How Meditation Changes the Brain: Can Meditation Improve Your Mental Health and Quality of Life?

Posted on February 16, 2022 by tiffgriff123

When the topic of meditation arises, people are often quick to remark that they simply cannot “turn off” their brain. They have a stressful job, a lot of responsibilities, and the world is quite chaotic and uncertain. What many fail to realize is that this is precisely why we need to meditate. And the idea that you must shut down your thought processes is the biggest misconception. Meditation has little to do with not thinking, and much to do with training your brain to focus and work for you, rather than being imprisoned by negative, repetitive, and cyclical thoughts.

What is Meditation?

Verywell Mind, a mental health and wellness journal, defines meditation as “a set of consciousness-altering techniques” formulated to encourage a heightened state of awareness and focused attention.

This can be achieved through a host of techniques and styles. You can meditate silently, with a guide, or recite mantras. There are a myriad of techniques to induce a meditative state like mindfulness, transcendental, visualization, progressive muscle relaxation, loving kindness, or with movement, like Tai Chi, Yoga, and walking. You can reach meditative states through creativity — making art, playing an instrument, sand raking, or puzzles. Anything that quiets and focuses the mind for prolonged periods of time can be meditation.

How Does Meditation Change the Brain?

Brain Chemicals Affect Your Mood and Health

The immediate effects felt from meditation are how it makes you feel. Many report an increase in happiness or a sense of calm following a meditative practice. This is because even one meditation session will alter these brain chemicals:

Serotonin: The “feel good” chemical that helps our brain regulate mood will increase
Cortisol: The stress hormone decreases
BHEA: The longevity hormone gets a boost
Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid: A major inhibitory transmitter in your central nervous system is calmed
Endorphins: The “natural high” chemicals increase
Growth Hormone: Levels of this anti-aging chemical are preserved
Melatonin: The sleep hormone is stimulated

The Prefrontal Cortex and Hippocampus

A well-trained brain has a thick prefrontal cortex. This brain center initiates high order brain functions like awareness, concentration, and decision making. A study conducted at Harvard University discovered that after just eight weeks of regular mindfulness training, subjects showed cortical thickening in the hippocampus, the portion of the brain that controls memories and emotion regulation. Note that decreased volume and density of the hippocampus is linked to several mental health disorders like depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

The Amygdala

Through evolution, our ancestors passed on a highly activated amygdala — This survival instinct responds to threats with a fight-or-flight reaction in the brain. While actual life-threatening situations, such as a lion trying to eat you, are likely not a part of your daily life, your brain still reacts to stress with this extreme response. This causes tremendous anxiety in most adults, who suffer from having a panic fight-or-flight response to modern inconveniences like getting reprimanded at work or being stuck in traffic.

Participants of the Harvard University study’s brain scans showed a significant reduction of activity and size of the amygdala after completing an 8-week mindfulness meditation program (see image 1.1 below). Even more encouraging, the study showed that these changes held steady in the brain even when the participants were not meditating. This demonstrates that meditation has the ability to cause lasting effects and improved function in the brain. The control group in this study showed no such results.

Image 1.1 fMRI scan of a Harvard University participant, showing activation in the amygdala before (left) and after (right) an 8-week mindfulness meditation program. Source: http://news.Harvard.edu

Brain Insulation

Gray matter is found in your central nervous system and makes up most of the brain’s neuronal cell bodies. This tissue is important in areas responsible for self-control, sensory perception, decision-making, and muscle mastery. In a Harvard study conducted on seasoned meditators — those with 20 or more years of mindfulness experience — found that they had significantly more gray matter than non-meditators of the same age. In fact, the amount of gray matter they possessed was similar to the average 20–30-year-old.

White matter holds the myelin, the brain’s “insulation,” and is responsible for neuroplasticity, the connections between neurons that allow the brain to relay information quickly and efficiently. A study conducted at UCLA found that experienced meditators had less age-related atrophy of white matter. While evidence seems to lead to the conclusion that meditation is anti-aging for the brain and could potentially be used to combat dementia and Alzheimer’s, researchers caution that they cannot nail down a conclusive relationship between the two and more studies are needed.

