practice, it’s difficult to describe how it feels. You may feel a whirlwind of emotions during your session, but if you’re succeeding with your practice, those emotions will come and go like clouds floating through the sky.
When you are purposely making yourself aware of your surroundings, you may experience:
Sensations in the body. For example, if you are anxious, you may notice a tightening in your chest or your quick heartbeat.
Sights. You may notice every little detail in the world around you.
Emotions. If you have pent-up feelings, like anger or sadness, these may come through and in an intense way. For many, mindfulness acts as a release for these emotions. Others feel intense euphoria or joy.
Thoughts. We all have an endless supply of thoughts running through our minds 24/7, but how many do you pay attention to? Mindfulness can make you keenly aware of your thoughts and just how intrusive they can be.
Many people associate mindfulness with joy and happiness. Perhaps that’s because when you are practicing, you are living moment to moment. You stop that vicious cycle of being stuck in the past or drowning in painful emotions. For just a moment in time, you get out of your own head.
But getting to that point of joy and happiness isn’t always easy. Many newbies say that practicing mindfulness makes them uncomfortable, but that’s a sign that it’s working. Why? Because when we’re truly mindful, we’re hyper-aware of all of our emotions, and that includes the not-so-pleasant ones, like:
Anger
Sadness
Jealousy
Loneliness
Fear
The goal is to be aware of these emotions but not to give into them. You experience them without becoming overwhelmed by them. As you become less reactive to these emotions through your mindfulness practice, you can make better decisions and handle day-to-day situations with a clear mind.
What are the Benefits of Mindfulness?
One thing that sets mindfulness apart from some other stress-reduction techniques is that it’s backed by science. The practice has been heavily studied, and it continues to be studied today.
Research has found that mindfulness can be beneficial for both your physical and mental health.
Mindfulness may help:
Reduce Stress
Several studies support the claim that mindfulness can reduce stress. For example, in one study, injured athletes who practiced mindfulness meditation saw decreased anxiety and stress. The mindfulness group also saw an increase in pain tolerance.
Reducing stress can go a long way in helping you stay healthy and happy.
Ease Anxiety and Depression
Mindfulness is often used to help with anxiety and depression. One meta-analysis involving 47 studies found that mindfulness meditation programs effectively reduced the adverse effects of stress. The results were comparable to antidepressants.
Promote Immune Health
Most people associate mindfulness with mental health, but it may also help with your physical health – including your immune health.
One review looked at 20 random clinical trials with over 1,600 participants. Researchers found that mindfulness meditation may help:
Reduce pro-inflammatory responses
Increase enzyme activity that helps protect against cell aging
More research is needed to better understand mindfulness’ effects on the immune system, but the results so far have been promising.
The theory is that the practice of mindfulness can help reduce stress, which can ultimately help prevent the immune system from becoming run down. Chronic stress can lead to inflammation that may hinder your immune response.
Change Your Brain
Practicing mindfulness meditation can literally change your brain – and for the better. One study took a look at MRI scans of people who practiced meditation for an eight-week course. The results showed that the area of the brain associated with “fight or flight,” the amygdala, shrank. The pre-frontal cortex, which is linked to concentration, awareness and decision-making, became thicker.
Not only do these areas change, but the way in which they connect also changes. The results showed that the connection between the amygdala and other areas of the brain became weaker. The connection between the pre-frontal cortex and the rest of the brain got stronger.
Mindfulness meditation can change the brain in other ways. For example, researchers have found that the practice can make you less aversive to stimuli, including pain.
A fascinating find was that the brain only changes for a period of time. Once you become an expert in mindfulness meditation, these areas of the brain start to normalize again. Researchers found that brain scans of expert meditators who weren’t meditating were similar to those who were meditating. In other words, the meditative state becomes the default state.
How to Practice Mindfulness
The benefits of mindfulness are impressive, but how do you practice it? If you’re wondering, “How can I stay mindful all day?” we’re going to share some tips to help you get started.
Mindfulness Techniques
The reason why so many people struggle with mindfulness, and meditation in general, is because there’s really no solid blueprint for success. If you’re baking a cake, you follow a recipe and wind up with exactly what you expect – a cake.
