Mindfulness May Provide Small But Significant Benefits to Cognition
By Science
News Staff / Source
“The
positive effects of mindfulness-based programs on mental health are already
relatively well-established,” said Tim Whitfield, a Ph.D. student in the
Division of Psychiatry at University College London.
“Here,
our findings suggest that a small benefit is also conferred to cognition, at
least among older adults.”
Whitfield
and colleagues reviewed previously published studies of mindfulness, and
identified 45 studies that fit their criteria, which incorporated a total of
2,238 study participants.
Each
study tested the effects of a mindfulness-based intervention delivered by a
facilitator in a group setting, over at least four sessions, while excluding
mindfulness retreats in order to have a more homogenous set of studies.
The
majority of studies involved a certified instructor teaching participants
techniques such as sitting meditation, mindful movement and body scan,
generally on a weekly basis across six to 12 weeks, while also asking
participants to continue the practices in their own time.
The
researchers found that overall, mindfulness conferred a small but significant
benefit to cognition.
Subgroup analysis revealed that the effect was slightly stronger for people over 60, while there was not a significant effect for people under 60.
“Executive
function is known to decline with age among older adults,” Whitfield said.
“The
improvement in people over 60 suggests that mindfulness may help guard against
cognitive decline, by helping to maintain or restore executive function in late
adulthood.”
“It
might be easier to restore cognitive functions to previous levels, rather than
to improve them beyond the developmental peak.”
When
they investigated which aspects of cognition were affected, the scientists
found that mindfulness was beneficial only to executive function, and more
specifically, there was strong evidence of a small positive effect on working
memory.
They
also analyzed whether mindfulness outperformed other ‘active interventions’ —
such as brain training, relaxation, or other health or educational programs —
or only when compared to people who were not offered any alternative treatment.
They
found that cognitive benefits of mindfulness were only significant compared
with an ‘inactive’ comparison, which means they cannot rule out that the
benefits may have been at least partly derived from an expectation of treatment
benefits, or social interactions.
“We
know mindfulness-based programs benefit mental health, and our paper now
suggests that mindfulness may also help to maintain cognitive faculties as
people age,” said Dr. Natalie Marchant, a researcher in the Division of
Psychiatry at University College London.
“Mindfulness
practices do not share much in common with cognitive test measures, so it is
notable that mindfulness training’s impact appears to transfer to other
domains.”
“While
our review only identified a small benefit to executive function, it remains
possible that some types of mindfulness training might deliver larger gains.”
_____
T.
Whitfield et al. The Effect of Mindfulness-based Programs on
Cognitive Function in Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. Neuropsychol
Rev, published online August 4, 2021; doi: 10.1007/s11065-021-09519-y