Should you meditate to lose weight? A study conducted by researchers at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine (Nashville, USA) shows that mindfulness meditation promotes weightloss and would fight againstobesity infantile. Their work is published in the journal Heliyonand suggest using the mindfulness meditation (“mindfulness”), a practice that aims to reconnect with the present moment, as a therapeutic tool to encourage the choice of a healthy diet and weight loss, at least in children.
Imbalance of brain connections
The researchers were indeed interested in the link between weight and connections between neurons, brain cells. To do this, they analyzed data from 38 children aged 8 to 13, five of whom were obese. By comparing their weights, their answers to a questionnaire describing their eating habits and the results of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) of the brains of the young participants, they were able to demonstrate that weight and excessive eating behaviors were linked. to a particular brain activity. Thus, three areas of the brain would present more connectivity in overweight subjects and prey to bad eating habits: the lower parietal lobe, the frontal pole and the nucleus accumbens. These regions are respectively associated with inhibition, impulsivity and reward. Gold “Mindfulness meditation has been shown to increase inhibition and decrease impulsivity” highlighted Elsevier, editor of the journal Heliyon, in a press release.
Meditation to manage impulsivity and inhibition
“Since obesity and unhealthy eating behaviors may be associated with an imbalance between the brain connections that control inhibition and impulsivity, researchers say mindfulness meditation could help treat or prevent childhood obesity.“, also explains the editor. It remains to be seen whether this meditation technique could also prove its worth in adults. In any case, learning to control your emotions and measure your impulses through meditation can help regulate your catches. and to better manage the shortages caused by a diet.
>> To read also:
Mindful eating would protect heart health
MIND diet: when food influences our brain
Cancer: meditation makes it easier to live with the disease
10 tips for not gaining weight after a diet