The mindfulness state of mind is difficult to describe, so how do you know when you’ve arrived? That’s what makes this a tricky practice.
Fortunately, there are many mindfulness exercises you can use to help you master this practice.
Eating Mindfully
One simple way to practice mindfulness is when you eat. It’s something we all do every single day, so this allows you to be mindful at least once per day.
Try this:
Focus on your breathing. Close your eyes, and breathe slowly in and out of your belly. Take 10 deep breaths before starting your meal.
Continue breathing deeply and begin eating. Take it slow, and take deep breaths as you continue eating.
Relax your body. It is much easier to digest and absorb the food you eat when your body is in a relaxed state.
Take each bite mindfully. Focus on the textures and flavors you’re experiencing. Feel the joy with each bite.
By focusing your attention on the experience of taking each bite, you can start building your mindfulness skills.
Practice STOP
It’s a fitting name for this practice.
Stand up on your feet. Breathe. Feel the ground beneath your feet and your connection to the earth.
Tune in. Bring your attention to the physical sensations in your body. Exhale any unpleasant sensations or thoughts. Inhale joy and let it fill you with each breath.
Observe the world around you. Find something in the room or outdoors that is pleasing or beautiful.
Possibility. Think about possibility and how you can take the next step forward.
Taking the time to stop and focus your awareness on your surroundings can help you get into a mindful state.
Body Scan
The body scan exercise is a simple way to practice mindfulness, and it’s one of the more accessible ways for beginners to get initiated with the practice.
Try this:
Start by laying down on your back with your palms facing up and your feet apart. If you’re unable to lay down, you can do this while sitting comfortably in a chair with your feet resting on the floor.
Try to limit your movement during this practice.
Bring your attention to your breath, its rhythm and the sensation of inhaling and exhaling. Do not change the way you breathe, but rather, just bring a gentle awareness to your natural breath.
Now, bring your awareness to your body. Notice how your clothing feels against your skin, the temperature of your body and the environment surrounding you.
Next, focus on the areas of the body that are feeling light, heavy, tingly or sore. Make a note of any areas where you may feel overly stimulated or have no sensation at all.
Now, start focusing on each part of your body one at a time – from your head to your toes. Notice sensations or lack of feeling in each area.
Once you have gone through each area of the body, you can open your eyes and start to shift your position slowly.
Ensure that you choose a quiet place for this exercise where you won’t be disturbed by others.
The Five Senses Technique
The Five Senses exercise is a great way to use mindfulness anytime, anywhere. It’s something you can do quickly and without anyone knowing what you’re doing. The goal is to experience something with all of your senses.
Find five things you can see. Look around. Find five things you can see. These should be things that you wouldn’t normally pay attention to, like a crack in the sidewalk.
Find four things you feel. Bring your awareness to four things you’re feeling in this moment, like the wind in your hair or the texture of your clothing.
Find three things that you can hear. Listen for a moment. Find three things that you can hear, whether it’s the chirping of birds or the quiet hum of the fan.
Find two things you can smell. Turn your attention to the scents around you, and pick out two that you notice.
Find one thing that you can taste. What is one thing that you can taste right now? It may just be the taste of your mouth, or you can take a deep breath to taste the air.
The Five Senses exercise is a simple way to bring awareness to the present moment and really experience everything with all of your senses.
Mindful Breathing
The techniques above are great ways to get started with mindfulness. And if you notice, many of them aim to bring your attention to your breath.
Focusing on the breath is one of the simplest and most effective ways to practice mindfulness. Take 15 minutes out of your day to follow this practice.
Mindful breathing is so simple:
Focus your attention on each inhale and exhale.
You can practice mindful breathing while sitting, lying or standing. Your eyes can be open or closed – it’s up to you.
While you can practice this breathing exercise anytime you want, it can help to use it when you’re experiencing stress. If it’s a particularly stressful situation, you can take an exaggerated first breath to bring your mind to a state of calmness.
Take a long, deep breath through your nose.
Hold it at the top of the inhale for two seconds.
Take a long exhale through the mouth.
Focusing on your breath and being aware of your surroundings will help put you in a meditative state and trigger your body’s relaxation response.
With daily practice, you may find that your emotional responses and stress responses start to improve.
