- Albert Tiong
Many studies have shown that mindfulness brings many benefits to us. But to fully understand why, we must first understand what mindfulness does to the brain.
For the purpose of mindfulness, we will look at the following 3 components of our brain:
1. Prefrontal Cortex - This part of the brain processes most of our personality expression, planning and decision making.
2. Amygdala - This part of the brain processes strong emotions normally linked to stress.
3. Hippocampus - This part of the brain monitors bodily sensations and emotional awareness.
When someone who does not regularly practice mindfulness faces stress, his amygdala is activated, sending signals to the prefrontal cortex that he is facing stress and he will respond automatically to the stress.
Now let us look at what happens to our body when our body reacts to stress. After our brain senses stress, the amygdala tells the body to release two types of hormones called Adrenaline and Cortisol.
Adrenaline gets the body ready for immediate action by causing the body to:
Increase heart rate
Increase blood pressure
Increase energy
Increase focus
Send more blood to the muscles
Cortisol works more slowly and it’s main functions are:
To make the body produce more glucose
Improve the brain’s ability to use glucose
Manage other body systems by directing body resources to where it is needed to handle the stress.
If the body always releases too much Adrenaline and Cortisol over a period of time, it is bad for your body. It can cause insomnia, and other emotional problems.
Studies show that for someone who regularly practices mindfulness, his insula becomes thicker, which makes him able to be aware of his body, and he can better handle his negative emotions, and he can also focus better and for a longer time.
Through regular mindfulness practices, our amygdala is also less activated which will benefit our body in the long term.
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