Biological Pathways Linking Mindfulness with Health
INDIGO June 30, 2018 DOI: 10.1184/r1/6613724.v1 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Meditation |
| Keywords | Mental health Affect linguistics Stress linguistics Psychotherapist Cognitive science Cognitive psychology Communication |
| Citations | 44 |
| Key points | Proposes that mindfulness may buffer stress through neural and peripheral biological pathways, potentially explaining its effects on health outcomes. |
Abstract
In order to consider how this capacity of the mind (‘mindfulness’) impacts our biology, this chapter is divided into three parts. First, I formalize an account for how mindfulness might affect health: the mindfulness stress-buffering hypothesis—and then consider the available evidence for this account. Second, I will ground this stress buffering account in an evidence-based biological model (Miller, Chen, & Cole, 2009) depicting how mindfulness influences stress-related neural and peripheral biological pathways, which in turn might explain a broad range of stress-related mental and physical health outcomes. Third, I conclude with thoughts about how this account stimulates new questions that could be fruitfully explored in subsequent research.