Immediate effects of Mindfulness-Based
Stress Reduction
Minh Hiep Do Tran 1, Nghia Trung Nguyen 3, Anh Minh Hoang An 1, Huy Hoang Gia Le 1, Nhu Huynh Vo Nguyen 1, Thanh Huy Chau 1, Quang Duc Doan Khuu 1, Trang Hoang Long 1, Quyen Hoang Quoc Vo 1, Thuong Hoai Nguyen 1, Luan Van Tran 1,2, Thao Thi Mai Le 1, Thinh Quang Vu Tran 1, Quang Lam Nguyen 1, Anh Hoang Phuc Le 1, Khiet Thu Thi Dang 1, Hieu Thanh Nguyen 1, Dang Minh Nguyen 2, Duy The Phan 1, Huong Thanh Thi Ha 1
1 School of Biomedical Engineering, International University- Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh city
2 University of Science-Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh city
3 Mental Health Unit - Hoan My Sai Gon Hospital
Abstract
Objective. The object of this research is to analyze the effects of practicing meditation on brain signals and self-reported mindfulness levels.
Methods. Students (n=22) were invited to the laboratory during the 4th and 6th week of an 8-week MBSR course to record the EEG signals, while listening to neutral podcasts and audio-guided meditation, respectively. The State Mindfulness Scale (SMS) was used to collect subjective evaluation of mindfulness levels. Power Spectral Density (PSD) and Higuchi’s Fractal Dimension (HFD) were used to analyze the differences between the podcast stage and the meditation stage
Results. The PSD of meditation sessions was distinguished with an increase in alpha band energy (p<0.0001) and a decrease in beta and theta band energy (p<0.001). In contrast, there was no significant difference in the HFD between the two stages. SMS scores of the participants also remain unchanged after 2 weeks. While the observed signal illustrates the effects of MBSR, the analyzed result demonstrates no correlation with the subject evaluation in the SMS questionnaire (r=0.07).
Conclusions. The meditation process demonstrated a clear effect on the frequency band energy, however, no other significant differences were found in a short period of practicing meditation. In future work, we suggest looking into how the brain connects during meditation versus non-meditation and dive deeper into the nonlinear method for investigating the immediate effects of mindfulness.
These authors contributed equally to this paper.