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BY JESSICA SEGOVIA-YAP, MD
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Saturday. September 30, 2017
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LAST WEEK I discussed about mindful eating and how it can help with weight loss. For this week, we will be talking about how mindfulness could be beneficial in controlling anxiety.
As a review, mindfulness is defined as the basic human ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we are doing and not being overly reactive, overwhelmed or judgmental by what’s going on around us.
Let’s admit it, we are worriers by nature. We overthink everything and we sometimes end up being paranoid. In this busy and fast-paced world, we often get overwhelmed by all the stressors around us. The sad truth is, anxiety has become a very common condition nowadays. And a hypervigilant mind does you little good because it eventually causes anxiety and panic attacks and we tend to become fearful that something bad will happen.
Scientifically, our amygdala, the fear center of our brain, gets bigger making it more sensitive and reactive, leading then to a vicious cycle of fear, worry and anxiety.
Thus we end up spending a lot of time and money on therapy; from medications, psychotherapy or both. However, some medications may not work for some, not to mention its possible side effects. Not to discredit these medical managements though, mindfulness meditation could be an alternative, either as initial management or as an add-on to medical management.
The most important benefit we get from mindfulness meditation is that it helps you relax. But more than that, scientific research has found some very interesting effects of meditation in our brains. It actually changes the structure and function of our brain!
Researchers from Johns Hopkins University found out that it can be used not only with anxiety, depression and pain management but also with generalized anxiety disorder, social and panic disorder, agoraphobia (fear of places and situations that might cause you to panic) and addictions.
So how does mindfulness meditation improve our brain and mental wellbeing?
Meditation rewires our brain. If we regularly practice mindfulness, our brain gets focused even though it has gotten used to being anxious. Our brain has this endless capacity to change or what is termed as brain plasticity.  Our brain learns to recognize and stop mental time travel (worrying about the future and ruminating about the past). Instead it learns to recognize a thought for what it is – just one thought – and then lets it go, thereby making our brain less anxious.
Mindfulness practice balances brain chemicals. Â It increases levels of GABA (gamma amino butyric acid) which is a neurotransmitter. A low GABA has been found to be a factor in anxiety attacks, and in an overwhelmed and overstimulated brain.
Meditation also increases the level of serotonin, which is a hormone vital to happiness. On the other hand, it reduces levels of the stress hormone cortisol.
Meditation builds a better brain. By using imaging studies, it was found out that brains of regular meditators have increased amounts of gray matter, volume of the hippocampus and thickness of cortex. Conversely, the size of the amygdala, the section of the brain region associated with fear, anxiety and stress, decreases and becomes less reactive. This equates to a stable and healthy brain.
Mindfulness reduces brain inflammation by altering the level of pro-inflammatory genes such as cytokines. And take note of this: you would think that changing genes would take a long time but as little as eight hours of meditation would have measurable changes.
There is overwhelming evidence that supports mindfulness meditation as an excellent tool for reducing anxiety. But I would like to emphasize that it does not replace the use of anti-anxiety medication as principal treatment for anxiety disorders. It can, however, be incorporated as a technique to help with whatever management you are having already and can be part of your way of life.
Watch out for my future articles to know more about mindfulness and how to get started with it.
Jessica P. Segovia-Yap, M.D., FPAFP is a Diplomate and Fellow of the Philippine Academy of Family Physicians. She is a practicing Family Medicine Specialist and holds clinic at the Medical Arts Building of Iloilo Mission Hospital. For comments, questions and suggestions, you may email at drjec.is.in@ gmail.com./PN
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