Mind Matters Now
by Ryan Oakeson
“What we are today comes from our thoughts of yesterday, and our present thoughts build our life of tomorrow: our life is the creation of our mind.” - Buddha
Picture yourself walking down a sidewalk and you see an old acquaintance whom you haven’t seen in several years approaching you. You might start off with that typical, “Hey! How are you?” which leads to several other topics of small talk in passing, one being perhaps the weather or how well the person looks. Now imagine living in a world where rather the physique we comment on each other’s psyche. It seems strange, maybe even a bit scary. How would they see me in that light? Would I be more motivated to try to improve my mental health? Or is my current state considered “healthy”? We might often feel as though we don’t want to burden others with whatever struggles we are going though mentally i.e., it could be considered not the most “appropriate” topic for small conversation.
It’s also harder to recognize changes in mental health over time as opposed to physical health characteristics, so progress often goes undetected and equally unpraised by ourselves and our peers. Mental health is private and heavily stigmatized; however, there is hope! Mental health and physical health are strongly linked, perhaps stronger than most tend to realize. That being said, let’s focus on those physical lifestyle choices that we make which have direct associations, and dare I say, causations with our mental health. In this journey together, we will look at lifestyle modifications that have evidence-based improvements on mental health and chronic disease e.g., coronary heart disease and diabetes. And don’t worry, this blog will not implore you to go to the gym three hours a day, twice a day, six days a week, or do a triathlon each month. While exercise is important and will play a theme, lifestyle topics we will focus on will explore topics like diet, meditation, leisure activities, and much more. So let us begin our journey together, starting with (as you might have guessed) mental health!
I want to follow with the disclaimer that lifestyle choices are extremely important when it comes to mental health, but these posts are not here to undermine the effectiveness of various talk therapies and psychiatric pharmaceuticals. These posts are for the people out there looking for alternatives or complements to the traditional routes of medicine and therapy.
This month’s lifestyle modification topic is—drum roll please: Meditation!
While meditation has been around for centuries long before Buddha, meditation has become a mainstream concept in the West all thanks to Buddhism. Meditation is a process in which you control and focus your breathing and attention in such a way to quiet your mind and allow thoughts and sensations to flow through you freely. In essence, you focus on the present moment, the Now. One of the many symptoms of mental health conditions such as depression is rumination—or the constant thinking about a thought—one that is often negative. However, there is also more to depression than negative thoughts; there is also a complex dysregulation of structures and processes located in the brain (e.g., anterior cingulate cortex, amygdala, hippocampus, etc.) and these dysregulations can cause observable and measurable changes in behavior and thinking (Edenfield, T. M. & Saeed, A., 2012). So, hopefully it should start to make sense, right?
Quieting your mind or being more mindful of your thoughts, helps to sort of recognize those ruminations and allow your thoughts to exist freely without any negative focus. Alas, once you’re in a comfortable position to try meditating, you may find that it is more difficult to quiet that noisy mind than you thought, or that it’s not relaxing at all! Don’t be discouraged—like all things, practice makes perfect. There are several reliable resources to help get you in the right mode or state of mind e.g., meditation apps, guided meditations on YouTube. You may even be able to find local resources near you that offer a community of similar thinking and feeling individuals like I did, assuming you’re comfortable enough to put yourself in new territory, that is.
In undergrad, I was able to find a small community of individuals interested in Buddhism. Every Thursday we would meet for an hour which included a short intro to Buddhism which was followed by a guided meditation. The “class” was orientated to beginners and was extremely inclusive. At first, I was nervous and uncomfortable. I wasn’t sure if I was meditating correctly; but as I continued to go for a few months, I found the experience extremely pleasing—mainly because of the community and how the actual meditating became easier and more comfortable. I really felt my thoughts and behaviors start to become more mindful!
This anecdote leads me to our next point; mindful meditation has been an interest to scientific studies regarding anxiety and depression, and yes, the results are promising! Neuroscientists concerned with meditation have found that through practice and consistency, individuals with mental health conditions were able to change their thought patterns which in turn manipulated how the dysregulated brain regions and processes functioned, resulting in increased activation and significant brain changes in imaging studies (Marchand, 2014). Meaning, the better you get at meditating, the more control you have over your attention and emotions, i.e., less ruminating. Additionally, in a 2017 study, two groups of individuals with depression were randomized to either meditate or exercise for one hour, three days a week, for 10 weeks. The results concluded that mindfulness mediation group was found to have a greater effect, or a significant decrease in depression scores than the exercise group had over the same period of those 10 weeks (Allen, C., Canizales, R., & Robbins, E., 2021).
So, it seems if we can target our thoughts in a mindful way, we may just be able to change our brain in a positive way, all while skipping the gym fees and that grunting, sweaty gym bro next to you. And that can all start right now with your next breath!