How Does Mindfulness Improve Your Health?
Mindfulness is a natural, age old practice that has been proven, in recent years, to dramatically improve both physical and mental health. It started as a Buddhist practice 2,600 years ago, but and has become an increasingly popular concept in psychotherapy today (to learn about Buddhism, click here). But first, what exactly is mindfulness?
Mindfulness is the ability to be fully present in the moment. It’s a state of mind where you focus on your awareness of the moment, and your immediate feelings and thoughts. Its being aware of what you are doing, and where you are, without reacting too much to, or being overwhelmed by, what is going on around you.
It means that if you are working, you focus on the task on hand. For example, when you are eating, you focus on the flavors, the warmth and the textures of your food. And when you talk with someone, you focus solely and intently on your conversation.
Mindfulness benefits your health in many ways. Here are some of the many benefits:
Mindfulness Benefits Your Mental Well-Being
- Mindfulness has been proven in studies to reduces stress. In fact, there are several Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction programs that you can participate in with a guide, or on your own. To learn about 25 Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Exercises and Courses, click here.
- Mindfulness reduces rumination, which is a negative state of rehashing or reliving your past. It helps you redirect your thoughts gently to the present, which can prevent a downward thought spiral, and immediately enhances your well-being.
- Mindfulness improves your body’s ability to deal with illness, by reducing stress. And by reducing stress, Mindfulness helps keep your immune system stronger, which helps prevent illness.
- Mindfulness helps to control symptoms of depression by helping people regulate their emotions. By practicing mindfulness, you are able to more effectively step back from disempowering emotions. You can then more effectively identify your emotions and acknowledge them, without fighting them.
Physical Benefits of Mindfulness
- Mindfulness has been found to enhance general health in a number of ways. It helps indirectly by increasing your awareness of your state of health, and causing you to take actions to improve it.
This includes, for example, using your seat belt, not jay-walking, getting regular health check-ups, and improving your eating habits. The positive impact is less injuries from accidents, avoidance or early detection of health issues, and maintaining a healthy weight. - Mindfulness directly impacts your health by keeping you more in tune with ongoing health practices such as drinking less alcohol, or reducing the use of drugs or medications that can damage your organs and degrade your health.
- Mindfulness leads to lower blood pressure because it helps you stop reacting to what is going on around you, and become more peaceful. With mindfulness you are aware of events unfolding, but can watch them happen, and choose to respond in a more positive way. This can prevent you having a stressful and regrettable, impulsive or negative knee-jerk reaction to an uncomfortable event.
Spiritual Benefits of Mindfulness
Mindfulness helps the you notice, appreciate and enjoy everything around you more. Like beautiful wild flowers along the roadside, a fresh cup of hot coffee, the company of a special friend, and even the warmth of your bed. And with increased appreciation, comes increased gratitude.
Benefits of Mindfulness at Work
- The ability to focus is a great advantage at work. With mindfulness, you can focus better on each task at hand, and perform your work more efficiently and without disruption.
- Because mindfulness improves your work performance, it can also have financial benefits when your performance is valued recognized with a raise.
This article from the American Psychological Association provides a comprehensive list of studies related to the various benefits of mindfulness:
In our next article we’ll discuss tips on how to begin your mindfulness exercises and share some tools that are available to help you engage and maintain your mindfulness practice.
