A mindful approach to the year: will your brain thank you for it?

Now that the champagne has long gone flat and New Year’s celebrations are a distant memory, it is time to turn your thoughts to the months ahead. Just as in previous years, the most popular resolutions for 2018 concern health-related habits and behaviours such as eating better, exercising more, getting more sleep, learning a new skill, finding a new hobby and making new friends. Neuroscientists at the University of Oxford are writing a series of blog posts about how the brain works in an attempt to answer the many questions submitted by members of the public to The Big Brain Competition , part of the Brain Diaries exhibition. The first posts explored what we know about the benefits of physical and social activity, and the right amount of sleep for the brain, as well as how changes in the brain allow you to learn a new skill. But what do we know about the effects of mindfulness meditation and yoga on the brain? Could it be that taking up or continuing with one of these fashionable practices in 2018 will benefit your brain?