Cognition After Concussion
Following a concussion, you may experience an array of persisting symptoms including difficulties with your cognition and emotions. This can include trouble concentrating, memory loss, ruminating and negative thoughts, stress, and anxiety. Stress and anxiety make day to day cognitive processes–from memory to decision-making–more difficult. Conversely, memory or attention problems can increase the stress you experience in daily life following concussion.
Attention and Cognition
Attention—the ability to focus on a specific piece of information presented to us—is the foundation for all our cognitive processes. After all, it is difficult to process or remember something when you are not able to maintain attention and focus on the information. Attention is a skill that often needs to be retrained following concussion. Therapy interventions to retrain attention can take many forms.
Mindfulness Positively Impacts Cognition
Recent research is showing the benefits of mindfulness-based interventions for cognitive rehabilitation following brain injury. Examples of mindfulness-based interventions include mindfulness-based stress reduction, mindfulness-based cognitive training, acceptance and commitment therapy, and goal-oriented attention self-regulation. Mindfulness-based stress reduction, for example, uses both meditation and mindful movement to improve self-awareness and greater attentiveness to the present moment. Additionally, programs such as Love Your Brain have made traditional yoga and mindfulness meditation practices accessible to the brain injury community. What all of these approaches have in common is the goal of training attention to the anchor, task, goal, or present moment.
What is Mindfulness?
Mindfulness is often incorrectly associated with an attempt to empty one’s mind of all thoughts. It is also often assumed to be a religious practice. While mindfulness and yoga practices do have roots in Eastern religious beliefs, they are not religious practices, per se. You may, of course, combine your own religious practices or prayers as part of mindful meditation and yoga. But mindfulness has three components: 1) Intention—What is my goal for this practice? 2) Attention—choosing an anchor on which to focus attention. 3) Attitude—accepting that your mind will occasionally wander from your anchor and, with gentleness, guiding your thoughts back towards the anchor. Often, mindful meditation practices involve an attention to one’s breath as your anchor–noticing the rise and fall of the chest and abdomen with breathing. The goal is a focus on the present moment. When you notice your attention wandering, you shift your focus back to the anchor or present moment as many times as necessary and without judgment. In these practices, we recognize that our minds are made to think thoughts and will do so continuously. We are simply in the process of training our minds to maintain focus on a chosen anchor with less difficulty and for longer periods of time.
Gratitude as Mindfulness
One very simple and basic form of mindfulness is gratitude. During this holiday season when we are more focused on gratitude, consider making moments of gratitude a part of your daily routine. Then, continue this practice all year long! A gratitude journal is a great way to begin. Each day, take time to write down at least one thing (person, event, etc.) for which you are grateful. You will quickly find that there are multiple reasons for gratitude every day. When negative thoughts arise throughout the day, gently guide your thoughts back towards your gratitude journal and at least one thing in your life for which you are grateful. Keep your journal nearby to refresh your memory, if you need to.
Mindfulness
As you make mindfulness a part of your daily routine, you will notice many benefits. Mindfulness practices promote greater attention to the present moment, which helps with improving both attention and memory. They can also help with managing stress and this, in turn, may decrease the amount of pain that you experience. This mindset of gratitude isn’t a magic wand, but it can certainly allow you to potentially see greater benefit from all your therapies while also promoting the recovery towards which you are working. For more information about yoga and mindfulness for brain injury recovery, visit: Eye-Brain Academy, LLC. And, visit the Concussion Care Centre of Virginia to learn more about our post-concussion rehab services.
References
Love Your Brain Health. (2024). Health Professionals Training Manual.
Feng, Qiqi, Huang, Zhijian, Wang, Yanqiu, and Wang, Bin. (2024). The Effects of Mindfulness-Based Interventions on Symptoms of Mild Traumatic Brain Injury: A Systematic Review. International Journal of Mental Health Promotion 2024, 26(6), 417-428. https://doi.org/10.32604/ijmhp.2024.049010
What is Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction? 2024. https://www.mindfulleader.org/what-is-mbsr
