Summary

The DMN or Default Mode Network is a circuit in the human brain. This circuit can help us to change and it can contribute to mental distress. We have the ability to manage our Default Mode Network. One action we can take to manage the DMN is to learn a mindfulness practice. I discussed mindfulness in a previous post. Practicing being in the moment is an example of being mindful. By working on a mindfulness exercise, we develop new connections in our brain. This can contribute to our mental wellbeing.

Mental Wellbeing and the DMN (Default Mode Network)

The Default Mode Network (DMN) and Mental Wellbeing

Today’s post focuses on an aspect of the human brain, the Default Mode Network. You will not find this network in one structure of the brain. As its name implies, the Default Mode Network straddles many areas of the brain to create a circuit. That neurocircuit is crucial in allowing us to think and to conceive who we are, how we identify ourselves and how we conceptualize ourselves in relation to other people.

Let’s explore the connection between mental wellbeing and the DMN.

Why the Default Mode Network is Important to Mental Health

You may be thinking: what does the Default Mode Network have to do with mental health? It is a circuit relevant to thinking not emotion.

The thoughts in my head can affect my emotions. Agreed?

My interactions with others can affect my emotions. Agreed?

By deduction, without even knowing anything more about the Default Mode Network, the thoughts I have related to my identity and my relationships with the world can affect my emotions. The emotions I feel contribute to my mental health, my mental wellbeing.

Maybe further exploration is worthwhile.

Default Mode Network (DMN) Defined

Think of a time when you were doing nothing. Perhaps you had just finished mowing the lawn and you were sitting on the stoop in front of your apartment building or house. Recall staring into the distance and noticing your body relaxing from the exercise of mowing. And, the thoughts in your head started flowing, beyond your conscious control.

Sensory input from the outside world takes a back seat as our mind wanders.

The human brain at rest has an active Default Mode Network. The mind wanders. You daydream. Thoughts just pop into your head. The brain at rest is not an inactive brain. The time the brain spends engaging in internal thoughts, disengaged from the outside world, constitutes about 50% of the time we spend thinking.

Take a moment and listen to Episode 7 of the podcast, The Social Brain, from The Cellular Republic channel. The presenters, Andrew Cooper-Sansone and Taylor Guthrie, explore the Default Mode Network from the neuroscientific perspective:

The Default Mode Network: Integrating the Past, Present, and Future (The Social Brain, Episode 7) December 2022. The Cellular Republic.

Mental Wellbeing: An Interaction of Networks in the Brain

The DMN (Default Mode Network) does not operate in a vacuum. It interacts with other networks in the brain.

When the Default Mode Network’s activity is tuned down, other networks tune up their activity. When the human brain gradually decreases its preoccupation with internal thinking and becomes more engaged in the world, the brain starts to experience the world in the present moment. By living in the present, my brain is less inclined to critique myself and others.

I become Present. In the moment. I am part of the Present. I become less consumed with my past and less anxious about my future.

Rumination Based in the Default Mode Network

Rumination is the act of repetitive thinking, often with a negative flavour, reviewing and assessing our interactions with others, how we could have acted differently, what we did wrong.

Rumination allows us to reflect and explore situations from a different perspective. Rumination may permit us to rectify damage we caused by our actions or simulate how someone else perceived an interaction we had with someone.

If rumination dominates the activity of the brain under the influence of the DMN (Default Mode Network), by default, pun intended, the Default Mode Network affects our mental wellbeing.

Ruminating thought processes can cripple us.

Consider the citation from Kierkegaard in the above episode of The Social Brain: Anxiety is the Dizziness of Freedom. Too much freedom of our minds leads to DMN (Default Mode Network) activity creating anxiety. Anxiety may not meet the criteria for a diagnosis of a disorder AND anxiety is part of the human condition. Anxiety can and does affect our functioning.

And, we can stop the ruminative tendencies. More on that in the next section.

Interventions to Manage the Default Mode Network

We can achieve mental wellbeing by harnessing the activity of the (DMN) Default Mode Network. The Default Mode Network and mental health walk hand in hand in a human being’s life. Rumination need not monopolize our minds and stymie our lives.

Research has shown that mindfulness techniques can alter our Default Mode Network.

Practicing being in the moment fosters neuroplasticity in our brain. We are working the “muscle” of the brain. Our brain starts creating new connections. Such a lovely bidirectional image: creating new connections based on changed behaviours. Those connections allow us to change some of our other behaviours.

Takeaways for Mental Wellbeing

Mental wellbeing can be achieved by harnessing the powers of the DMN.

The (DMN) Default Mode Network is part of the human brain’s operations. The Default Mode Network allows us to reflect on our behaviours. The Default Mode Network’s activity can contribute to mental health distress and its activity can be harnessed to foster mental wellbeing.

Be present. Be kind to yourself. Be connected to the world, in the moment. Be an active participant in changing yourself for the better.

We can all make this a better world by being aware, connected, and committed to change.

Disclaimer: The content of this post is not a substitute for a consultation with your health care providers. Do not stop taking your medications without consulting the prescriber of the medications.

Additional resources:

Default Mode Network, Meditation, and Age-Associated Brain Changes: What Can We Learn from the Impact of Mental Training on Well-Being as a Psychotherapeutic Approach? Ramirez-Barrantes et al, April 2019, Hindawi. https://www.hindawi.com/journals/np/2019/7067592/

The subsystem mechanism of default mode network underlying rumination: A reproducible neuroimaging study. Chen et al, November 2020, 221, NeuroImage. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053811920306716#sec0026