In another experiment, participants were divided into three groups. One group practiced mindful breathing, the second let their minds wander, and the third browsed the internet. They were all then asked to write an apology letter to someone they’d wronged. Letters were rated by two independent evaluators on whether the individuals took responsibility for their actions, and Research gathered from University of Washington, Universidade Federal de Sao Paulo, University of Wisconsin at Madison, and others. if they offered to make up for their wrongdoing. Mindfulness group members offered less sincere apologies than those in the control groups, suggesting that practicing mindful breathing was linked to diminished feelings of guilt and less willingness to patch things up. There was one notable exception: In a similar experiment, individuals were assigned to a breathing group, a lovingkindness meditation group, or a control condition. This time, those who’d listened to a loving-kindness meditation were more likely than the others to want to make amends. This suggests that the effects of mindfulness on prosocial behavior may depend on the type of meditation practiced.
Teaching the Teachers
Researchers in Brazil randomly assigned 76 public school teachers with no history of meditation to either an 8-week mindfulness-based health program or an 8-week applied neuroscience course for educators. Each group met weekly and had 10-30 minutes of daily “homework.” The mindfulness group practiced breath awareness, loving-kindness, self-compassion, compassionate communication, mindful listening, walking meditation, and a body scan. The neuroscience group learned about nervous system development and biology, neuroplasticity, and the biology of memory and emotion. Before and after training all participants completed questionnaires about their levels of stress, quality of life, mood, and resilience. They also provided blood samples to assess their physiological stress and metabolic activity. At study’s end, the mindfulness group’s quality of life and resilience increased significantly, and perceived stress and negative emotion decreased significantly compared to the control group. Mindfulness group members also showed decreases in several pro-inflammatory markers, and increased antioxidant activity. This suggests that a mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) may reduce teachers’ perceived stress, improve wellbeing, and lessen inflammation and oxidative stress.
Understanding MBIS
University of Wisconsin at Madison and Brown University researchers conducted a systematic review of 44 meta-analyses of 336 randomized controlled trials of MBIs with more than 30,000 participants. The result? In many cases, MBIs can reduce symptoms for a variety of conditions better than no treatment. Compared to other therapies, mindfulness practices offer some benefit, but more research is needed to understand what works, for whom, and for which conditions MBIs are most effective.
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Leslie Garrett November 3, 2022
Misty Pratt October 7, 2022
Mindful Staff August 31, 2022
