Mindfulness helped older adults improve executive function, attention, verbal memory, and others skills, according to a recent study.
The report was published earlier this year in BMC Geriatrics. The team evaluated short- and long-term cognitive, psychological and physiological outcomes of an adapted eight-week mindfulness-based intervention in a group of 50 healthy older adults.
Mindfulness-based interventions may be able to improve the psychological well-being and cognitive functions of older adults. This intervention was delivered online, which makes it more accessible to the masses.
“This area of study holds significant importance, especially in the context of the present times where traditional in-person group activities may not always be feasible or safe for older adults,” the authors wrote.
The program was delivered in sessions that were given two hours a week to the older adults. All of the participants were between 60 and 75 years old. The team used electroencephalography (EEG) as well as data on cognitive abilities such as executive function and processing speed, as well as psychological status such as emotional regulation, sleep and depression symptoms.
Cognitive (verbal memory, attention and processing speed and executive functions) and psychological (symptoms of depression and anxiety, mindfulness, worries, emotion regulation strategies, well-being, interoceptive awareness and sleep) assessments were conducted. In addition, electroencephalography (EEG) data was recorded before and after the MBI and at the 6-month follow-up.
Verbal memory, attention switching, executive functions, interoceptive awareness (being aware of sensations in your body), and rumination improved from the start of the program to its completion, and persisted at the six-month follow-up session.
Verbal memory and self-regulation in interoceptive awareness were the most significant changes, which were also maintained at the six-month follow-up mark. The people showed changes in EEG alpha1 and alpha2 activity modulation, which is linked to improvements in attention switching, executive function and rumination.
Samantha Galluzzi, a researcher at the IRCCS – Istituto Centro San Giovanni Di Dio Fatebenefratelli in Italy, said the results “are promising as they showed that a web-based MBI in older adults leads to improvements in cognitive and psychological measures, with associated modulations in specific brain rhythms.”
The BMC report comes as a study published Tuesday in Global Advances in Integrative Medicine and Health found that men with prostate cancer who were undergoing radiation therapy and listened to mindfulness audio recordings had an easier time with common symptoms of fatigue, sleep problems, anxiety, and depression.
