Mindfulness meditation modulates stress-eating and its neural correlates

Abstract Stress-related overeating can lead to excessive weight gain, increasing the risk of metabolic and cardiovascular disease. Mindfulness meditation has been demonstrated to reduce stress and increase interoceptive awareness and could, therefore, be an effective intervention for stress-related overeating behavior. To investigate the effects of mindfulness meditation on stress-eating behavior, meditation-naïve individuals with a tendency to stress-eat (N = 66) participated in either a 31-day, web-based mindfulness meditation training or a health training condition. Behavioral and resting-state fMRI data were acquired before and after the intervention. Mindfulness meditation training, in comparison to health training, was found to significantly increase mindfulness while simultaneously reducing stress- and emotional-eating tendencies as well as food cravings. These behavioral results were accompanied by functional connectivity changes between the hypothalamus, reward regions, and several areas of the default mode network in addition to changes observed between the insula and somatosensory areas. Additional changes between seed regions (i.e., hypothalamus and insula) and brain areas attributed to emotion regulation, awareness, attention, and sensory integration were observed. Notably, these changes in functional connectivity correlated with behavioral changes, thereby providing insight into the underlying neural mechanisms of the effects of mindfulness on stress-eating. Clinical trial on the ISRCTN registry: trial ID ISRCTN1290105

Effects of web-based mindfulness training on psychological outcomes, attention, and neuroplasticity

Abstract Mindfulness meditation training (MMT) reliably reduces stress and anxiety while also improving attention. The primary aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between MMT, stress and anxiety reduction, and its impact upon improvements in attention on the behavioral and neuronal levels. As a second aim, we sought to explore any relationship between MMT, attention, and modified states of mind such as flow. 118 healthy, meditation-naïve, participants were either assigned to a 31-day, web-based, MMT or an active control, health training (HT). Participants underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while performing the attention network test (ANT) to assess functional and behavioural attentional changes, diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to assess microstructural neuronal changes and completed relevant questionnaires to explore changes in psychological outcomes. Results confirmed a reduction in perceived stress and anxiety levels in the MMT group and significant improvements in the overall reaction time during the ANT, albeit no specific effects on the attentional components were observed. No statistically significant changes were found in the HT group. Interestingly, a significant group-by-time interaction was seen in flow experience. Functional data exhibited an increased activity in the superior frontal gyrus, posterior cingulate cortex, and right hippocampus during the alerting condition of the ANT after the MMT; decreased stress and trait anxiety were significantly correlated with the activation in the right hippocampus, and increased flow was also significantly correlated with all the aforementioned areas. DTI data showed increased fractional anisotropy values in the right uncinate fasciculus indicating white matter microarchitecture improvement between the right hippocampus and frontal areas of the brain. This study, therefore, demonstrates the effectiveness of web-based MMT on overall well-being and attentional performance, while also providing insight into the relationship between psychological outcomes, attention, and neuroplastic changes

Propiedades psicométricas de la version mexicana de la escala de atención plena (MAAS)

This study presents a translation of the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS) into Mexican Spanish, and examines its psychometric properties as well as its relationship with socio-demographic variables. The MAAS measures the frequency with which people experience mindful states. A sample of N = 622 healthy adult Mexicans completed the MAAS. A smaller sub-sample (n=195) completed the Five-Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ), a well-known mindfulness measure, to obtain concurrent validity. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) revealed a one-factor solution, and reliability coefficients were adequate. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) showed adequate goodness of fit indexes. Moreover, relationships between Mexican Spanish MAAS scores and socio-demographic variables were also explored, and differences between-groups were found in mean scores both in alcohol consumers and religious practitioners. No other significant differences betweengroups were found. Results suggest that the Mexican version of the MAAS is a reliable and valid instrument to use with a healthy adult Mexican sample.Este estudio presenta una traducción de la Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (Escala de Atención Plena) al español mexicano y examina suspropiedades psicométricas, así como su relación con variables sociodemográficas. La Escala de Atención Plena mide la frecuencia con la que las personas experimentan estados de atención plena. Una muestra de N=622 adultos mexicanos sanos completaron la Escala de AtenciónPlena. Una submuestra más pequeña (n=195) completó el Cuestionario de Cinco Facetas de la Atención Plena, el cual es una escala bienconocida de atención plena, para obtener validez concurrente. El análisis factorial exploratorio reveló una solución unifactorial y los coeficientesde confiabilidad fueron adecuados. El análisis factorial confirmatorio mostró índices adecuados de bondad de ajuste. Además, tambiénse exploraron las relaciones entre la versión Mexicana del MAAS y variables sociodemográficas, encontrándose diferencias entre grupos tantoen consumidores de alcohol como en practicantes de religión. No se encontraron otras diferencias significativas entre grupos. Los resultadossugieren que la versión mexicana de la MAAS es un instrumento confiable y válido para utilizarse con población mexicana adulta y sana