Brain Waves

Your brain is a continuous channel of electrical activity, operating at varying frequencies or brain waves. Each type of frequency serves an important purpose, but too much time spent in highly active states can be damaging, desynchronizing, and exhausting. Studies show that meditation allows you to experience more Alpha waves, the ones felt when the mind is calm, relaxed, yet still alert. These are typically present during creative activities, right before you fall asleep, and during meditation. Many studies have correlated a surge in creativity with a higher production of Alpha waves.

The Monkey Mind

According to the National Science Foundation, the average person has anywhere from 12,000 to 60,000 thoughts per day! Of those, 80% are negative and 95% are repetitive.

When you lay your head on your pillow at night and your brain swirls with thought, this is the activation of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex. It is the part of the brain that overthinks, ruminates on the past, and projects exaggerated outcomes onto the future in a self-referential way. This is known as the “me” brain, or the monkey mind, likening thoughts cycling through your mind to the way a monkey bounces through the trees. Mindfulness meditation allows you to rein in this default thought process that causes so much inner turmoil, and in doing so, calm, empathy, and compassion arises.

Loving Kindness and Compassion

Richard Davidson, a University of Wisconsin-Madison neuroscientist who has spent decades studying meditation said, “If we spent such a short time on our mind as we do on brushing our teeth, this world would be a different place.” One studyfound that after just two weeks of loving kindness meditation training, people made charitable donations at a higher rate.

Another study found that people were three times more likely than non-meditators to give up their seat when they saw someone on crutches. “Loving-kindness also boosts the connections between the brain’s circuits for joy and happiness and the prefrontal cortex, a zone critical for guiding behavior,” Davidson writes in Altered Traits, a book he co-authored on the neuroscience of meditation. “And the greater the increase in the connection between these regions, the more altruistic a person becomes.” It is no wonder that companies like Google, Nike, Apple, and Target have begun integrating meditation training into their business model.

Depression

Those that suffer with depression and PTSD show decreased volume and density in their hippocampus. And while brain scans indicate that meditation helps to mitigate this, do these changes prove a real, perceptible shift in the patients’ feelings of wellbeing? Yes, they do.

Participants self-reported their levels of stress decreased and their overall happiness improved after completing mindfulness training. In fact, a study at Johns Hopkins University categorized the effect size of meditation as a treatment for depression as moderate, at 0.3. For comparison, the effect size of prescription antidepressant medications is also 0.3. In Image 1.2 below, you will see evidence from MRIs indicating that meditation serves to alleviate the perception of pain in the brain by 57 percent.

MRI from a Wake Forest University study show that meditation reduced pain sensation (the yellow areas) by 57% and pain intensity ratings by 40% when compared to rest. Source: Tampa Bay Times

Addiction

A growing number of studies are reaffirming evidence that meditation directly affects the self-control regions of the brain and is helpful in treating addiction. One study of the American Lung Association’s “Freedom from Smoking’’ program tested the success of its program with the addition of meditation training and found that those subjects were many times more likely to have quit smoking by the end of the program, and at the 17-week follow-up, than those who did the program alone. Through mindfulness training practices, patients were able to detach the body from the emotion, or craving, allowing them to ride out the wave of temptation. Other research has supported the theory that mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) and mindfulness-based relapse prevention (MBRP) are highly successful in treating many forms of addiction and are often used in rehabilitation and recovery centers.

How Do I Meditate?

The wealth of information available on meditation and its various techniques can be overwhelming. Where do you begin? Just like you cannot get in shape by going to the gym for a week or play Mozart after a couple of piano lessons, it takes small, consistent effort to grow your mindfulness practice. Starting with as little as five or ten minutes a day is ideal for beginners. Try it first thing in the morning when you are still sleepy, and your mind is especially susceptible to influence (and worry).

Meditation music can help you to release your propensity to go down the rabbit hole of wandering thoughts. YouTube has a host of great meditation playlists as well as guided meditations. Apps like Calm, Headspace, or Insight Timer offer thousands of guided meditations to help you get into the feel and practice of mindfulness.

