The Impact of Mindfulness

David Creswell, assistant professor of psychology at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, continues to do extensive research on how mindfulness can affect our health and our lives for the better. 

Photograph by Shilo Rea

On anxiety:

A 2013 study published in Social, Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience found that mindful attention reduces self-reported cravings in smokers, as well as reduced neural activity in the craving-related region of the brain.

On smoking cessation:

A study in NeuroImage in 2013 concluded that mindfulness-based cognitive therapy may be an effective treatment for reducing anxiety and mood symptoms in patients with generalized anxiety disorder.

On loneliness:

In 2012, a study published in Brain, Behavior and Immunity found that an eight-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program helps decrease loneliness in older adults.

On behavior regulation:

A study published in Psychological Inquiry in 2007 examined the theory and evidence of how mindfulness curtails distress and enhances mental health, physical health, and behavioral regulation.

More mindfulness studies by David Creswell

Creswell, J.D., Pacilio, L.E., Lindsay, E.K., & Brown, K.W. (under review). Brief mindfulness meditation training alters psychological and neuroendocrine responses to social evaluative stress.

Taren, A.A., Creswell, J.D., & Gianaros, P.J. (2013). Dispositional mindfulness co-varies with smaller amygdala and caudate volumes in community adults. PLoS One, 8, e64574.

Holzel, B.K., Hoge, E.A., Greve, D.N., Gard, T., Creswell,…