Mindfulness
may provide modest benefits to cognition, particularly among older
adults, finds a new review of evidence led by UCL researchers.
The systematic review and meta-analysis, published in Neuropsychology Review, found that, while mindfulness is typically geared towards improving mental health and well-being, it may also provide additional benefits to brain health.
The
study's lead author, PhD student Tim Whitfield (UCL Psychiatry) said
that "the positive effects of mindfulness-based programs on mental
health are already relatively well-established. Here, our findings
suggest that a small benefit is also conferred to cognition, at least
among older adults."
The
researchers 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.
Tim Whitfield commented that "executive function is known to decline with age among older adults; 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
researchers found that mindfulness was beneficial only to executive
function, and more specifically, there was strong evidence of a small
positive effect on working memory (which is one facet of executive
function).
The
researchers 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.
The
researchers say that more research is needed into which characteristics
of mindfulness training may be more likely to confer cognitive
benefits, or whether delivering interventions over longer periods, or in
intensive retreat settings, might yield greater cognitive benefits.
Senior
author Dr Natalie Marchant (UCL Psychiatry) said that they "know
mindfulness-based programs benefit mental health, and our paper now
suggests that mindfulness may also help to maintain cognitive faculties
as people age. 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."