The beauty of meditation is in its simplicity, it does not require a single thing to do it other than your own consistent efforts. And maybe a timer to know when you are done. While as little as five minutes a day will improve your mental state and sense of wellbeing, you may want to set the goal to work up to a 30-45-minute meditation a couple of times per week. The aforementioned Harvard study found that in participants that achieved lasting states of altered brain chemistry and Alpha waves throughout their daily activities, practiced for this amount of time. While participants that meditated for 20 minutes showed improvement in all the same areas of the brain but only while actively meditating.

Meditation is a technique to achieve a heightened sense of awareness through focused attention. Mindfulness training helps to regulate mood, boosts your feel-good chemicals, and reduce the stress hormone cortisol. It thickens the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus, which is directly related to fighting depression and PTSD. It shrinks activation of the amygdala, which is our brain’s threat response. It preserves the gray and white matter in the brain that normally atrophies with age. It quiets the self-absorbed “me” brain that tends to cycle in toxic and obsessive thoughts. It increases our capacity for compassion, empathy, and our desire to help others.

The effect size of meditation as treatment for depression is equal to that of antidepressants. And it has been proven to greatly increase the chances of recovering from addiction and preventing relapse. We will never be free of the stresses and uncertainty that life presents— meditation is a way to cope, find peace, and a sense of calm helping you to manage your emotions and improve your quality of life.

Why Does My Dog Roll in Poop? How Do I Get Him to Stop?

Posted on February 9, 2022 by tiffgriff123

We love our dogs. We share our homes, furniture, sometimes even our beds with them. And while we love all the wild and wonderful things about our fur babies, I’ll admit that when my dog takes a dive into a fresh pile of ivory bird poo (his favorite) I am disgusted and think, “why are you like this?”

With so much research available on dog behavior helping us to understand their wacky and unpredictable antics, the jury is still out on exactly why dogs seem to enjoy rolling around in poop and other nasty revolting stuff like trash, rotten food, and even dead animal remains. Here are some theories to better help you understand this phenomenon.

It’s Instinctual.

Whatever the reason, it is a deeply ingrained evolutionary instinct that dates back to well before dogs were domesticated animals. Even wolves, coyotes, and foxes roll in feces and dead animal remains. It is largely believed that they are either seeking to leave their scent behind as a form of marking, or they are trying to mask their own scent as a hunting technique.

They are Leaving Their Scent Behind

This is in line with another well-known dog behavior — marking. Dogs mark with urine to establish their territory and communicate with other animals, especially right after another dog has done so. It can be viewed as a simple doggy communication system in which your dog wants his neighboring animals to know that he’s been there and investigated the smelly odor too.

This is especially interesting when comparing it to the behavior of wolves. Researchers at the Wolf Park facility in Indiana noted that wolves will roll in something smelly, like the remains of their prey, and other pack-mates will sniff the wolf and then follow that scent back to its origin. This is a valuable hunting instinct. It communicates where prey was found and allows them to track future food sources.

They are Hiding Their Own Smell

It’s hard to look at the sweet teddy bear face of my pup and remember that his predecessors had to hunt to survive. He has never had to hunt farther than the kitchen to get a meal. But when I play with him, I see his primal instincts come alive. He will drop his prey (ok, it’s a plush toy shaped like a taco, but go with me on this one) and encircle it. His eyes fixed intently on me, especially my hands. As I inch them closer, he drops down and grumbles out a menacing growl. He is such a wolf in that little 8 lb. body!

By rolling in their prey’s smell, be it remains or poop, a dog can hide their own scent and mask it with a non-threatening odor that allows them to sneak up on unsuspecting game. The desire to hunt and engage in primitive instinctual behaviors of their wild ancestors is still highly active and makes your dog feel like he is doing what he was born to do.

How Do I Stop My Dog from Rolling in Poop?

Perhaps understanding why they do it is not as important to you as inhibiting it from happening in the first place. It is much easier to correct this behavior if your dog is on a leash when they are most prone to drop it low and wriggle in something revolting.

