Biography

Jud Brewer, MD, Ph.D. (“Dr. Jud”) is a New York Times bestselling author and thought leader in the field of habit change and the “science of self-mastery,” who blends over 20 years of experience with mindfulness training and a career in scientific research. He is passionate about understanding how our brains work, and how to use that knowledge to help people make deep, permanent change in their lives — with the goal of reducing suffering in the world at large.

Dr. Jud is the director of research and innovation at Brown University’s Mindfulness Center, where he also serves as an associate professor in Behavioral and Social Sciences at the School of Public Health and Psychiatry at the School of Medicine at Brown University. Additionally, he is the executive medical director of behavioral health at Sharecare, the digital health company helping people manage all their health in one place, and a research affiliate at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Previously, Dr. Jud held research and teaching positions at Yale University and the University of Massachusetts’ Center for Mindfulness. Read more about his research.

Habit Change, Made Simple

As a psychiatrist and internationally known expert in mindfulness training for treating addictions, Dr. Jud has developed and tested novel mindfulness programs for habit change, including both in-person and app-based treatments for anxiety, emotional eating, and smoking (Unwinding AnxietyEat Right Now and Craving to Quit).

Based on the success of these programs in the lab, he co-founded MindSciences, Inc. to create app-based digital therapeutic versions of these programs for a wider audience, working with individuals, corporations, and health systems to put effective, evidence-based behavior change guidance in the hands of people struggling with unwanted behaviors and “everyday addictions.” Sharecare, Inc. acquired MindSciences in 2020.

Modern Science, Ancient Wisdom

Dr. Jud has also studied the underlying neural mechanisms of mindfulness using standard and real-time fMRI and EEG neurofeedback, adding to the understanding of the brain’s “Default Mode Network” and the role of the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) in self-referential thinking.  He regularly gives talks on the intersection of modern science and ancient meditative practices, helping to expose a modern audience to specific techniques and insights first discovered 2,500 years ago.

He has published numerous peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, trained US Olympic athletes and coaches, foreign government ministers and corporate leaders. His work has been featured on 60 Minutes, TED, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Today Show, TIME, The Washington Post, Forbes, CNN, BBC, NPR, and more.

His work has been funded by the National Institutes of Health and American Heart Association, among others.

He is the author of The Craving Mind: From Cigarettes to Smartphones to Love, Why We Get Hooked and How We Can Break Bad Habits (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2017) and the New York Times best-seller, Unwinding Anxiety: New Science Shows How to Break the Cycles of Worry and Fear to Heal Your Mind (Avery/Penguin Random House, 2021).

Dr. Jud and his wife Mahri live in Massachusetts where they enjoy biking, hiking, and meditating with their cats, Samson, Ananda and Julian of Norwich.

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A simple way to break a bad habit

Can we break bad habits by being more curious about them? Psychiatrist Judson Brewer studies the relationship between mindfulness and addiction — from smoking to overeating to all those other things we do even though we know they’re bad for us. Learn more about the mechanism of habit development and discover a simple but profound tactic that might help you beat your next urge to smoke, snack or check a text while driving.

We are all vulnerable to craving. Whether it’s a compulsion to constantly check social media, binge eat, smoke, excessively drink, or any other behavior, we may find ourselves uncontrollably repeating. Why are bad habits so hard to overcome? In 2014 Time magazine declared a “mindful revolution” due to its growing popularity and growing body of research suggesting that mindfulness may help to treat a number of health-related problems from smoking to stress eating to anxiety. However, little is known about the underlying psychological mechanisms and related brain processes. Dr. Brewer will discuss recent evidence that helps to unravel these mysteries drawing from both clinical studies and brain imaging research, and how these insights might apply to our own lives.

In 2014 Time magazine declared a “mindful revolution” due to its growing popularity and growing body of research suggesting that mindfulness may help to treat a number of health-related problems from general stress eating to anxiety to addiction. However, little is known about the underlying psychological mechanisms and related brain processes. Dr. Brewer will discuss recent evidence that helps to unravel these mysteries drawing from both clinical studies and more basic neuroimaging research involving novice and experienced meditators, and how these insights might apply to our own lives.

Craving

We are all vulnerable to craving. Whether it’s a compulsion to constantly check social media, overeat, smoke, excessively drink, or any other behavior, we may find ourselves uncontrollably repeating. Why are bad habits so hard to overcome? Can we learn how our minds work, and even tap into this very process to find a key to conquer the cravings we know are unhealthy for us and foster our natural capacities for awareness and kindness?

Drawing on his clinical work, research studies and development of next-generation therapeutics for habit change, Dr. Brewer will discuss the underlying behavioral and neurobiological mechanisms of why habits are formed and how mindfulness can paradoxically tap into these very processes to uproot them. He will also discuss how we can apply these insights to our own lives.

