Can Virtual Reality Meditation Get You Closer to Mindfulness? I Tried It to Find Out

I’ve been meditating, off and on, for the past 14 years. The technique I learned in meditation class many years ago is old-school and austere: Find a place to sit, close your eyes, feel your feet on the floor, and focus on the in-and-out breath at the tip of your nose. No music, no mantras, just the moment-by-moment struggle of bringing your attention back to breathing every time your mind wanders away (which is just about every time you breathe). The point, and the challenge, is to train your mind to let go of distraction, to detach from thoughts, to simply “be here now.” 

Mindfulness meditation is a welcome (some say necessary) respite from the hustle and stress of modern life, and from the incessant pings, buzzes, and chimes of personal technology.

So I was intrigued when I received an invitation from the folks at Oculus, the virtual reality shop at Facebook, to test out the latest application for this booming technology: guided meditation. I wondered: If being mindful requires disengaging from the diversions of modern life, can we truly meditate while mind-melding with state-of-the-art computer processing power? Is it possible to “be here now” if that “here” is a digitally-synthesized someplace else?

At Oculus’ pop-up showroom in New York City, I was first given a quick tour of the capabilities of their high-end Rift system.  I was menaced by a life-size Tyrannosaurus Rex (cowering in virtual terror as the beast stomped past/through me) and dropped onto the ledge of an 80-story Times Square skyscraper (dropping reflexively to hands and knees and crawling backwards to safety). 

RELATED: A Meditation to Start Your Day

After the stress test warm up, I strapped on the Samsung Gear VR, for a downshift into Oculus’ meditation offerings.

The Guided Meditation VR app, developed by Cubicle Ninjas, gives you a choice of environment, voiceover, and chill-out music. I picked a fall foliage setting called “Autumnshade” to start, and the “Relaxation” audio track. 

The 360-degree view was splendid: Crisp brown leaves floated from trees between shafts of golden sunlight. In the narration, an English woman likened our thoughts to hummingbirds, and indeed, my mind was flitting from voice to scene (with multiple perspectives available at the push of a button) and back again, with nary a thought of my breath.

I switched to a tropical seaside setting (“Costa del Sol”), with waves sloshing on the shore, then toggled again to an icy mountain (“Snow Peak”): Blood red sky reflected in an iridescent blue lake. Somewhere behind me I heard a crunching sound, like the calving of icebergs (or the footfall of a hungry snow leopard). Each time I picked a new setting, the device asked me to press my finger to a sensor to measure my heart rate, part of the app’s biofeedback feature. I started out around 76 beats per minute, and hovered in that range throughout the experience.

RELATED: Wait, Congress Has a Meditation Guru?

I shifted one last time to a sunny bamboo grove (“Hanna Valley”), leaves swaying in a gentle breeze, a pagoda in the near distance. There was even a pudgy panda dozing on the rocks behind me to add to the snoozy vibe.

Now that I’d found a calm setting, I turned on the lulling “Loving Compassion” voiceover, which was much more conducive to  relaxation than the hummingbird talk, and more in keeping with my own experience practicing loving-kindness meditation. A voice urged me to think about a loved one with the following recitation:

May you be safe / May you be peaceful / May you be healthy / May you live with ease and wellbeing.

Good food for thought, yet I still found myself dazzled by the scenery, looking out and around rather than inward.

My Oculus friends urged me to try another app, so I dove into Perfect Beach, developed by nDreams, which offers a choice of four seaside views with an audio track. The most interesting feature here is that the app lets you select a lower torso (customizable by sex and skin tone) as part of your view, presumably to help you locate your floating head in the VR space. That idea makes sense, given that groundedness is one of the starting points of most any meditation practice, though I found it gave me yet one more thing to look at: undulating waves throwing flecks of golden sun, plus a pair of nicely tanned legs and muscular pecs, just below my line of sight. 