Watch for Cues They’re About to Drop it Down Low

Often your dog will have a particular posture or sequence of behavior that will alert you to their intent to roll before they even hit the ground. For example, sniffing intensely at a particular area. He may begin shaking his head or twisting to one side, alerting you that he is preparing to barrel into a vile mess. That is when you give the leash a tug and use your correction of choice, “no” or “leave it” works.

If there is a particular area that your dog tends find his favorite nasty stuff to roll in, like around a pond with ducks or geese, then make sure to walk them on a leash in those areas.

Off leash

It is harder to correct this behavior off leash. Establishing a solid training foundation with your dog is imperative. Using the command “no” or “leave it” will let her know it is unacceptable behavior. If it happens in your yard, keep an eye out for dead animals and clean up your dogs’ poop regularly to limit access to yucky stuff.

If you’re away from your home, or with particularly driven dogs, a distraction method may be effective. Offering small treats to distract her from the undesired behavior can help. A travel sized squeeze bottle (the ones for shampoo or lotion) filled with peanut butter supplies endless diversion from the temptation for really determined doggies that like to get dirty.

How to Wash Out the Smell When Your Dog Rolls in Poop and Gross Stuff

There are a myriad of odor-neutralizing shampoos on the market. I use one that includes orange oil, recognized as a safe deodorizer and degreaser. Look for one formulated for your dogs’ particular skin and coat type.

While you may never fully prevent your dog from rolling in poop and other nasty stuff, you can do your best to mitigate the behavior and redirect it. Play with your pup in a way that allows his natural hunting instincts to come alive without engaging in rolling in messy stuff. Correct the behavior before it happens when you sense a roll coming on. And be prepared with a good odor-neutralizing shampoo for when it occurs.

Yoga to Boost Your Immune System And Detox Your Body

Posted on April 18, 2021 by tiffgriff123

Many people view yoga as a lot of stretching and breathing, and that is a big part of it, but the science behind it is complex and intentional. For example, did you know that if you suffer from joint damage, certain poses can flush out built-up toxins and damaged cells, replenishing and repairing the joint with nutrient-rich, oxygenated blood? It is remarkable. And this process of natural detoxification can be applied to every system of the body. There are poses (or asanas, as the yogis say) that detoxify your internal organs, stimulate lymphatic drainage, oxygenate the blood, and improve neural pathways within the body. Physical effects of this include soothing headaches and body tension, alleviating anxiety and depression, deeper, more restorative sleep, and giving your immune system a huge boost. Let’s be honest, Immune system function is paramount in today’s virus-weary and uncertain climate.

Can you incorporate these yoga poses in your daily life to feel better, live healthier, and improve your immune system? The following aims to serve as an introduction to understanding the asanas that aid in waste removal (stimulating the excretory system from the liver, kidneys, sweat glands, and bowels), purification, and restoring the body’s natural functions while replenishing with highly oxygenated blood. It is important to note that if you suffer from physical ailments or limitations, it is best to check with your doctor or seek hands-on guidance from a trained and trusted yoga instructor. If you feel safe to pursue these poses on your own, remember to ease into them, maintain focus on the breath, and show yourself kindness.

Compression

Ball your hand up into a fist. Squeeze it really tight, as hard as you can, for 15 seconds or so, and let it go. What happened? Your muscles and joints were stressed very hard and temporarily deprived of its blood supply. When released, they are flooded with freshly oxygenated blood cells. In particular, the knees, where injury is common, asanas like reclining hero pose (shown below) have great results in repairing damaged tissues, lubricating the joint, and improving mobility. This compression technique can be utilized to ease nerve pain and tightness while lubricating the hips, ankles, elbows, wrists, and even the spine. Applying compression to the abdomen, like in child’s pose or bow, will flush the liver and intestines, and promote healthy digestion. Backbends like camel pose will compress the back body, purifying the kidneys.

