Mindfulness e potenziamento neurocognitivo nel life span: dall’età giovanile all’early ageing in contesti manageriali

[Autom. eng. transl.] Mindfulness practices have raised the interest of neuroscience regarding the effects on stress reduction and cognitive functioning. The present study aims to evaluate the effects of a neurocognitive empowerment training in life span, comparing over-50 managers with a sample of young students, populations that usually require a daily cognitive effort and high stress management. Over-50 managers and young students carried out a two-week training consisting of a wearable device of daily mindfulness practices. An active control group, on the other hand, carried out a meditation course without the aid of the wearable device. For the evaluation of the efficacy two evaluation phases were compared, before and after the training. In each, cortical and autonomic activity were measured in resting-state and task / related conditions, completing the cognitive assessment through behavioral, neuropsychological and psychometric measures. The results show training effectiveness in terms of decreased anxiety levels in both groups compared to controls, while perceived stress and fatigue especially in the over-50 band. The effectiveness of the training is also reflected by greater cardiac variability, ie by focus and control of the arousal in stressful conditions compared to the control group; this is more evident in students, who also experience a decrease in response times to attention performance. From the point of view of brain activation, managers have a greater increase in the alpha / beta and alpha block index, indicating a balance between relaxation and activation and greater reactivity of the brain system. This training can therefore be useful for cognitive empowerment and stress management covering a wide age range, up to the prevention of cognitive impairment.