Let's talk about these five kinds of benefits and the research support behind them (these were compiled when I first came into contact with mindfulness research on 20 16-20 17, which is a bit old, but I was very interested in mindfulness practice in psychology at that time), and I want to share them with you:
If you have been exposed to Mindfulness Decompression (MBSR), you know that the purpose of this mindfulness practice course is to help practitioners achieve self-regulation and reduce stress through eight weeks of courses. There have been tens of thousands of students and practitioners in this MBSR course for decades, which fully shows that mindfulness decompression is effective. In addition to the results of MBSR, there are many studies supporting the view of mindfulness decompression.
A study on the present consciousness found that it promoted the adaptive response to daily stress (Donald, Atkins, Parker, Christie,&; Ryan, 20 16). Another study by Donald and Atkins (20 16) found that compared with the relaxed or self-affirming control group, mindfulness practitioners responded to and avoided stress, but showed more ways to deal with and cope with it. In addition, mindfulness can also help relieve stress by improving emotional regulation, thus bringing better emotions and stronger ability to cope with stress (Remmers, Topolinski,&; Kule, 20 16).
Through mindfulness practice, even for a few minutes every day, many people will reach a relaxed state and have the following benefits:
Higher brain efficiency
improve immunity
Lower blood pressure (if you have a sphygmomanometer, you should obviously measure it before and after practice)
Reduce the heart rate (obviously, because I always wear a heart rate meter, the time for each exercise is the lowest when I am awake)
Improve awareness, attention and concentration.
Improve the clarity of thinking and cognition
Reduce anxiety and bring inner peace.
As far as the benefits of mindfulness for diseases are concerned, one of the most studied groups may be cancer patients and other patients with chronic diseases. Mindfulness will not eliminate their symptoms, but it can help them face and control their troubles and emotional problems more easily. For example, an experiment on eCALM, a treatment scheme for cancer patients, found that mindfulness exercise can reduce the symptoms caused by stress, enhance spirituality, reduce the reaction when facing symptoms, promote post-traumatic growth, and enhance vitality while relieving fatigue (Zernicke, et al., 20 16).
Another mindfulness training program for cancer patients reduced their meditation and anxiety, and improved their observation and non-judgment ability (Label, Campbell, farris and Carlson, 20 15).
Another study on MBSR of patients with chronic low back pain found that mindfulness therapy can improve patients' self-care ability and reduce patients' low back pain compared with conventional therapy (TAU) (Cherkin, et al., 20 16). At the same time, mindfulness training can also help patients to pay less attention to pain and improve their quality of life (Garland &; Howard, 20 13).
A study on patients with lung cancer and their spouses using MBSR shows that mindfulness exercise can also stimulate positive changes of patients and their spouses and reduce the psychological burden of spouses as caregivers (van den Hurk, et al., 20 15). Another study of family caregivers found that mindfulness can also reduce the stress, depression and anxiety of caring for sick relatives (Li, Yuan,&; Zhang, 20 16).
Mindfulness can not only help you cope with chronic diseases or latent terminal diseases, but also help you get out of trouble.
A study on breast cancer survivors in China has proved that mindfulness can promote the growth of cancer patients after trauma and reduce stress and anxiety (Zhang et al., 20 17). Another study on young breast cancer survivors shows that women who practice mindfulness are more likely to experience increased self-care and reduce meditation and stress (Boyle et al., 20 17). Another study also found that mindfulness, yoga and meditation can not only increase vitality and spirituality, but also reduce the anxiety of breast cancer survivors and promote post-traumatic growth (Tamagawa et al., 20 15).
Mindfulness has always been regarded as an effective adjuvant therapy for depression. Compared with pure yoga, mindfulness can reduce the depressive symptoms, anxiety and stress of college students and increase self-sympathy (Falsafi, 20 16).
One of the principles of mindfulness to help treat depression is to improve the ability of practitioners to adjust their emotions. Mindfulness practice provides practitioners with the ability to take a step back from strong negative emotions, so that we can recognize these emotions and accept them instead of fighting them. Therefore, mindfulness practitioners can better adjust their emotions, so as to better cope with and manage the negative effects of depression. A study by Costa and Barnhofer(20 16) found that short-term mindfulness training can better help participants with depression to adjust their mood and reduce symptoms than guiding image relaxation.
