Mindful Learning
Dr Richard Chambers Clinical Psychologist
Mindfulness Consultant
Less stress. Be<er grades.
Millionaire slide
The Default Brain
When not paying a(en*on to something – Mind wandering & mental cha<er
Scan for problems in past (dwelling) and future (worry) – Judgment & self-‐cri*cism – Autopilot
Killingsworth & Gilbert (2010)
Wastes lots of energy
– In DM, brain at 95% of max O2 consump*on
Raichle et al. (2001)
The Default Brain
The Default Brain
Associated with - Stress Brewer et al., 2011 - Anxiety Zhao et al., 2007 - Depression Greicius et al., 2007 - ADHD Uddin et al., 2008a - Schizophrenia Pomarol-‐Clotet et al., 2008
- AuVsm Kennedy & Courchesne, 2008 - Alzheimer’s demenVa Firbank et al., 2007 - Criminal recidivism Aharoni et al., 2013 - Reduced performance Brewer et al., 2011
The Default Brain
Associated with - Stress Brewer et al., 2011 - Anxiety Zhao et al., 2007 - Depression Greicius et al., 2007 - ADHD Uddin et al., 2008a - Schizophrenia Pomarol-‐Clotet et al., 2008
- AuVsm Kennedy & Courchesne, 2008 - Alzheimer’s demenVa Firbank et al., 2007 - Criminal recidivism Aharoni et al., 2013 - Reduced performance Brewer et al., 2011
Mindfulness
Mindfulness
Deliberately being engaged in the senses without evalua*on/judgment
Mindfulness
A state of ac*ve, open a(en*on to the present
Observing thoughts & feelings without judgment
“Living in the moment"
Mindfulness
“Be mindful of (e.g. fine print)”
“Come to your senses”
“Grounded”
“In touch”
Mindfulness
Not about always being present – Need to plan, remember & think – Mind-‐wandering is normal – Daydreams can be pleasant – CreaVvity
Mindfulness gives us awareness
– And therefore choice
MeditaVon
A<enVon Thinking & reasoning
Short-‐term memory EmoVon regulaVon Impulse control
Self awareness
Benefits Of Mindfulness For Students
Reduces: – Stress – Anxiety – Depression – Sleep problems
Improves: – Performance – Self awareness – Empathy and compassion
Hofman (2010)
Brewer et al (2011)
Stress
The Stress (Fight/Flight) Response Amygdala (‘fear centre’) acVvaVon
Ready to fight/flee
– Adrenaline & CorVsol – éHeart rate & blood pressure – Blood è periphery (from brain, digesVon) – Breathing quickens – Tense muscles
Focused on threat
– Can’t focus on anything else – Threat seems larger / miss important informaVon – Anxiety / worry
Survival reac*ons
– Avoidance – Freezing – Aggression
Stress & Performance
Impairs short-‐term memory
Ashcrah & Kirk (2001)
Results in impaired academic performance
Beilock & Carr (2005)
Cor*sol impairs ability to – Absorb new informaVon – Connect emoVonally with others
Lindauer et al. (2006)
AllostaVc Load
Impaired immunity Neural atrophy
– Prefrontal cortex – Hippocampus (learning & memory)
Growth of amygdala (increases fear response)
McEwen & Ann (2004)
Mindfulness & Stress Meta-‐analysis (209 studies) found reduced stress
– Pre/post – Waitlist control – Compared to acVve treatments
Khoury et al (2013)
Improved immunity
Davidson et al (2003)
Depression
Mathers & Loncar (2006)
Depression & Errors
20% US hospital-‐based doctors depressed 6.2x more medica*on errors
Fahrenkopf et al. (2008)
Mindfulness & Depression
More mindfulness = be(er recovery from MDD
Chambers et al. (2014)
Reduced depressive symptoms
Way, Creswell, Eisenberger & Lieberman (2010)
Depressive relapse halved (66% to 33%)
Segal, Teasdale & Williams (2002)
May be more effec*ve than an*depressants
Eisendrath et al. (2014)
Performance
The Illusion Of MulVtasking
A(en*on switching – So fast it appears we are doing mulVple things simultaneously
A(en*onal blink – Lag *me of 200 to 500 milliseconds (0.5 second) – Increased by stress
Slatger, Lutz, Greishchar et al. (2007)
Average of 64 seconds to recover train of thought aher
checking email – Check every 5 mins = waste 8.5 hours per week
Jackson, Dawson & Wilson. (2002)
The Illusion Of MulVtasking
Try it!
