ichthyoid

It seems every news item these days has a clickbait title leading to an article with unverifiable (or just outright fake) propaganda meant to pull in as many views as possible. In fact, from what I've seen, this has become such a de facto way of online journalism that over the past couple years, I've basically turned off most news sources and only listen in occasionally to keep up with what's going on outside my immediate surroundings.

Every once in a while, however, a clickbait title gets me, and I can't help but click on it. And on an extremely rare occasion, these clickbait titles actually have articles which are worth the time. This past week, I (fortunately?) stumbled upon one of these articles, and learned something new!

And I was so fascinated by the subject of the article that I thought to share it on this blog. Which then inspired me to make another on-going series based on what I'm learning weekly.

What I Learned this Week

The title of this article is, “When Steve Jobs Died At 56, His Brain Was Only 27”. Since Steve Jobs was one of my heroes in life, it was difficult not to pass on this article. Now, of course, this was a completely clickbait title, since, as far as the article goes (and as far as I know), no one has actually ever measured Steve Jobs' brain after he passed in 2011.

However, the article did contain some fascinating scientific information about brain deterioration, and how meditative practices could reverse the effects of aging in the brain.

In particular, it cited multiple studies which confirmed that meditation could de-age the brain as much as 25 years (hence, how Steve Jobs could 'magically' de-age his own brain).

Steve Jobs and Meditation

The particular meditation techniques studied is a specific procedure called Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction, or MBSR. This kind of meditation is a group program which emphasizes practices which are chosen by the individual based on principles, rather than a specific method. In general, the principles center around being mindful of the present by stepping out of “on the clock” based circumstances or situations. Also, in particular, MBSR is done as a group, and so there is a social component involved as well.

In his biography of Steve Jobs, Walter Isaacson devotes a chapter to Jobs' early life, where the founder of Apple spent a significant portion studying and practicing the principles of meditation. These practices were based on a book called “Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind”, which MBSR has some connection with. And hence (again), the claim which Jobs could have de-aged his brain to 25.

The Results

Specifically, practicing MBSR has shown to do a few things (as taken from the original clickbait article):

First, it thickened many parts of the brain, increasing focus, self-confidence, ability to regulate emotion, learning, memory, and even more subjective things like empathy and compassion. Secondly, the research also found that the amygdala, which regulates the “fight or flight” response in us (which usually induces more stress when used more) was decreased.

And this was all done after only 8 weeks of meditating for 30 minutes each day.

Can Anyone Get in on This?

While not all of us can take group practice classes of MBSR, I think most of us do want to take time to get out of modernity and de-age our brains to their optimum. And (hopefully) most of us can take 30 minutes out of each day in order to do so.

To that end, I found this article, which lists principles, techniques, and practicals for anyone that wants to do this. Basically what I've found is that, using techniques such as breathing, we can regulate our attention to observe ourselves and our surroundings. By slowing down and noticing (and then relaxing) different parts of our body and thoughts, we can release tension both physically and emotionally, thus reducing stress.

So that's what I learned this week! Personally, I'm pretty excited to practice this each day to participate in reducing stress from my life and (in the interim) de-aging my brain the way one of my heroes did!

Header Image courtesy of Pixabay.