Meditation Benefits

Decisions, Decisions

– How Meditation Helps you Make Them

“You can’t make decisions based on fear and the possibility of
what might happen.”
Michelle Obama

Meditation Benefits: Emotional Stress

Are you aware of the benefits of mediation? You may have heard the sayings, “run while you can” or “he’s a bat out of hell.” These common idioms illustrate the tendency we have as humans to react quickly when we sense danger. The amygdala is the region of the brain that houses our emotional stress responses, such as the flight, fight, freeze response when we feel we’re in harm’s way.

It can be an extremely useful system when we have to quickly exit a burning building or evade a wild animal. However, when we are under chronic stress, the amygdala can be quite reactive and compromise our better judgment or what psychologists call our “executive functions” (the ability to focus attention, learn, manage time, make decisions, and regulate emotion).

The executive functions are located in the prefrontal cortex—that is, in the brain’s frontal lobe, on the other side of the forehead. The prefrontal cortex that houses executive functions is connected to the amygdala through something called the default mode network.

When the amygdala is active, it can hijack the prefrontal cortex. This causes us to act impulsively—without thinking, so to speak. In other words, the amygdala and prefrontal cortex do not work in balance when someone is chronically stressed. Instead, the amygdala (the emotional center) takes over and can cause a person to forget lines to a song (like Barbara Streisand did once at her Central Park performance.) Or cause someone to fly into sudden anger (like maybe some of you have done when you’ve been under duress.)

Meditation Benefits: Restoring Balance

Here’s the important part: when we meditate, we activate the prefrontal cortex, which not only focuses our attention but, in turn, quiets the default mode network, thus regulating the amygdala. As a result, we are less likely to storm out of a frustrating meeting at work and more likely to calmly offer feedback if we disagree with something.

This is true not just for seasoned meditators, but for beginners, too. One study showed that non-meditators who took an eight-week MBSR course did better on cognitive tasks that tested these executive functions than before they took the course^[i].

Furthermore, Richard Davidson and Daniel Goleman report that just ten minutes of mindfulness seems to temporarily improve concentration. Eight minutes of mindfulness temporarily lessens mind-wandering. And about ten hours of mindfulness over a two-week period strengthens attention and working memory.

Meditation Benefits for Students

In one study, improvement of working memory through mindfulness led to improved scores on a graduate school entrance exam among trained participants.

Stressed-out students have much to gain from practicing mindfulness. This might be why the popular mindfulness app, Calm, just added a Mindfulness 101 for college students. It also may be why more colleges and universities are adding meditation rooms to their campuses.

Eight Minutes a Day

So, the next time you are struggling to make a decision, no matter how small or how big, maybe you should meditate first. Remember, just eight minutes can tame your wandering mind and help you focus. I always tell my clients that decisions are best made from a place of calm. Meditation may help you find that place.

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[i] Tammi R.A. Kral et al., “Impact of short- and long-term mindfulness meditation training on amygdala reactivity to emotional stimuli,” Neurolmage Volume 181, November 1, 2018 pp 301–313.

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