RELATED: Meditation Might Work Better than Painkillers for Chronic Low Back Pain

After an admittedly brief tour, I yanked off the headset and defogged my glasses. The verdict: Is virtual reality immersive?  Of course. Diverting? For sure. Is it relaxing? It would be, if you had enough time to steep in the experience.

Is it meditative? That’s a tough one, and it depends on one’s definition of meditation. If by “meditation” you mean getting outside of yourself for a few minutes to zone out, decompress, and escape, then virtual reality would do the trick. If you’re new to meditation, and don’t have access to a class or a teacher, and you’re looking to learn some of the basics of a guided practice like loving-kindess, an app like Guided Meditation VR (as a kind of jacked-up audio program) would help.

But if you’re trying to meditate in the more orthodox, hard-way-in style—to tune in rather than out; to be here, right now; to wake up into reality—you run into something of a conundrum. It seems that a technology that pries your eyes and ears wide open to absorb as much sensory input as possible is working at cross-purposes with a discipline that asks you to forgo distraction, to close your eyes and direct your attention inward.

RELATED: Memory Failing You? Study Suggests Meditation May Help

Oculus’ VR meditation is a fun trip, no doubt, but if I could design a setting, it might look and sound like the classroom where I first learned how to sit: careworn wood floors, mismatched chairs, a rattling air conditioner, with a teacher at the front of the room offering terse instruction and then… silence.  Maybe this dazzling technology, confident enough in its verisimilitude, could also be humble enough to slip into the background, so you’d have no qualms about missing out if you just closed your eyes, and tuned in to the real.

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One Big Interviewing Mistake You Should Try to Avoid

Say you’re in the running for your dream job, but it’s on the other side of the country. The higher-ups call you for a final interview, and give you a choice: You can video conference in, or fly out to meet with them face-to-face.

You might be tempted to choose the easier option that doesn’t involve travel or additional expenses. But it may be wise to make the trip: A new study suggests that in-person interviews tend to leave better impressions on both the hiring company and the candidate.

“We live in a world where we increasingly rely on technology, but this study reminds us that personal interactions should never be underestimated,” study co-author Nikki Blacksmith, a doctoral candidate at the George Washington University’s Department of Organizational Sciences and Communication, said in a press release. Blacksmith and her colleagues wanted to see how tools like telephone and video interviewing might affect overall decision making, so they analyzed the findings of 12 studies published between 2000 and 2007.

Their results, published Monday in the journal Personnel Assessment and Decisions, found that overall, technology-mediated interviews resulted in lower ratings—for both parties involved—than face-to-face interviews. Video interviews received the most negative rankings, followed by telephone and computer interviews.

Initially, the researchers assumed that these differences would have lessened over the years, as people became more accustomed to technology in the workplace. But they were surprised to find the opposite: The ratings were actually more negative in the later research. (They do point out, however, that even the most recent study took place seven years ago.)

“Considering the rate at which technology has changed, it is clear that we lack understanding of the modern interview,” the authors wrote.

Senior author Tara Behrend, PhD, director of the Workplaces and Virtual Environments Lab at George Washington University, says the study was not able to determine what, exactly, was wrong with technology-mediated interviews—but does offer a guess.

“On the phone I can’t shrug my shoulders, roll my eyes, wink, or nod my head to show that I understand,” she told RealSimple.com. “That means that the interviewer can easily misinterpret something I say.”

On top of that, she says, taking turns is harder in a video or phone setting. “The chance of accidentally interrupting the interviewer would be much higher,” says Behrend. “If you’re afraid of interrupting, then you might have a long awkward pause instead. Neither option is going to give the perception that you are a strong communicator.”

It’s also difficult to engage in what Behrend calls “impression management”—doing things to make the interviewer like you—when you’re not face-to-face with them. You might not be able to make friendly small talk or show that you’re attentive by smiling and sitting up straight if you’re on the phone or staring into a webcam, she says.

