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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

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)


Try it!

A, B, C, D … Z


1, 2, 3, 4 … 26


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


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


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 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


Informal pracVce –  EaVng –  Colouring / tracing –  CommunicaVon –  Sport / movement –  Cleaning teeth / doing chores –  Be creaVve!!


Study applicaVons –  Short meditaVon before working/studying –  Pauses –  Write down distracVons –  CommunicaVon exercises –  ProcrasVnaVon journal


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

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