Habit

How do habits form, and why are they so hard to break? In 2014 Time magazine declared a “mindful revolution” due to its growing popularity and research suggesting that mindfulness may help to treat a number of health-related problems from anxiety to addiction. However, little is known about how (and how well) it works. In this talk, Dr. Brewer, a world-renowned expert in behavior change, will map how our minds form habits, and how we can use mindfulness training to hack this same learning process to break out of unhealthy habits ranging from emotional eating to anxiety. He will highlight the scientific research underlying behavior change using examples from clinical studies of app-based mindfulness training for smoking (Craving to Quit), eating (Eat Right Now) and anxiety (Unwinding Anxiety), as well as brain imaging studies from his lab. He will also show how we can tap into our reward-based learning systems to build our natural capacities of awareness, kindness, and curiosity.

Resilience

Resilience seems to be a buzzword today –yes we all want to be better at bouncing back from adversity. In the medical field, this can be especially relevant due to high rates of empathy fatigue and physician burnout. Yet, how can we learn to become more resilient? Judson Brewer MD PhD is a thought leader in the “science of self-mastery,” having combined over 20 years of experience with mindfulness training with his scientific research therein. He has developed digital therapeutics for anxiety (www.unwindinganxiety.com) that in clinical trials have show significant reduction in physician anxiety in burnout. In this seminar you will learn the science underlying how we trip ourselves up, and how we can regain our balance more quickly. You will also get pragmatic tips and practices that you can use to become more resilient in your everyday life -both professionally and personally.

How the mind works

How does the mind work? Debate and research ranges from philosophical to practical, yet from a pragmatic perspective, we are all creatures of habit. Whether it’s a compulsion to constantly check social media, binge eat, smoke, excessively drink, or any other behavior, we may find ourselves habitually repeating. Why are bad habits so hard to overcome? Can we learn how our minds work, and even tap into this very process to find a key to conquer the habits we know are unhealthy for us and open our natural capacities to learn and grow? Can these insights be used to overcome self-generated or self-imposed hurdles that prevent us from being authentic agents of change (coaches, teachers, clinicians etc)? Dr. Brewer, a world-renowned expert in behavior change, will map how our minds form habits, and how we can use mindfulness training to hack this same learning process to break out of unhealthy habits ranging from emotional eating to anxiety. He will explore recent evidence that helps to unravel these mysteries drawing from his clinical experience, translational studies and more basic neuroimaging research. By helping us map our own minds, he will describe why habits form and simple ways that we can break unhealthy ones ranging from smartphones to stress eating and even anxiety. He will also show how we can use these to build our natural capacities of awareness, kindness, and curiosity.

Performance

For decades athletes have pursued the elusive “flow state,” in which performance is at a peak and self-conscious performance anxiety is non-existent. Yet, surprisingly little is known about what flow is, how to tap into it consistently, and what gets in the way. Dr. Brewer, a world-renowned expert in behavior change, will map how our minds form habits that get in the way (e.g. anxiety), and how we can use mindfulness training to hack this same learning process to break out of unhealthy habits and move toward flow. He will explore recent evidence that helps to unravel these mysteries drawing from his clinical experience, translational studies and more basic neuroscience research. He will also show how we can use these to build our natural capacities of awareness, kindness, and curiosity.

Eating

Stress emotional and mindless eating play a heavy role in setting up and perpetuating unhealthy eating habits. Why? These may be tapping into the same reward-based learning processes that evolved to help us remember where food is -and in modern day are hijacked by both chemical and behavioral addictions (including eating). My lab has studied the addictive process, and how mindfulness targets key links in reward-based learning to help people change their relationships to their vices, including smoking and eating. In this seminar, I will unpack how addictive behavior is formed, how mindfulness specifically helps us change eating habits, and the research we are currently undertaking to study the efficacy and mechanism of digital therapeutic platforms for stress and emotional eating.

Hack your mind for better health

We are creatures of habit. We often find ourselves repeating habits uncontrollably, whether constantly worrying, checking social media, stress eating, or getting caught up in other self-defeating behaviors that lead to burnout and disconnect us from ourselves and others.

Why are bad habits so hard to overcome? When and how does willpower fail? Are there a key to conquering the cravings we know are unhealthy for us? Can we hack our brain’s learning circuitry to break bad habits, and cultivate behaviors and mindstates that support our health and happiness? Join us for a unique experiential workshop on the science of habit change taught by Judson Brewer MD PhD, psychiatrist and neuroscientist, and mindfulness teacher. Through a combination of conceptual learning and direct experiential exercises, this workshop will teach practical tools for anyone looking to bring together a deep understanding of how their mind works with tangible tools for habit change.

Booksby Dr. Jud Brewer

The Hunger Habit

Unwinding Anxiety

The Craving Mind

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