idealawg

Blog Glob: Run for Your Life: New Studies Show Benefits of Exercise on the Brain and Body

Excerpt:

Mounting evidence shows the benefits of exercise on both the brain and body, according to new research released today. The research focuses on the effects of physical activity on brain health and, more specifically, underscores the positive influence of regular physical activity on Parkinson’s disease, depression, premenstrual syndrome, and memory. These findings were presented at Neuroscience 2009, the Society for Neuroscience’s annual meeting and the world’s largest source of emerging news about brain science and health.

Exercise benefits many aspects of life. However, the National Center for Health Statistics estimates that only 31 percent of all adults, and 22 percent of adults older than 65, engaged in regular physical activity in 2006, giving these new findings particular relevance.

Today’s new research shows that:

Click to read the rest of "Run for Your Life: New Studies Show Benefits of Exercise on the Brain and Body" (Society for Neuroscience new release).

What fun! Get some balls because juggling can improve your brain

That's what a recent piece of research seems to indicate. From "Juggling Boosts Brain Connections" (Medical News Today):

Researchers in the UK found that learning to juggle boosts brain connections by making structural changes in the white matter of the brain. ...
...
Although previous studies have shown that learning and practising new skills like juggling that use the visuo-motor part of the brain lead to changes in the grey matter of the adult brain, it was unclear whether it had a similar effect in the white matter.

For this study ...  [Dr Heidi] Johansen-Berg and colleagues used a new form of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) called "diffusion tensor imaging" to show that the structure of the adult brain's white matter changes after practising juggling extensively.

Actually Johansen-Berg is not suggesting everyone take up juggling.

She said they just chose juggling as an example of a complex new skill for the volunteers to learn. However, she added that:

"There is a 'use it or lose it' school of thought, in which any way of keeping the brain working is a good thing, such as going for a walk or doing a crossword."

STOP and ACE: Two mindfulness exercises for lawyers (and other people, too)

If you don't yet know the benefits of mindfulness for lawyers (and their clients because mindful lawyers are typically very good at client service), take a look at all these resources focused on mindfulness in the law.

An article in UCLA Today includes two mindfulness exercises, plus links to podcasts describing them. From "Mindfulness reduces stress, promotes resilience":

[F]our short steps to mindfulness:

Stop what you're doing and close your eyes.

Take a few breaths, bringing your awareness to each inhalation and exhalation.

Observe how your body is feeling in the moment -- for instance, warmth or coolness. Become aware of your emotions and your thoughts.

Perceive sounds in the room, just listening to them come and go, before ending the exercise.

And

an exercise called ACE, comprised of three one-minute steps:

Awareness: Become aware of what's happening right now in your thoughts and emotions.

Collecting: Collect your attention into your breath.

Expanding: Expand your awareness into your physical body, noticing the sensations you're feeling.

More from Dr. Elisha Goldstein who created the exercises, including a free e-book The Mindful Companion.

Blog Glob: "How to Keep Your Brain Young (Even as You Grow Old)"

Excerpt:

Once a heavy drinker and smoker, my 84-year-old father was never a good candidate for living a long life. But he's remained mentally sharp through four bouts of cancer and a litany of other health complaints, while my younger and (seemingly) healthier mother suffered from dementia and died four years ago. What gives?

...

If researchers are right, my father has (inadvertently) followed some of the best practices for battling mental decline. New studies are pointing to ways one can slow, and in some cases reverse, the memory loss, distractibility, and other cognitive deficits that often come with advancing age. Here are three of the key findings for how to keep your brain fit.

Click to read the rest of "How to Keep Your Brain Young (Even as You Grow Old)" (Greater Good Magazine).

Video of Charlie Halpern speaking on "Empathy, Meditation, and the Practice of Law"

Watch Charlie Halpern presenting at Baldy Center for Law & Social Policy, University at Buffalo Law School by clicking here. From the Web site:

During the past decade a number of lawyers, judges and law professors have begun to explore the relevance of meditation and other contemplative practices to legal education and the work of lawyers. Courses have been offered in law schools around the country, and lawyers and judges have participated in retreats and workshops. The benefits range from managing stress at a difficult time in a high stress profession to sharpening lawyers? skills, such as negotiation, client interviewing and trial advocacy. Meditation can heighten emotional literacy and increase the capacity to make empathetic connections. A growing body of scientific evidence is establishing the demonstrable impact on brain function and structure from regular meditation practice. Many law students are finding that the meditative perspective makes them more effective students and improves academic performance. Wisdom has historically been a quality prized by lawyers. Meditative practice can help bring wisdom into law practice and legal institutions.