In addition, mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) is one of the courses to reduce the recurrence of depression, which not only helps practitioners feel better, but also saves them a lot of medical expenses (Shawyer, et al., 20 16).
Mindfulness is effective even for people who deal with the most serious symptom of depression: suicidal thoughts. Among participants with chronic depression who have suicidal thoughts, mindfulness training is more effective than conventional therapy (TAU) in reducing these thoughts (Forkmann et al., 20 16).
5. Improvement of overall health status
In addition to many mental health benefits of mindfulness, mindfulness can also improve your overall health.
For example, a study on how mindfulness affects health behaviors found that practicing mindfulness can enhance or increase a variety of health-related behaviors, such as regular physical examination, active exercise, using seat belts in cars, and avoiding smoking and drinking (Jacobs, Wollny, Sim, & Horsch, 20 16). Another study on mindfulness and health shows that mindfulness is related to improving cardiovascular health, because mindfulness is related to lower smoking rate, more exercise and better body mass index (Loucks, et al., 20 15). However, this is a related study, and it may also be because these self-disciplined people are more attracted to mindfulness courses and exercises.
In addition, mindfulness training also has a positive relationship with blood pressure reduction, especially when practitioners master the reactive thinking and behavior of "non-judgment" and automatic navigation (Tomfohr, Pung, Mills, & Edwards, 20 15).
Finally, in a study on the influence of mindfulness on the physical and mental health of obese or overweight adults, the researchers found that mindfulness can help participants lose weight, improve their eating behavior and attitude, and reduce depression and anxiety (Rogers, et al., 20 17).
References:
Boyle, C.C., Stanton, A.L., Ganz, P.A., Crespi, C.M. Bauer, J. E. (20 17). Improvement of emotional regulation after mindfulness meditation: effects on depressive symptoms and perceived stress of young breast cancer survivors. Journal of Counseling and Clinical Psychology. 85(4), 397-402.doi: 10. 1037/CCP 0000 186
Celgin, D.C., Sherman, K.J., Paulson, B.H., Cook, A.J., Anderson, M.L., Hawkes, R.J., Hansen, K.E., & Turner, J.A. (20/kloc Effects of mindfulness-based decompression and cognitive behavioral therapy or routine nursing on back pain and functional limitation in adult patients with chronic low back pain: a randomized clinical trial. Journal of American Medical Association, 3 15, 1240- 1249.
Costa company. T. Barnes Hoff (20 16). Turn or turn: a comparison between mindfulness meditation and guided image relaxation in patients with acute depression. Behavioral and cognitive psychotherapy. doi: 10. 10 17/s 13524658 15000387
Donald J. n. Atkins, P. W. B. (20 16). Mindfulness and coping with stress: Does the perceived stress level matter? Mindfulness 7, 1423- 1436. doi: 10. 1007/s 1267 1-0 16-0584-y
Donald, J.N., Atkins, P.W.B., Parker, P.D., Christie, A.M. Ryan, R. M. (20 16). The benefits of daily stress and mindfulness: test the daily and vertical relationship between current consciousness and stress response. Journal of Personality Studies, 65, 30-37. doi: 10. 10 16
Farsafi, N. (20 16). A randomized controlled trial of mindfulness and yoga: the effect on depression and/or anxiety of college students. Journal of American Psychiatric Nurses Association, 22, 483-497. doi: 10. 1 177/ 10783903 16663307
T. Fokerman, E. Breckmeyer, T. Tesman, E. Shi Lamu & Michalak, J. (20 16). Effects of psychotherapy plus routine therapy based on mindfulness cognitive therapy and cognitive behavioral analysis system on suicidal ideation in patients with chronic depression: results of a randomized clinical trial. Journal of affective disorder, 200,51-57. doi: 10. 10 16/j . jad . 20 16.0 1.047
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