Walking Meditation
Like the body scan exercise, walking meditation is another accessible, simple way to practice mindfulness. All it takes is 10 minutes a day.
You can practice walking meditation anywhere, but we recommend finding a peaceful park or a walking trail if the weather permits. Being out in nature will make it easier to direct your attention to the present moment.
Start by walking 10-15 steps forward.
Pause for as long as you like and take a deep breath.
Turn around, and begin walking in the opposite direction.
Repeat the pause and keep taking deep breaths.
As you take each step, think deliberately about each action: lifting your foot, moving the foot forward, placing the foot on the floor, shifting forward and moving the weight from the back to the front of your foot. You can also bring your attention to other sensations, sounds and smells.
Walk slowly. You can keep your hands clasped behind or in front of you.
If you notice your mind wandering, don’t worry – that’s normal. Each time you become aware of the wandering, redirect your focus back to your walking exercise.
Try to incorporate walking meditation into your daily routine, and you’ll notice yourself becoming more mindful with each passing day.
Mindfulness Meditation
Of course, mindfulness meditation is one of the best ways to practice mindfulness. All of the exercises and techniques we’ve covered so far are, essentially, a form of meditation.
The goal is simple:
Sit peacefully.
Focus on your breath.
Bring your attention to the present moment.
If you’re having difficulty sitting calmly and allowing your thoughts to just float on, then try a guided meditation. Here are some recommended practices to try.
Mindfulness Journal
If you’re looking for a more structured way to incorporate mindfulness into your life, a journal may help. There are many mindfulness journals out there, and they aim to help change the way you think and observe the world around you.
The Mindful Journal asks you to take just seven minutes a day to be mindful and grateful for the things in your life. This journal includes three months of non-dated pages for entries. You’re asked to write down two things that you’re grateful for each morning and evening.
Each day, you’re given eight feeling words to choose from, and you can incorporate them into your entries however you see fit.
It also includes almost 100 quotes, 13 different mindfulness exercises and blank pages so that you can write down whatever you want.
Mindfulness Books
Journals are a great way to take an interactive approach to mindfulness, but books can also be beneficial. Books can better explain the concepts behind mindfulness and give you some deeper insight into the practice. Many will also include exercises and techniques to help you on your mindfulness journey.
There are so many ways to practice mindfulness. If you’re struggling to get into that state of present-moment awareness, there is always a new method to try. Use the tips above to get started on your mindfulness journey today.
Feeling stressed? There’s a meditation for that. The simple art and practice of sitting quietly is often touted as a cure-all for everything, from chronic stress to physical health issues.
But what can meditation really do, according to science? What are the benefits of meditation? Here’s what scientific studies are showing:
The Science of Meditation
It Makes You Happy
You’ve heard that meditation makes you happy, but where’s the proof? As it turns out, there are several studies that support this claim.
In this study, participants were split into two groups: meditators and non-meditators. The goal was to assess the effects of meditation. The 25 meditators were tested at the same points in time as the members of the control group over an 8-week period. The team measured brain electrical activity before and right after meditation, and they were also given the flu shot during this period. The participants were then tested again 4 months after the 8-week training program.
The researchers found significant increases in left-sided anterior activation in the meditating group, which is the area of the brain associated with positive affect. They also found significant increases in antibody titers to the flu vaccine.
The findings demonstrate that just a few short weeks of practicing mindfulness meditation can alter brain function and even boost immune function.
In this study of mindfulness, people participated in an 8-week course on Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction on depression and anxiety. The results? Researchers found that mindfulness meditation lead to a decrease repetitive thinking (a.k.a. rumination), effectively helping reprogram the participants’ thinking patterns.
In 2013, researchers at the University of California, Davis looked at the effects of mindfulness and found that meditation helps reduce cortisol levels in the body. Lower levels of cortisol, the stress hormone, increases the risk of depression, mental illness and premature death, according to Psychology Today.
As part of the study, researchers had participants fill out a questionnaire to measure aspects of mindfulness. They also measured cortisol levels in the participants’ saliva.
During the retreat, which was led by Buddhist teacher and scholar B. Alan Wallace, participants were trained in mindfulness of breathing, observing the nature of consciousness and observing mental events.