More about Halpern in "Move From Being a Mindless Lawyer To a Mindful Lawyer" (The Complete Lawyer).

Image credit: The Complete Lawyer.

Although this book is written for lawyers at midlife, anyone can gain much value by using it

Why do I say "using" instead of "reading"? Because Lawyers at Midlife: Laying the Groundwork for the Road Ahead is as much a very practical workbook as it is a valuable source of information. The book contains worksheets, questionnaires, and graphs so the reader can sit down with a pencil and do some real planning. Topics covered are wide-ranging. Nothing is missing; all the ingredients are included for designing next-step scenarios.

Using this workshop in a book, you will be guided wisely through decisions about your finances, health, estate planning, and career transitions. As regular idealawg readers know, I believe that stories are an effective way to communicate information. I am happy to say the authors included several engaging examples of transitioning lawyers to accompany you on your path through the book.

Although it's written for lawyers at midlife, anyone would do well to buy this book and spend some time taking the inventories and making the plans. Don't we all owe it to ourselves and our families to stop every so often and shine our mental flashlight on the road ahead?

Finally I can give you the link to buy a great book

I have been patiently waiting for this book to be available for purchase. It now is and I highly recommend that you pick up a copy or two. The book is an excellent resource for anyone with an interest in mindfulness, the brain, and stress reduction. Not to mention increased focus, attention, and awareness.

The book is titled Mindfulness for Law Students: Using the Power of Mindfulness to Achieve Balance and Success in Law School. From personal experience, I know that the author Scott Rogers is extraordinarily creative. That creativity, plus his thorough knowledge of neuroscience and contemplative practice makes this book a must-read. It is practical, and full of tips, resources, and exercises.

And it is not just for law students. Anyone can benefit from this book.

Scott wrote another just-released book—for lawyers—which I have not read. I did take a peek inside at the Amazon page and it appears The Six-Minute Solution: A Mindfulness Primer for Lawyers is similar to Mindfulness for Law Students. Knowing Scott, I can recommend either book without reservation.

Note: Click for information about the retreat Scott and I are holding in Santa Fe on contemplative practices for lawyers.

Colorado Contemplative Lawyers Society: "Meditating Lawyer No Oxymoron"

Here's a nice article from the most recent edition of Law Week Colorado about the Colorado Contemplative Lawyers Society: "Meditating Lawyer No Oxymoron."[pdf]

Note: A related post from Brains on Purpose™ with links to mindfulness resources: Inviting mediation to "T": Should mediators meditate?.

Resources related to mindfulness in the law: http://www.contemplativelawyers.com.

Image credit: Marla Asheim.

Note (added August 2, 2009): Related idealawg post: Contemplative Practices for Lawyers: All the details about the upcoming retreat.

Blog Glob: Yoga And Meditation Change Gene Response To Stress

Excerpt:

Research from the US suggests that mind body techniques like yoga and meditation that put the body in a state of deep rest known as the relaxation response, are capable of changing how genes behave in response to stress.

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Mind-body practices that produce a relaxation response have been used by people across cultures for thousands of years to prevent and treat disease, wrote the authors in their background to the study.

The relaxation response is characterized by reduction in oxygen intake, increase in exhalation of nitric oxide, and lower psychological distress. Many experts see it as the counterpart to the "flight or fight" stress response that has already been shown by a number of studies to have a distinct pattern of physiological and gene expression changes (called "transcriptional profile").

Click to read the rest of "Yoga And Meditation Change Gene Response To Stress" (Medical News Today).

4-minute, Reader's-Digest-lite review of what's good for the health and functioning of your brain

Here's a quick review of brain tips presented by Dr. Daniel Amen. A bit simplified but nevertheless an excellent reminder for the beginning of a new week. The brain scans alone are worth seeing. Watch it and decide what changes you may want to make beginning today. He begins, "When your brain works right, you work right." How true!