Mindfulness training benefits elderly

Mindfulness training is defined as training your mind to pay attention in a particular way. You train your mind to focus on one aspect at a time by focussing on the present and not dwelling in the past or thinking about what may come up in the future. It is the cultivation of sustained attention by not reacting and accepting the state of being as it is.

Mindfulness has become very popular in recent years and has shown promising results for enhancing health and wellbeing. There has been a growing interest in how mindfulness can help the aging population boost cognitive, emotional and physiological health.

Mindfulness meditation usually involves three types of practices – Focused attention which involves sustained attention to a single object while disengaging from distraction. Open monitoring meditation includes acknowledging facets of multiple phenomena like sensations and sounds without selectively focusing on any one of them. Loving-kindness meditation involves cultivating a universal state of love and compassion toward oneself and others.

But studies so far have shown mixed results when it comes to the elderly. A new review of all the studies till date show that more investigation is needed in how to apply mindfulness techniques to help elders in three areas – behavioural and neural attention performance, psychological wellbeing and systematic inflammation.

A majority of 27 studies in the review showed that focused attention which is at the core of mindfulness benefits older people. But they are other studies which did not indicate the same.

Some of the research also investigated the effect of mindfulness on inflammation which contributes to a variety of diseases.

In all categories of research – behavioural and cognitive functioning, psychological wellbeing and inflammatory processes, the researchers found mixed results.

But the researchers concluded that the reviewed evidence points to the benefits that the aging population will gain through mindfulness training by promoting cognitive, physical and emotional health. These benefits extend to those with little or no psychological symptoms as well as to those diagnosed with psychological and medical conditions.

The evidence suggests that mindfulness training may be integrated with other programs at senior centres and group homes, to help with cognitive decline and foster a better quality of life.

Practising mindfulness helps us achieve focussed attention and mitigate unhappiness which is a result of a wandering mind. By being present in the moment and by being mindful we achieve so many benefits both for our body and our mind.

Source: Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience