The power of mindfulness
Research shows that mindfulness can deliver a wide spectrum of impressive health benefits. In this article, I explain these benefits and how they have manifested in my own life.
1) Mental health
Mindfulness can improve:
Emotional intelligence (EQ): Mindfulness increases grey matter concentration in brain areas related to self-referential processing (self-awareness), emotional regulation, and ability to have perspective (empathy). These are the key skills of EQ.
Depression: Mindfulness reduces depression symptoms and prevents the development of depression symptoms.
Anxiety: Mindfulness reduces anxiety and mood disorders.
2) Physical health
Mindfulness can improve:
Ageing: Mindfulness has a beneficial effect on our DNA telomere length, which has been linked to cellular ageing.
Stress response: Mindfulness reduces our reactivity to stress, making our stressful experiences less intense and more short-lived.
Blood pressure: Mindfulness lowers blood pressure and risks of heart attacks and strokes, by reducing stress and promoting calmness and relaxation.
Sleep: Mindfulness lessens the time needed to fall asleep and enhances sleep quality, by reducing stress.
Immunity: Mindfulness boosts our immunity, by reducing stress.
3) Brain health
Mindfulness can improve:
Creative thinking: Mindfulness increases out-of-the-box and flexible thinking.
Learning and memory: Mindfulness increases grey matter concentration in areas of the brain involved in learning and memory processes.
Concentration: Mindfulness enhances the ability to sustain attention, to perform under stress, visuospatial processing, and other cognitive skills.
Processing: Seasoned meditators have been shown to process information and make decisions more quickly.
4) Spiritual health
While anyone can practise it, there is a reason mindfulness has its roots in Buddhist meditations and practices. The spiritual benefits of mindfulness can be very significant (but may take time to realise):
Purpose: A deep sense of being and meaning in life.
Wisdom: More insights into our inner worlds and possibly a state of enlightenment.
Contentment: A lasting sense of inner peace.
Intuition: Better 'gut feeling'.
At its core, mindfulness means being aware of our own sensations, thoughts and emotions, without judgement. It is a type of meditation that has been researched and shown to be able to deliver wide-ranging health benefits.
While some benefits can be realised immediately, others may take work, time and patience to fully materialise (but there are ways to speed it up).
I) The Research
The following is not an exhaustive list of mindfulness benefits. Sources are at the end of the article.
II) My Experience
Since I started practising mindfulness in 2013, it has and continues to gradually transform all facets of my life for the better by making me more:
1) Resilient
Mindfulness helps me process my emotional experiences, from day-to-day incidents to childhood traumas. Mindfulness does this by building up my capacity to be aware of my emotions and my capacity to be comfortable experiencing these emotions, particularly difficult ones such as fear, sadness and anger.
Moreover, mindfulness helps me meet my own emotional needs. Everyone has ongoing emotional needs, including the need to feel understood, to express ourselves, to have fun etc. Mindfulness increases my ability to identify which needs aren't met so I can take steps to rectify it.
2) Confident
As I process emotional experiences and meet my emotional needs on a consistent basis, I start to understand myself better, discover new things about my life, accept my strengths and my flaws, and start to develop empathy for myself.
Over time, I start to appreciate myself and love myself more, making me more comfortable in my own skin and helping me lead a more authentic life.
3) Connected
As I become more familiar with my inner world, I naturally become more curious about other people’s worlds and how they live life. I start to see more from their eyes and have more empathy for their experiences.
This allows me to emotionally connect with them more easily and deeply, and improves my social awareness. Ultimately, this improves my relationships with families, friends, colleagues, dates and others.
4) Motivated
As I become more familiar with my inner world, I naturally start to focus on things that I can control. I adopt the mindset ‘I can make things happen’, instead of waiting for things to happen for me. This keeps me very motivated to achieve my goals related to health, relationships and career.
Moreover, after being burned out a few times, I also learn how to stay motivated through self-care by celebrating wins, practising gratitude, and having fun.
5) Grounded
I started doing mindfulness because it's a powerful counter for stress and panic attacks. Now, a decade later, mindfulness has done so much more.
And yet, the reason I started doing it in the first place is still the most important reason: Mindfulness helps me stay in the present, where life is.
I hope you've found the article useful. Anyone can practise mindfulness, at any time and any where. You can start your journey today, where you are. Book your free call with me!
III) Sources
1) Mental health benefits
F. Raes et al., School-Based Prevention and Reduction of Depression in Adolescents: A Cluster-Randomized Controlled Trial of a Mindfulness Group Program, 2014.
A. J. Arias et al., Systematic Review of the Efficacy of Meditation Techniques as Treatments for Medical Illness, 2006.
K. W. Chen et al., Meditative therapies for reducing anxiety: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials, 2012.
B. K. Hölzel et al., Mindfulness practice leads to increases in regional brain gray matter density, 2011.
J. D. Creswell et al., Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Training Reduces Loneliness and Pro-Inflammatory Gene Expression in Older Adults: A Small Randomized Controlled Trial, 2012.
B. Khoury et al. (2013). Mindfulness-based therapy: A comprehensive meta-analysis. Clinical Psychology Review.
2) Physical health benefits
J. Gu et al., How do mindfulness-based therapy and mindfulness-based stress reduction improve mental health and wellbeing?, 2015.
E. Epel et al., Can meditation slow the rate of cellular aging? Cognitive stress, mindfulness, and telomeres, 2009.
R. J. Davidson et al., Alterations in brain and immune function produced by mindfulness meditation, 2003.
M. Goyal et al., Meditation Programs for Psychological Stress and Well-being: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis, 2014.
R. H. Scheider et al., Stress Reduction in the Secondary Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease, 2012.
M. Teut et al., Effectiveness of a mindfulness-based walking programme in reducing symptoms of stress – a randomized controlled trial, 2012.
P. Kaul et al., Meditation acutely improves psychomotor vigilance, and may decrease sleep need, 2010.
D. S. Black et al., Mindfulness meditation and the immune system: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials, 2016.
E. B. Loucks et al., Mindfulness and Cardiovascular Disease Risk: State of the Evidence, Plausible Mechanisms, and Theoretical Framework, 2015.
3) Brain health benefits
F. Zeidan et al., Mindfulness meditation improves cognition: Evidence of brief mental training, 2010.
L. S. Colzato et al., Meditate to create: The impact of focused-attention and open-monitoring training on convergent and divergent thinking, 2012.
B. K. Hölzel et al., Mindfulness practice leads to increases in regional brain gray matter density, 2011.
P. Lush et al., Metacognition of intentions in mindfulness and hypnosis, 2016.
E. Luders et al., The unique brain anatomy of meditation practitioners: Alterations in cortical gyrification, 2012.
A. Chiesa et al., Does mindfulness training improve cognitive abilities? A systematic review of neuropsychological findings, 2011.
K. C. Fox et al., Is meditation associated with altered brain structure? A systematic review and meta-analysis of morphometric neuroimaging in meditators, 2014.