Mindfulness for what ails us with Jon Kabat-Zinn

Naps for the win

View this email online March 10, 2024 by Andrea Muraskin This week: If you’ve ever taken a mindfulness workshop, or even heard the term, that’s likely thanks to Jon Kabat-Zinn, a researcher who’s been teaching meditation and awareness-based practices in the United States for over 40 years. NPR spoke with him about how mindfulness can affect social change. Plus: Naps are not just for toddlers. Here’s how to get the most out of your siesta. And: Age discrimination in health care, and what we can do about it.  A leading mindfulness teacher shares insights to counter tech addiction and isolation D Dipasupil/Getty Images Seinfeld watchers might remember Elaine's on-again-off-again boyfriend “Puddy,” a good-looking guy who came off as something of a meat-head. Indeed it was Puddy's meat-headedness that usually triggered a breakup. In one episode, Elaine and Puddy are on an airplane. Elaine cracks open a book, while Puddy stares peacefully in front of him. “Do you want something to read?” Elaine asks. “No, I’m good.” says Puddy. Elaine: “Are you gonna take a nap? Puddy: “Nah.” A few seconds of silence go by, and Elaine explodes: “That’s it! I cannot take this!”  Watching this scene recently, I had a very different reaction to Puddy’s behavior. “How at peace he looks,” I thought. “Good for him, practicing mindfulness.” But I bet if I'd been watching in the 90s, I wouldn’t have thought to admire a person staring at the back of an airplane seat.  The mainstreaming of meditation and mindfulness techniques in the West is the life’s work of Jon Kabat-Zinn. As a researcher at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in 1979, he adapted Zen Buddhist practices to create a secular approach to meditation – which involves learning to maintain awareness in the body in the present moment. In the decades that followed, his scientific studies, teachings and books grew into a movement – now active in hundreds of hospitals and medical centers – to use meditation and mindfulness in mainstream medical care.    NPR's Pien Huang recently spoke with Kabat-Zinn about how mindfulness can extend beyond individual self-improvement – and affect social change. In this interview, Kabat-Zinn discusses the revolutionary nature of the U.S. Surgeon General recording guided meditations for an app, and how mindfulness combats loneliness by teaching you how to be alone with yourself. Also, he says, cultivating a “default mode of awareness” can increase compassion for others and decrease the sense of disconnection we get from technology.  Read Kabat-Zinn’s insights and try his six-minute guided meditation here.  Plus: What does mindfulness really mean? subscriberid%%--> Newsletter continues after sponsor message How to take a refreshing nap (without ending up more tired) Klaus Vedfelt/Getty Images When I was in nursery school I dreaded nap time. Lying on a gym mat, I was full of indignation and never even a little bit sleepy. I still remember my gratitude when my parents switched me from nap time to free play time. As an adult though, I would choose nap time every time, and I usually do. Jade Wu is a sleep medicine specialist and the author of the book Hello Sleep says naps are like “a performance-enhancing drug, without the drug,” with a host of benefits from emotional regulation to physical stamina. (As a person with chronic pain, I’ll add that taking an afternoon nap allows my back to relax and acts as an analgesic for the rest of the work day). But falling into a snooze during the day can have a negative effect on health if it leads to not being able to get to sleep at night. Plus a nap where you're groggy afterward just feels like a waste.  Once again our friends at NPR’s Life Kit are here to help us live our best lives, or take our best naps. Reporter Andee Tagle spoke with experts about how to nap so you wake up refreshed and still get your 7-9 hours in overnight – or whenever you do your main sleeping. And they say even if you can’t fall asleep, everyone can benefit from a half an hour of quiet rest during the day. (I’m sure Jon Kabat-Zinn would agree). Here’s how to take the perfect nap. Also: These 6 tips can help you skip the daylight saving time hangover Stand behind independent journalism, cultural discovery, and intelligent discourse by supporting the NPR Network. Your donation fuels unbiased reporting, diverse perspectives, and insightful conversations that shape our community, our nation, our world. Join us in fostering a more informed public by contributing today and ensuring a future where trustworthy information thrives. Donate Now Ageism in health care is more common than you might think, and it can harm people D Dipasupil/Getty Images Geriatrics professor Dr. Louise Aronson says in the med school where she teaches, students only learn about older adults for two weeks out of the four-year curriculum. That might seem odd, considering humans naturally require more health care as we age. Aronson wrote the book Elderhood to call attention to ageism in health care and society, and offer another way.  "There are things...that happen again and again and again because we don't teach [physicians] how to care about older people as fully human, and when they get old enough to appreciate it, they're already retired," says Aronson. Older adults report experiences including having a concern dismissed by a provider because "it's to be expected at your age,” being prescribed more medications than necessary, and having a doctor assume that someone else – like an adult child – is making health care decisions for them.  But as Ashley Milne-Tyte reports, some in the medical community are working to center the needs and desires of seniors in their own care. One such initiative, Age-Friendly Health Systems, works with thousands of health care sites to prioritize mobility, cognitive function and the desires of older patients.  Learn more about solutions to ageism. Plus: These pros help keep ailing, aging loved ones safe — but it's a costly service   Before you go: (Clockwise from upper left): Light Oriye for NPR; Chiara Negrello for NPR; Rajaâ Khenoussi for NPR; Jjumba Martin for NPR; Debsuddha Banerjee for NPR; Debsuddha Banerjee for NPR; Maíra Erlich for NPR What to know about the political debate around daylight saving time First over-the-counter birth control pill heads to stores 'All of Us' research project diversifies the storehouse of genetic knowledge Trader Joe's recalls its chicken soup dumplings for possibly containing plastic PHOTOS: What it's like to be 72 — the faces (and wisdom) behind the age We hope you enjoyed these stories. Find more of NPR's health journalism online. Mindfully yours, Andrea Muraskin and your NPR Health editors Listen to your local NPR station. Visit NPR.org to hear live radio from WUFT 89.1 (edit station). What do you think of today's email? 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