{"id":866,"date":"2016-03-02T08:00:50","date_gmt":"2016-03-02T16:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/meditation\/?p=866"},"modified":"2016-02-24T18:44:18","modified_gmt":"2016-02-25T02:44:18","slug":"is-mindfulness-useful-feb-16-updates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/meditation\/2016\/03\/02\/is-mindfulness-useful-feb-16-updates\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Mindfulness Useful? &#8211; Feb &#8217;16 Updates"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Here are my top picks from the Feb\u00a0\u201916 issue of the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/goamra.org\/publications\/mindfulness-research-monthly\/\" target=\"_blank\">Mindfulness Research Monthly<\/a>\u00a0newsletter, a publication of the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/goamra.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">American Mindfulness Research Association (AMRA)<\/a>. The newsletter lists several interesting articles describing the effects of\u00a0mindfulness interventions on military personnel. My top picks\u00a0include studies of the connections between mindfulness practice and perceived stress in college students, successful parenting behaviors, and stress levels during romantic conflicts. I also picked out\u00a0several review articles examining the status of mindfulness research with regard to job burnout, executive functioning, ADHD, and possible concerns about the suitability of mindfulness practice.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.tandfonline.com\/doi\/abs\/10.1080\/19325037.2015.1111176?journalCode=ujhe20\" target=\"_blank\">The Role of Perceived Stress and Health Beliefs on College Students&#8217; Intentions to Practice Mindfulness Meditation<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\">A survey of 101 college students probed their perceptions of\u00a0stress, beliefs regarding health, and intentions to practice mindfulness meditation. The results suggest it could be helpful to &#8220;to communicate the perceived benefits of mindfulness-based practices, as opposed to the threat of future stress-related problems, when developing health promotion messages and interventions among college students, a relatively young and healthy population.&#8221;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>(paywall)\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S0018506X16300289\" target=\"_blank\">Mindfulness during romantic conflict moderates the impact of negative partner behaviors on cortisol responses<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\">Mindful partners tend to experience lower\u00a0levels of cortisol (stress hormone) during disputes.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>(paywall) <a href=\"http:\/\/link.springer.com\/article\/10.1007%2Fs12671-015-0485-5\" target=\"_blank\">Mindfulness in Parenting and Coparenting<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\">485 parents were enlisted in a study that looked at the connection between dispositional mindfulness and mindful parenting and co-parenting.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Review article (paywall): <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S1053810016300058\" target=\"_blank\">Mindfulness meditation practice and executive functioning: Breaking down the benefit<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\">&#8220;Executive functioning&#8221; refers to\u00a0several forms of mental self-control and self-regulation. This article reviews the status of research connecting executive functioning and mindfulness meditation and finds evidence for selective enhancement of certain types\u00a0of executive function.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Review article:\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/10.1002\/jcad.12066\/epdf\" target=\"_blank\">Mind the Gaps: Are Conclusions About Mindfulness Entirely Conclusive?<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\">Articles reporting a broad spectrum of\u00a0benefits from &#8220;mindfulness&#8221; and &#8220;meditation&#8221; have become a fixture of health advice columns, but the authors urge caution. &#8220;Mindfulness&#8221; is no panacea. There are\u00a0competing, and possibly inconsistent, definitions of\u00a0&#8220;mindfulness&#8221; practice, unresolved explanations for the benefits of practice, and sub-populations that might\u00a0approach practice with caution.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Review article:\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/ajot.aota.org\/article.aspx?articleid=2484239\" target=\"_blank\">Systematic Review of Mindfulness Practice for Reducing Job Burnout<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\">This article summarizes\u00a0results from 8 studies of the effect of mindfulness practice on job burnout in health care professionals and teachers. Beneficial effects from mindfulness practice were reported in 6 of 8 studies. The article also critically assesses the quality of these studies.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Review article:\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.wjgnet.com\/2220-3206\/full\/v5\/i4\/397.htm\" target=\"_blank\">Does mindfulness meditation improve attention in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder?<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\">4-5% of the population manifests the symptoms of ADHD, a potentially life-long condition that is &#8220;characterized by inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity inconsistent with age.&#8221; This article reviews research on the effects of mindfulness meditation on ADHD. These studies suggest that &#8220;certain meditative practices improve attention and may ameliorate the symptoms of ADHD by activating brain regions implicated in both sustaining and directing attention.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here are my top picks from the Feb\u00a0\u201916 issue of the\u00a0Mindfulness Research Monthly\u00a0newsletter, a publication of the\u00a0American Mindfulness Research Association (AMRA). The newsletter lists several interesting articles describing the effects of\u00a0mindfulness interventions on military personnel. My top picks\u00a0include studies of the connections between mindfulness practice and perceived stress in college students, successful parenting behaviors, and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[26,17,7,5,4],"class_list":["post-866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-burnout","tag-distractions","tag-research","tag-stress","tag-teachers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/meditation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/meditation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/meditation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/meditation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/meditation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=866"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/meditation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":876,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/meditation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866\/revisions\/876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/meditation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/meditation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/meditation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}