Individually, researchers found a link between mindfulness and lower levels of cortisol both before and after the retreat. Those who had an increase in mindfulness scores after the retreat had lower cortisol levels.
In this 2004 follow-up study, researchers found that mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) was more effective than therapy and standard cognitive therapy by 50%.
MBCT is so effective that it’s now endorsed by the American Psychiatric Association to prevent relapse in people who have suffered three or more episodes of depression.
It makes sense that a meditation practice would help improve productivity. The better we are at keeping our minds still, the better we are at staying focused on a single task at hand. Studies support improved productivity as one of the many beneficial effects of meditation.
This study, conducted by Italian neuroscientist Giuseppe Pagnoni, found that meditation improves mental focus as well as brain patterns.
For the study, Pagnoni recruited 12 Zen meditators who had been practicing for at least three years. He also had a control group of 12 volunteers who had never meditated, but had the same education level as the meditators and were the same age.
The participants were put into an MRI machine to measure brain patterns.
The meditators showed more stability in their ventral posteromedial cortex compared to non-meditators. This region of the brain is associated with mind-wandering and spontaneous thoughts.
While both groups had activity in this region of the brain, the increased stability in the meditators’ brains may mean that they are better able to control wandering thoughts.
Next, Pagnoni tested the participants’ ability to focus using a rapid visual information processing test.
The meditators outperformed the non-meditators with this test as well. They were better able to spot target sequences with fewer false alarms.
In a paper published in the journal Psychological Science, researchers found that intensive meditation can help people focus and sustain their attention, even when performing the most mundane of tasks.
The study, which was led by Katherine MacLean and authored by 13 researchers, took 60 enthusiasts who signed up for an intensive 3-month meditation retreat and tested their ability to focus. Participants performed at least five hours of meditative practice per day. The control group consisted of 30 participants.
All participants were given concentration tests before, during and after the retreat. They were asked to watch a series of lines flash across a computer screen and click a mouse each time they saw a line that was shorter than the others.
The participants who were meditating at the retreat were significantly more likely to see the small differences in the lines compared to the non-retreat group. The results suggest that meditation can improve concentration.
This study looked at the effects of brief mindfulness practices on mood and cognition compared to a control group.
Groups either underwent meditation training or listened to a recorded book. After four sessions, groups were assessed to measure mood, visual coding, verbal fluency and working memory.
Both activities were effective at improving mood, but only meditation training reduced anxiety and fatigue while improving mindfulness. Brief mindfulness practices also improved working memory, executive functioning and visuospatial processing.
It Improves Your Stress Response
They say that stress is a silent killer, contributing to a variety of health issues, including:
Heart disease
High blood pressure
Diabetes
Obesity
Stress can have some serious effects on your mind and body, including:
Anxiety
Headaches
Fatigue
Restlessness
Upset stomach
Irritability or anger
Depression
Lack of motivation
Chest pain
Sleeping problems
But here’s the good news: meditation can help combat the effects of stress and help you better respond to stressful events in your life.
In fact, the American Heart Association recommended mindfulness practices as a way to lower heart disease risk. That recommendation was based on evidence that mindfulness meditation may reduce stress.
In one study, researchers used DST (which uses heart rhythms to measure stress levels) to compare two forms of meditation: Chi and Kundalini. Both types reduced stress in the body.
It Literally Changes Your Brain
Meditation has the power to literally change your brain. Along with increasing grey matter, meditation can also increase areas of the brain associated with emotion regulation, self-control and positive emotions. It can even increase cortical thickness in areas of the brain related to your attention span.
In this study, researchers used high-resolution MRI data of 44 subjects to analyze the brains of meditators.
Researchers found significantly larger gray matter volumes in meditators in the right orbito-frontal cortex. Meditators also had significantly larger volumes of the right hippocampus.
Both of these areas of the brain are associated with emotion regulation and response control. Larger volumes in these regions indicates that meditators are better able to retain emotional stability, regulate their emotions and engage in mindful behavior.
Meditation may not be a miracle cure for any particular disease or illness, but science shows us that it’s definitely good for our brains and mental state.
If nothing else, it’s certainly a good excuse to sit quietly, do nothing and just unwind. Who doesn’t need that in today’s hyper-paced society?
