Addiction to
smoking and other substances involves a particular set of brain areas related
to self-control, according to numerous researches. For a new study, researchers
wondered if a training approach designed to influence this addiction pathway
could influence smokers to reduce their tobacco use -- even if smokers did not
intend to do so.
Just 2 weeks of mindfulness meditation training help
reduce smoking and craving for cigarettes, new research suggests.
Results from a study conducted by investigators at the
University of Oregon in Eugene showed that integrative body-mind training
(IBMT) helped curtail cigarette consumption by up to 60% in smokers who
underwent 5 hours of training during a 2-week period. In comparison, a control
group who underwent relaxation therapy showed no reduction in smoking.
"We found that participants who received IBMT
training also experienced a significant decrease in their craving for
cigarettes," study coauthor Yi-Yuan Tang, MD, PhD, formerly a research
professor at the University of Oregon and current director of the Neuroimaging
Institute in Amarillo, Texas, said in a release.
"Because mindfulness meditation promotes personal
control and has been shown to positively affect attention and openness to
internal and external experiences, we believe that meditation may be helpful
for coping with symptoms of addiction," Dr. Tang added.
Self-control
Deficit
With more than 5 million deaths a year attributable to
tobacco smoking, effective, short-term interventions to reduce smoking and
cravings are urgently needed, the researchers note.
One reason for substance abuse and addiction may involve
a lack of self-control, which raises the question of whether an intervention to
improve self-control could change smoking behavior.
The researchers point out that mindfulness training has
shown some proof of efficacy in substance abuse, but a lack of adequate control
conditions, failure to randomize participants, and a failure to assess
biological markers of change have limited the research.
IBMT has been shown to reduce stress, increase positive
emotion, and improve attention and self-control after a few hours of practice
compared with the same amount of relaxation training.
To determine whether IBMT could influence self-control
via the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and adjacent prefrontal cortex function
(PFC) and help smokers reduce tobacco use, the investigators conducted a
randomized controlled trial. They advertised for volunteers who wished to
reduce stress and improve performance.
Among the respondents were 27 smokers and 33 nonsmokers.
All participants were randomly assigned to receive either IBMT or relaxation
training. Both groups received 2 weeks of training for a total of 5 hours.
All participants were tested for carbon monoxide levels
before and after the study interventions. The researchers also used functional
magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to identify brain mechanisms related to
smoking reduction.
Imaging Results
Imaging revealed that before IBMT, smokers had a
reduction in activity in the ACC and PFC as well as other brain areas. However,
after 2 weeks, activity in the ACC, the medial PFC, and the inferior frontal
gyrus/ventrolateral PFC increased.
At 2- and 4-week follow-up, 5 of the responding smokers
whose smoking had been significantly reduced after IBMT reported that the
effect had been maintained.
The researchers note that IBMT's ability to enhance
self-control may make it a useful tool to reduce smoking and craving "even
in those who have no intention to quit smoking."
Many of the participants only recognized that they had
reduced smoking after an objective test using measured exhaled carbon monoxide
showed the reduction. While previous studies have suggested such meditation may
mediate several forms of addiction such as those tied to alcohol, cigarettes
and cocaine, they have not been approached with a randomized controlled design
with an active relaxation control, the researchers noted.
Before and after the experiments, all participants were
tested for carbon monoxide levels. To identify brain mechanisms that may
underlie smoking reduction, the researchers also used functional magnetic
resonance imaging (fMRI) during rest to understand the brain areas involved.
IBMT "does not force participants to resist craving
or quit smoking; instead, it focuses on improving self-control capacity to
handle craving and smoking behavior."
However, these are early findings, and more research is needed.
"We cannot say how long the effect of reduced
smoking will last," said study coauthor Michael Posner, MD.
"This is an early finding, but an encouraging one.
It may be that for the reduction or quitting having a lasting effect, smokers
will need to continue to practice meditation for a longer time period," he
added.
About IBMT
Developed from traditional Chinese Medicine by Dr.
Yi-Yuan Tang, founding director of the Institute of Neuroinformatics and
Laboratory of Body and Mind since 2001, Integrative Body-Mind Training is a
specific meditation and relaxation technique based on the Taoist and Confucian
concepts of harmony with nature.
Unlike other mind-body disciplines which often take years
to produce the desired physiological and psychological changes, IBMT can be
learned through training, deep meditation and stress reduction in just five
days.
IBMT was shown to produce specific physiological changes
– altered blood flow, brain electrical activity, breathing quality and skin
conductance – that led to the psychological relaxation of the meditative state.
The "state of ah" is the relaxed, calm
surrender that meditative adepts take years to develop. It is a state that
results from integration, a connection between brain and body that is revealed
through SPECT scans as an increased blood flow to the right anterior cingulate
cortex, a region associated with self-regulation of cognition and emotion.
Unlike other meditative techniques that focus on thought
control, Integrative Body-Mind Training focuses on a state of restful alertness
and body mind awareness developed by instructions from a trained IBMT coach.
The usual struggle for thought control is replaced by body postures and
balanced breathing which eventually help students achieve thought control.
This less stressful approach is validated by
physiological tests in the laboratory showing IBMT students achieving lower
heart rates, skin conductance responses and deeper chest breathing amplitudes –
all telltale signs of less effort, less stress and more relaxation. Tests have
also shown that doing IBMT prior to a mental math test produced lower levels of
stress hormone cortisol in the body.
Integrative Body-Mind Training, with its short training
schedule and obvious effectiveness in producing physical and mental changes,
seems well suited to the frenetic pace of modern culture.
How it is done?
Integrated Body Mind Training is a holistic form of
meditation based on both traditional Chinese medicine and Western Techniques.
It includes four parts: body relaxation, breath adjustment, mental imagery, and
mindfulness. IBMT helps improve
self-regulation in cognition, emotion, and social behavior. IBMT is practiced while listening to an audio
compact disc (CD) and being physically coached by an experienced IBMT mentor.
IBMT has recently been coupled with nature exposure to
help improve attention state. Chinese
mind body training such as Tai Chi, Qigong, and meditation have often been done
in nature. Being in harmony with nature has been a central feature in Chinese
philosophy. Western psychological
practices have come to understand that nature exposure helps restore directed
attention. However, unlike other nature
exposure therapies, IBMT has the subject close his eyes and visualize
nature.
IBMT and nature exposure are both techniques that have
been categorized as attention state training models. Attention state training (AST) pertains to a
change in conscious awareness that may result from meditative or nature
exposure experiences. Attention training
(AT), comparatively, involves executive control mechanisms and may, for
example, include mental effort and control on a working memory task.
Nature exposure is based on Kaplan’s attention
restoration theory, which posits that mental fatigue may occur following a
person’s sustained effort to maintain focused attention over time on cognitive
tasks. The premise of the attention
restoration theory model is that a person can restore mental efficiency by
decreasing directed, voluntary attention, and by increasing involuntary
attention. In other words, a person may
become mentally fatigued as he or she sustains effortful attention on
work-related tasks (computer, e-mail, documents, meetings, etc.), but can
restore mental efficiency by increasing the involuntary attention that occurs
via nature exposure.
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