Mindfulness meditation may help obese children lose weight in the long term. It would correct a connectivity defect in their brain.
The childhood obesity epidemic is also raging in France, with 18% of children considered overweight, and 3.5% obese. A new study, published in review Heliyon is interested in the benefits of a rather original solution to help them lose weight: mindfulness meditation.
This practice, especially widespread in the United States, finds its origins in Buddhism. It consists of focusing your attention on the present moment, and thinking about the different sensations that arise. It is now used in the context of certain cognitive therapies, to reduce anxiety and depression.
In these latest works, the researchers show that mindfulness meditation would also be of interest to obese young people, because it would help reduce impulsive behaviors towards food.
Three areas in the brain
For the purposes of their study, they first identified three parts of the brain that they wanted to analyze in overweight children of normal weight. These are the lower parietal lobe, which inhibits responses to food, the frontal lobe, responsible for impulsivity, and the nucleus accumbens, which manages reward.
“We wanted to understand how neurological mechanisms differed in the brains of obese youth, in order to make the appropriate recommendations, such as mindfulness practice,” says Betty Ann Chadowski, lead author of the study.
The researchers then observed these areas via MRI scans in 38 children aged 8 to 13, five of whom were obese and six overweight. In the latter, the frontal lobe was more active than the lower lobe.
According to scientists, this means that the brains of obese children have an imbalance in connectivity. Mindfulness meditation could help restore this balance. This would allow them to lose weight in the long term, thereby reducing impulsive behavior.
The team now recommends following some obese children in this practice to validate the longer-term benefits.
#Obesity : Mindfulness meditation can help the child https://t.co/LtzL9gW3IP https://t.co/LtzL9gW3IP pic.twitter.com/MCqAqD6P2X
– Pourquoidocteur (@Pourquoidocteur) January 22, 2016
Childhood overweight & obesity: Mindfulness meditation, the other solution
Posted by Why actor on Saturday 23 January 2016
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