By Katelyn Newman — 2020
Mindfulness holds promise as a treatment for those struggling to curb their substance misuse, researchers say.
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New science tells us how to better manage our addictions.
According to addiction expert Dr Anna Lembke, our smartphones are making us dopamine junkies, with each swipe, like and tweet feeding our habit. So how do we beat our digital dependency?
Why is it so hard to keep off the app if you have decided you are done with Facebook? Because the platform taps into our societal needs and biological drives to keep us coming back for more, experts say.
We sat down with Dr. Lembke to talk to her about why the things we turn to to feel better may actually be doing more harm than good, and what we can do instead.
How can we stop being caught up in other people’s thoughts? How can we stop thinking about a person or situation—what we should have or could have done differently—when the same thoughts keep looping back, rewinding, and playing through our minds again and again?
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When it comes to making changes, we all have one habit in common that holds us back: self-judgement. The neuroscience of mindfulness suggests lasting change requires a softer touch.
The meditation-and-the-brain research has been rolling in steadily for a number of years now, with new studies coming out just about every week to illustrate some new benefit of meditation. Or, rather, some ancient benefit that is just now being confirmed with fMRI or EEG.
When neuroscientists tested expert meditators, they discovered something surprising: The effect of Buddhist meditation isn’t just momentary; it can alter deep-seated traits in our brain patterns and character.