The problem is, many interviewees aren’t given a choice as to what kind of meeting they’ll have. If a company holds all of its interviews for a certain position the same way, the study authors say, then no one has an unfair advantage. But if some candidates are given in-person interviews and others aren’t, results are likely to be skewed. In fact, the study concludes, these findings could potentially open up companies with such hiring practices to lawsuits.

Behrend says that an important next step is finding a way to improve perceptions in video interactions. “There is plenty of popular advice out there about how to do well in a Skype interview,” she says. “For example, making eye contact is very tough online. But, you can configure your computer so that ‘eye contact’ with the camera happens more naturally.” (You can find our expert tips for acing a video interview—and other smart interview tips—here).

She hopes that by studying tips and techniques like these, researchers can help level the playing field—and give remote interviewers gain back a bit of their lost advantage.

This article originally appeared on RealSimple.com.

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This Is What Happens in Your Brain When You’re Hypnotized

THURSDAY, July 28, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Skeptics view hypnosis as a little-understood parlor trick, but a new study reveals real changes occur in the brain when a person enters an hypnotic state.

Some parts of the brain relax during the trance while others become more active, said study senior author Dr. David Spiegel, associate chair of psychiatry at the Stanford University School of Medicine.

“I hope this study will demonstrate that hypnosis is a real neurobiological phenomenon that deserves attention,” Spiegel said. “We haven’t been using our brains as well as we can. It’s like an app on your iPhone you haven’t used before, and it gets your iPhone to do all these cool things you didn’t know it could do.”

Hypnosis was the first Western form of psychotherapy, but little is known about how it actually works, the authors say.

Hoping to learn more, Spiegel and his colleagues selected 57 people for this study out of a pool of 545 potential participants. Thirty-six of the 57 displayed a high level of hypnotic susceptibility, while the other 21 did not appear to be very hypnotizable.

Using MRI, researchers measured the subjects’ brain activity by detecting changes in blood flow. Each was scanned while resting, when recalling a memory, and when exposed to a message intended to induce a hypnotic trance.

People highly susceptible to hypnosis experienced three distinct brain changes while hypnotized that weren’t present when they were out of the trance, the study reports. These changes weren’t detected in the brains of those with low hypnotic capability.

People in a trance experienced a decrease in activity in an area called the dorsal anterior cingulate, part of what’s called the brain’s salience network. “It helps us compare context and decide what is worth worrying about and what isn’t,” Spiegel said.

Hypnotized people also experienced an increase in connections between the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the insula. The prefrontal cortex helps us plan and carry out tasks, while the insula helps the mind connect with the body.

“In hypnosis, we know you can alter things like gastric acid secretion, heart rate, blood pressure and skin conductance,” Spiegel said. “Your brain is very good at controlling what’s going on in your body, and the insula is one of the pathways that does that.”

Finally, people in hypnosis also have reduced connections between the task-oriented dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the brain’s default mode network, a region most active when a person is daydreaming rather than focusing on the outside world.

This decrease in connectivity likely represents a disconnect between someone’s actions and their awareness of their actions, Spiegel said. Such a disassociation allows the hypnotic subject to engage in activities suggested by a hypnotist without becoming self-conscious of the activity.

Taken together, these brain changes match well-known outward effects caused by hypnosis, Spiegel said.

A hypnotized person is intensely focused but not worried about what they’re doing. They are not worried about evaluating instructions, but are simply following those instructions, and they have a more direct connection between their minds and the physical function of their bodies, he noted.

“This is the first time that we’ve shown what’s going on in the brain when a person is hypnotized,” Spiegel said. “This is a natural and normal brain function. It’s a technique that has evolved to enable us to do the routine things routinely, and deeply engage in the things that matter to us.”

Based on this knowledge, doctors might be able to enhance hypnotic response in ways that better help treat medical conditions, he said. Already, hypnosis has been proven to help people quit smoking or cope with pain and stress, the authors noted.

