Why a Short Five-Minute Mindfulness Practice Can Reboot Our Mind and Body

As we gathered stories from students practicing mindfulness on the Harvard campus, I noticed a recurring theme in their narratives:

"I'm a freshman at Harvard, and this week has been utterly chaotic. New classes, extensive reading assignments, group projects, coupled with extracurricular activities and social events constantly vying for my attention, have left my mind in a frenzy. I tried to sit down and write an essay, but I just couldn't focus—my thoughts were all over the place.

Then, I remembered a phrase I learned in a mindfulness workshop: take some time to pay attention to your body. I shut down my computer, sat up straight, and placed my hands on my thighs. I took a few deep breaths, inhaling slowly through my nose, holding for a few seconds, and then exhaling through my mouth. During this process, I focused on the sensations in my body—first noticing the feeling of my feet touching the ground, then gradually shifting my attention to my legs, back, and shoulders.

With each breath, I began to relax. I felt the tension in my shoulders start to dissolve, and my breathing became deeper and slower. By spending just five minutes focusing on my body, I felt more grounded, calm, and clear-headed. When I reopened my computer, I found I could concentrate better, my thoughts were less scattered. I felt refreshed, as if I had given my brain a 'soft reset,' and was no longer distracted by the noise in my head. It's truly miraculous."

These stories highlight two intriguing points. First, the reboot of the brain begins with mindful attention to the body, emphasizing the close connection between mindfulness, which appears to be about the mind and heart, and the body. Second, mindfulness practice doesn't require a perfect hour-long session; just five minutes can significantly nurture your mind and body!

In today's research article, "Mindfulness starts with the body: somatosensory attention and top-down modulation of cortical alpha rhythms in mindfulness meditation," a team of researchers (Kerr et al.) proposed an intriguing idea about how mindfulness can have such a rapid effect, attracting significant attention from the field. Simply put, mindfulness practice can effectively regulate brain waves. After an eight-week program focused primarily on body perception and breathing perception, they found that mindfulness training helped participants' brains enhance their ability to filter distractions, achieving the calm, focused, and relaxed state described in the above story.

Firstly, alpha waves are a type of brainwave observable through electroencephalography (EEG). Alpha waves are typically most prominent in the brain's posterior region, especially the occipital lobe, which is responsible for visual processing. Known as alpha rhythms, these rhythms are crucial to our attention and involve different parts of the brain working together in a complex process to control and regulate them, thereby modulating our focus and other perceptions.

The thalamus plays a central role in this control process, acting as a relay station to transmit sensory information to other parts of the brain. The thalamus helps generate alpha rhythms through two main pathways:

Specific Thalamic Nuclei (VPm): This part helps regulate alpha rhythms in specific brain regions.

Non-Specific Thalamic Nuclei (VM): This part has a broader influence, affecting a larger portion of the brain and controlling broader areas of attention.

For alpha rhythms to function properly, precise timing is required. The two thalamic pathways need to coordinate, but if they aren’t synchronized (as if working in opposite rhythms), the alpha rhythms become stronger. GPT-4o

Sure, let's continue the translation:

The brain uses this timing to decide what is important and needs focus, and what can be ignored. The prefrontal cortex, which is the brain area responsible for decision-making, plays a crucial role in this process. It helps regulate the thalamus, ensuring that attention is focused in the right areas. This is especially important in complex tasks, like studying or maintaining focus during conversations.

Mindfulness training helps improve the brain's ability to control these rhythms, especially through focusing on the body. Practices like body scanning (mentally checking different parts of the body) or mindful breathing exercises engage your senses—whether it's the sensation of breathing or the feeling of the ground underfoot.

This "somatosensory attention" (a fancy term for focus on the body) is foundational to mindfulness. It helps you become aware of your body's sensations in the present moment, which is the first step to enhancing the brain's focus.

Here’s where it gets interesting: When you focus on a specific part of the body, you start training the brain to better control alpha waves, which occur in the brain's "somatosensory cortex" (the area that processes bodily sensations). By concentrating on a specific body part, you can actually regulate these brainwaves, blocking out irrelevant information—like background noise or scattered thoughts.

This helps the brain become more efficient, allowing it to determine which information deserves attention and which can be ignored.

Therefore, mindfulness helps the brain better control these alpha waves. Simply put, it makes you better at being the "boss of your brain." You can decide where to focus your attention—whether it's a sensation in your body or a thought in your mind. Research shows that through mindfulness, you can train your brain to filter out distractions more quickly, which is useful in situations requiring concentration.

There’s another interesting aspect: Remember we mentioned the thalamus, the brain’s "relay station" that helps transmit sensory information to other parts of the brain. Mindfulness training aids in optimizing this relay system, making the brain more efficient at receiving and processing sensory information. It’s like a radio tuning into a clearer signal with less noise!

Researchers emphasize that mindfulness is not just for relaxation; it's a powerful tool for addressing issues like chronic pain and depression. Chronic pain patients often overly focus on painful areas, which can intensify the pain sensation. Mindfulness helps by gently steering attention away from the pain, allowing the brain to concentrate on other sensations. Over time, this helps reduce pain’s psychological impact and improves the patient's ability to manage it.

In the case of depression, mindfulness helps break the cycle of rumination—those repetitive, negative thoughts. By focusing attention on bodily sensations rather than negative thoughts, mindfulness helps mitigate the effects of these thought patterns.

Moreover, the skills learned through mindfulness are not just limited to body sensations. When you control attention through body scanning or mindful breathing, you can apply these skills to other areas, such as emotions and thoughts. It’s like exercising a muscle that can be used in many different scenarios!

This research shows that mindfulness can enhance our ability to manage sensory information, maintain focus, and even improve emotional well-being. For those with chronic pain or depression, mindfulness might be a valuable method for alleviating distress and enhancing quality of life.

Therefore, mindfulness is not just about "relaxation"—it’s actually a way to train the brain to work smarter, not harder!