Reclining Hero Pose, Child’s Pose, and Camel Pose

Twists

Think of twists as wringing out the inner organs the way you would a wet towel. They are an extension of compression postures. Twisting and compressing the mid body wrings out the liver, kidneys, and spleen, stimulating waste removal. Our bodies are incredible organisms that naturally excrete waste through sweat, pee, poop, and even in the air we exhale. By stimulating the digestive organs and facilitating waste removal in all systems of the body, you will not only rid yourself of toxins encountered in your everyday environment, but you will achieve a homeostasis of being hormonally and chemically balanced with a thriving gut microbiome. Your gut microbiome is responsible for a host of healthy brain chemicals, including serotonin production. In addition to that, if you spend much of your day hunched over a computer screen, yoga will alleviate the pain associated with this, and reverse slouching.

Inversions

An inversion is any pose that puts the heart above the head. They can range from a simple forward fold to advanced postures like pincha mayurasana. Inversions encourage blood to flow in the opposite direction, rinsing out the lymphatic system. Draining of lymph nodes is an essential part of immune system function. Inversions increase circulation and oxygen to the brain, clearing up brain fog, relieving stress, and combating depression and anxiety. Inversions are a great way to flip your perspective upside down and see things in a new light. Because inversions reverse the pressure of gravity and increase blood flow to the face, it is praised for its anti-aging, beautifying benefits as well.

Breath

Breath work, also known as pranayama, is the most important part of your yoga practice. Deep, slow, controlled, audible breathing creates oxygen rich blood and regulates the nervous system. This aids in the functions of all systems of the body, creating overall wellness and homeostasis. Breath work helps many manage stress and panic attacks, fall asleep faster and deeper, and relieve and manage chronic pain. Pranayama breath reduces adrenal fatigue, which is extremely prevalent in our stressed-out, overstimulated, hustle culture. Adrenal hormones are catabolic, meaning they burn lots of energy and break down cell structures in the body quickly. Repeatedly activating the adrenal glands through stress, stimulants, and lack of REM sleep causes adrenal fatigue and makes you especially susceptible to illness.

Conclusion

My hope is that this information found you at the right time to shed light on the incredible healing and restorative benefits of yoga and has inspired you to incorporate it into your daily life — even if you start with just a few poses a day. As you feel comfortable you may seek out the plethora of free or paid online yoga content or an in-person class to help you understand and grow your practice while learning proper form and sequencing for the greatest benefit. Remember that yoga is not about being able to get into a difficult pose or extreme flexibility, it is about the practice. Through the practice, through the effort, through the breath is where we reap the benefit. Namaste.

Written by: Tiffany Griffith

5 Easy Steps To Create Your Writing ePortfolio

Posted on March 23, 2021 by tiffgriff123

Creating an online writing portfolio can be an intimidating task. You might be thinking you need web-design or coding expertise, or that you have to pay someone who does. Perhaps you feel you lack the body of work to create a dynamic and engaging portfolio. Luckily for you, neither is true. This article will guide you through creating your own personalized online portfolio, in just 5 easy steps.

1. Plan Ahead

First, you must do some research. There are so many types of portfolios, and the kinds you will need depend on the job you’re seeking. There are:

Presentation Portfolio – Also known as a PDF Portfolio, is commonly used to submit a sampling of your work to an employer.
ePortfolio — A permanent home for your writing samples that can cater to multiple audiences and showcase your career over time.
Paper Portfolio – This one is rare in today’s paperless society, but good to know about, in case it’s asked of you.

If an ePortfolio fits your objectives, then this article is for you. Maintaining an online portfolio is the ideal format for freelancers, bloggers, and self-published authors and can be viewed by potential employers, buyers, and serves as a networking tool to connect with other writers. Think about the intent for your portfolio and its audience. Is it to appeal to employers as a freelance writer? Is it to get into a University or writing program? Are you an author trying to sell your work? Clearly define your goals, your audience, and the strategies you intend on using.

Next, do a bit of investigating into hosting websites, if you haven’t already. Luckily, there are lots of beautifully designed free hosting sites available that do all of the coding for you — no web developer degree needed. You may decide that a paid hosting site or personalized domain name will be useful, but for now, try out some free ones and play around. I recommend Wix, WordPress, and Squarespace. All are user-friendly for beginners with loads of tutorials available (either on their website, or YouTube) to help guide you through any of the tricky parts. And voila, you have a website!