This study provides “important evidence” that could help convince skeptical patients of hypnosis’ potential benefits, said Guy Montgomery, who specializes in integrative behavioral medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City.

Dr. Alan Manevitz, a clinical psychiatrist with Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, agreed.

“Hypnosis has been around for a long time, but people have looked upon it as quackery,” Manevitz said. “This demonstrates it’s a legitimate neurobiological phenomenon, by revealing the brain activity that underlies the hypnotic state.”

However, Montgomery added that it will take further research to make this specific knowledge directly useful in daily medicine.

“How would I use this information to enhance procedures for patients?” he said. “I don’t really know.”

The study appears July 28 in the journal Cerebral Cortex.

More information

For more on hypnosis, visit the U.S. National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health.

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What Being Expected to Check Email After Work Does to Your Health

The Ice Bucket Challenge Helped Researchers Find a Key ALS Gene

It was two summers ago that our Facebook feeds were full of videos of friends and family dumping buckets of ice-cold water over their heads to raise money and awareness for ALS—Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis—also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. Now we can officially say that the social media stunt has made a real-world difference. 

The ALS Association announced this week that scientists have discovered a new ALS gene, NEK1, that’s one of the most common genes linked to the neurodegenerative disease, and a potential new target for treatment. This breakthrough research, published in the journal Nature Genetics, is part of Project MinE, which aims to sequence the genomes of 15,000 people with ALS—​an international effort that recieved $1 million in #IceBucketChallenge donations.

RELATED: The Story Behind the Ice Bucket Videos All Over Your Facebook Feed

“The sophisticated gene analysis that led to this finding was only possible because of the large number of ALS samples available,” said ALS Association chief scientist Lucie Bruijn, PhD, in a press release. “The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge enabled The ALS Association to invest in Project MinE’s work to create large biorepositories of ALS biosamples that are designed to allow exactly this kind of research and to produce exactly this kind of result.”

As the Ice Bucket Challenge began to sweep across the nation in 2014, it was criticized as a classic example of “slacktivism,” or activism that requires little actual effort (like signing an online petition, for example, or championing a cause in your Facebook status). 

But in just eight weeks, donations to the ALS Association climbed to $115 million and generated worldwide awareness and support for people affected by the debilitating disease. Since that summer, researchers from all over the globe have identified several ALS genes thanks to funding from the ALS Association that resulted from the viral challenge.

RELATED: Why Everyone on Facebook Is Taking the #22Pushups Challenge

John Landers, PhD, one of the lead researchers on the new study called the discovery of NEK1 "a prime example of the success that can come from the combined efforts of so many people, all dedicated to finding the causes of ALS.“

This August, the ALS Association is launching a new campaign to generate funds and awareness. Visit the site to learn more about Every Drop Adds Up.

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The Sneaky Early Signs of Dementia You Should Know About

Very early dementia may cause changes in personality and behavior—in ways that have nothing to do with memory loss, according to researchers who presented at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in Toronto on Sunday.

Older adults who have become uncharacteristically sad, irritable, anxious, rude, or disinterested in friends or family—and who have been that way for at least six months—could be exhibiting warning signs, they say.

The group of experts is proposing a new diagnosis, called Mild Behavioral Impairment (MBI), which could hopefully help doctors recognize brain changes that may lead to neurodegenerative conditions like Alzheimer’s disease. Identifying this progression sooner, they say, might help to pave the way for earlier treatments and better care for at-risk patients.

Along with the new diagnosis, the team also designed an “MBI Checklist” for doctors, which looks at behaviors involving the patient’s mood, level of motivation, impulse control, social appropriateness, and sensory experiences. Caregivers may also be able to use a version of the checklist once it’s finalized.

The checklist asks 34 questions about qualities that many people may recognize in the older adults in their lives. It suggests that doctors consider any behavior that has “been present for at least six months (continuously, or on and off) and is a change from her/his longstanding pattern of behavior.”

