Cigarette smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States. Despite years of treatment, research, and activism, we still don’t have a really effective program to help people quit smoking. The traditional behavioral treatments haven’t improved much over time. But what if mindfulness meditation could do what traditional programs don’t? Judson Brewer, […]
How Mindfulness Works to Help the Brain Manage Pain
Can meditation help you feel less pain? What if one week of short meditation classes could change the way your brain perceives pain? Fadel Zeidan, PhD, and his colleagues at Wake Forest University wanted to find out how mindfulness meditation affects pain reception. Specifically, they looked the areas of the brain responsible for constructing the […]
A Better Night’s Sleep with Mindfulness
The problem with anti-depressants is that they often don’t work. Though many try, it’s hard to treat depression with antidepressants alone. Treatment may go on for years, and the side effects, like fatigue, anxiety, loss of libido, and sleep disruption, can be frustrating. Dr. Willoughby Britton at Brown University Medical School and her colleagues at […]
Mindfulness Technology for the 21st Century: Have You Tried These Apps?
When I think of mindfulness, what often comes to mind is my early morning sitting practice . . . both the struggles and the benefits. My Droid smartphone and my laptop aren’t anywhere in the picture. And yet, perhaps they should be. Technology has given us computer programs and apps for just about everything, so […]
Changing the Brain in One Month Flat
We know meditation can change the brain, but can just one month of meditation really make a difference? Surprisingly, the answer is yes. Yi-Yuan Tang, PhD and his research team from Texas Tech University looked at the impact that short-term meditation has on the brain’s white matter. White matter is fatty tissue that covers brain […]