2. Know Your Audience

Although I touched on this topic briefly before, now is the time to really put yourself into the role of your audience and what appeals to them. What “problem” do they have that you are the perfect candidate to solve? Think about the industry, or industries, you are aiming for.

Many writers choose not to select a niche or commit themselves to a specific genre, and that is great! In that case, your website needs to be neatly organized, easy to navigate, and clearly differentiates your work. Look at examples of portfolios in your industry, or prospective industries. A simple search in the search engine of your choice will give you plenty to peruse. Looking at the work of others will show you what is effective, what tips and tricks you would like to borrow, and what you want to avoid. This is a great way to look at the standards of presentation and professionalism and ensure that you’re meeting those expectations. Once you know what you like, and do not like, and you have established how you want to present yourself, you need to start thinking about the writing samples that will best represent you.

3. Select Your Best Work

Now is the time to go through all of your writing samples and select your best artifacts (that’s industry lingo for the documents or media you will include in an ePortfolio). You may have some pieces that you already love, some that need tweaking, or you might be starting from scratch. Starting from scratch is no big deal. The samples in your portfolio need to be tailored to your target audience or niche – the golden rule of appealing to a prospective employer, admissions officer, or customer, is do not waste their time! You need to peak their interest quickly in order to land the job or make the sale. Even if you have 1,000 samples of perfect technical business writing, it does not make much sense to include them if you have decided to pursue your dream of writing children’s books. Show your audience what they need to see on the first page. Do not expect them to go digging for anything.

If you are creating a portfolio as a novice freelance writer, you may be wondering what to do without any professional writing samples. Simply create your own. You can draft documents based on the type of business or brands you would like to work for and call it a “concept” or “sample.” This allows you to show potential employers that you are equipped to do exactly what they need, regardless of your previous experience. It is important that you are transparent about the work being a mockup. Although there is no set limit on the number of artifacts you will need, I recommend at least five samples to start.

Finally, you must back up your work. Do not wait for a laptop meltdown to leave you high and dry. Find your method, be it the cloud, external hard drive, thumb nail drive, or the like and begin backing up immediately.

4. Build a Simple, Attractive Website

The rule of thumb for ePortfolios, and you may have picked up on this while doing your research, is to keep it simple. The focus is on your writing – graphics and photos need to be minimal and intentional. Font colors should be easily read by all audiences. Keep in mind how the website will look to those with vision issues, color blindness, using screen readers, or viewing it on a smartphone. Make sure that any images used are legally within your right to republish. If you need help with this, search for free Creative Commons images, or use websites that are dedicated to free, shareable, high-quality images like Unsplash.com or Pexels.com.

5. Fine-tune, Publish, and Upkeep

So far, we have selected a hosting site, and crafted a simple yet beautiful website, using free images, with a minimum of five of our best writing samples that are tailored specifically to our target audience. Finished? Not quite. Now is the time to fine-tune. Because no matter how great your work is, broken links, misspelled words, bad grammar, or inconsistency between pages is going to look unprofessional. Go over every page of the site scrupulously. Check that links are working, the font type, color, and size are consistent and cohesive throughout, it is easy to navigate, make sure everything is lined up to a grid for structure and visual appeal, and make ample use of white space to break up the page and direct the viewer where to go.

Proofread! Get the help of an outside source to catch spelling, grammar, punctuation, and clarity issues. Have friends and colleagues you trust go through your site first and give feedback on its ease of use, organization, and design before you post it for the world to see.

Finally, once the site is published, it will need regular upkeep. Think of your ePortfolio as a living journal. As you grow and change as a writer, so should your portfolio. Change and update your samples. Tweak the design or images used to better reflect you and the current trends in your industry. When applying for a particular job, view and navigate your website as that employer and make sure that it will appeal to them and your best work is on the landing page. The greatest part of an ePortfolio is that the ball is in your court. You have the freedom to design, create, and present your art as you see it. Now go be great.