A few of these questions include:

• “Does the person lack curiosity in topics that would usually have attracted her/his interest?”

• “Has the person become more easily frustrated or impatient?”

• “Does the person seem to lack the social judgment she/he previously had about what to say or how to behave in public or private?”

• “Has the person developed suspiciousness about the intentions or motives of other people?”

Maria C. Carrillo, PhD, chief science officer, Alzheimer’s Association, said in a press release that the new checklist could help change the way doctors evaluate patients for possible early dementia.

“Alzheimer’s is a deadly brain disease, and while memory loss is a hallmark of the disease, early symptoms such as anxiety, confusion and disorientation are often more common, troubling, and obvious to family members,” she said.

It is important to note, however, that not every older adult who becomes cranky or loses interest in certain activities is on the road to dementia. And some experts do worry, the New York Times reports, that making MBI an official condition could lead to over-diagnosis, expensive and unnecessary treatments, and needless worry for patients and their loved ones.

Zahinoor Ismail, MD, a neuropsychiatrist at the University of Calgary and co-author of the proposed guidelines, says more research is required before the diagnosis and checklist can be put into practice.

“We are still in the very early stages of understanding this new syndrome,” he tells RealSimple.com. “Clinical trials still need to be set up to see if treating patients identified earlier this way makes a difference in terms of the time on onset of dementia.”

He is hopeful, however, that patients identified with MBI will be monitored more closely by their doctors; previously they might have been ignored.

And while patients and concerned family members shouldn’t jump to conclusions or self-diagnose, he does believe that a shift in a person’s mental or emotional state is worth checking out.

“Yes, later life changes in personality should be brought up with one’s doctor,” he says.

The new checklist isn’t the only exciting news coming out of the Alzheimer’s Association conference this week. Additional new and novel ways the disease may soon be detected earlier have been proposed, as well.

For example, University of Waterloo scientists unveiled a non-invasive eye-scan technology that may help recognize dementia-specific proteins in the brain before a person develops symptoms. And a team from Columbia University reported that a scratch-and-sniff smell identification test might also be useful in predicting cognitive decline.

This article originally appeared on RealSimple.com.

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Does Dementia Diagnosis Have Silver Lining for Some?

TUESDAY, July 26, 2016 (HealthDay News) – Is it possible that a diagnosis as devastating as dementia could have some positive effects?

Yes, a small study suggests.

Researchers asked 48 people with early dementia or mild cognitive impairment to complete a questionnaire that measured their quality of life and personal outlook after getting their diagnosis.

The “Silver Lining Questionnaire” was designed to measure how much patients believe their illness has a positive impact in areas such as: relationships, appreciation for life, positive influence on others, inner strength and life philosophy.

The questionnaire has been used before with cancer patients. But, this was the first time it was used with dementia/mild cognitive impairment patients, the researchers said.

“The overall assumption is that this diagnosis would have a uniformly negative impact on a patient’s outlook on life, but we were surprised to find that almost half of respondents reported positive scores,” said study author Dr. Gregory Jicha, a professor at the Sanders-Brown Center on Aging at the University of Kentucky.

The patients in the study had high scores on areas such as: appreciation and acceptance of life; less concern about failure; self-reflection, tolerance of others, and courage to face problems in life; stronger relationships and new opportunities to meet people.

“The common stereotype for this type of diagnosis is depression, denial and despair,” Jicha said in a university news release.

“However, this study – while small – suggests that positive changes in attitude are as common as negative ones,” he said.

The study was to be presented Monday at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in Toronto. Findings presented at meetings are generally viewed as preliminary until they’ve been published in a peer-reviewed journal.

The next phase in this research is to determine the factors that led some dementia patients to see the positive in their diagnosis. That information can likely be used to help other patients, the researchers said.

More information

The Alzheimer’s Association has more on dementia.

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