A, B, C, D … Z
The Illusion Of MulVtasking
1, 2, 3, 4 … 26
The Illusion Of MulVtasking
A1, B2, C3, D4 … Z26
Complex MulVtasking
Talking while driving 4x risk crashing (same as being .08)
McEvoy, Stevenson & Woodward (2007)
Tex*ng/emailing/internet = 164x
Hickman & Hanowski (2012)
Constant distrac*on à IQ loss ≈ 2x marijuana smoking
Wilson (2005), research commissioned by Hewle3-‐Packard
The Illusion Of MulVtasking
Doing 5, 6, or more things at once all the Vme…It turns out they are terrible at every aspect of mul*tasking! They get distracted constantly. Their memory is very disorganised. Recent work we’ve done suggests that they’re worse at analy*cal reasoning. We worry that we may be creaVng people who may not be able to think well, or clearly.
Nass (2010), Stanford University
A<enVon Deficit Trait
A(en*on Deficit (Hyperac*vity) Disorder – Psychological disorder – GeneVc & environmental factors
A(en*on Deficit Trait – Overwhelmed with distracVon – “Amygdala hijack” – Chronic fight/flight response – Reduced performance
Hallowell (2005)
Unitasking
Mindfulness improves: - Concentra*on & memory Chambers, Lo & Allen (2006) - Biases in thinking De Neys, Vartanian & Goel (2008) - Errors & ability to self-‐correct Ludwig & Kabat-‐Zinn (2008) - Emo*onal reac*ons Hayes & Feldman (2004)
- Burnout Krasner et al. (2009)
Mindsets
b – a – 2c Did you use the difficult method (b – a – 2c) or the easy one (a-‐c) or (a+c) for problems 7, 8, 10 and 11?
– 83% did Problem 9 could not be solved by the “old” method. What did you do?
Luchins & Luchins (1950)
Mindsets
Two broad mindsets 1. Fixed 2. Growth
Growth mindsets linked to – Focus on what is in front of you c.f. success/failure – Greater enjoyment and saVsfacVon – More accurate esVmaVon of own abiliVes – Be<er relaVonships (challenge c.f. criVcise) – Confidence – Less depression – Resilience – Taking responsibility
Dweck (2006) Mindsets
Mindful Learning Benefits from as li<le as 5 min/day
– Mindfulness – Depression / anxiety / stress – Study engagement
Hassed (2009)
6 mins before class improves
– Test performance – Reten*on of knowledge
Ramsburg & Youmans (2013)
10 mins 4x/week improves – Distrac*on – Reading comprehension – Short term memory
Mrazek et al. (2013)
Mindful Learning
Be<er communica*on More accurately perceive others’ emo*ons
– Improved empathy Mascaro et al. (2012)
Deeper listening & understanding
– Leads to intui*on Krasner et al. (2009)
Mindful Learning
Compassion Meditators show greater insula acVvaVon in
– Insula – Limbic regions associated with empathy
Lutz, Brefczynski-‐Lewis, Johnstone & Davidson (2008)
Mindful Learning
Self-‐compassion Being kind to oneself aher making a mistake increases self-‐improvement mo*va*on Self-‐compassion associated with
– Increased belief that weaknesses can be changed – Greater mo*va*on to change the weakness
Breines & Chen (2012)
Mindful Learning
Technology: – Disconnects from senses and internal world – Trains ina(en*veness – Encourages reac*vity
Mindfulness counteracts this by – Engaging senses – Training a(en*on – Learning to respond c.f. react
Mindfulness In The Classroom
Formal medita*on pracVce – 5 minutes once or twice a day – Home room & period five
Regular prac*ce is important Use resources
Mindfulness In The Classroom
Keep it simple and fun – Explain clearly – Call it “mindfulness” and don’t talk about Buddhism etc
Make it relevant
– Draw out learning – Link to what is important e.g.
• Stress • Focus • RelaVonships
Evidence suggests even 3yo kids can meditate
Kaiser-‐Greenland (2010)
Mindfulness In The Classroom
Mindfulness games – Rock the boat – Dead fish – Slow walking – Swaying (seated) – Thumbs up/down/sideways
Resources – The Mindful Child – Susan Kaiser-‐Greenland – MeditaAon Capsules – Janet E<y-‐Leal – Smiling Mind Teacher Manual
Mindfulness In The Classroom
Informal pracVce – EaVng – Colouring / tracing – CommunicaVon – Sport / movement – Cleaning teeth / doing chores – Be creaVve!!
Mindfulness In The Classroom
Study applicaVons – Short meditaVon before working/studying – Pauses – Write down distracVons – CommunicaVon exercises – ProcrasVnaVon journal
Mindfulness In The Classroom
Structured programs – 5 x 60 minute weekly sessions – Support regular pracVce – Apply to academic challenges – Mindfulness for Academic Success – Inner Kids
Embody
www.richard-‐chambers.com Melbourne Mindfulness Centre
@drrichardchambers