The Proven Benefits of Mindfulness
Emotional Wellbeing, Memory and Creativity
Helps protect us against emotional exhaustion at work. Anxiety, stress, depression, tiredness and irritability all decrease with regular meditation.1
Working memory and creativity improve, reaction times are faster, and mental and physical stamina increases.2,3
In short, those who practise mindfulness regularly are happier and more contented and are far less likely to suffer from psychological distress.4
Professional Performance
An emerging body of research5Â is demonstrating the links between mindfulness and performance across a number of tasks.
Mindfulness contributes to performance by improving cognitive flexibility and alertness and guarding against distractions and performance blunders.
In the work environment, mindfulness has value not only by increasing engagement but also by focusing attention.
Decision Making
A mindful attitude is vital in the working environment, as it enables us to be aware of new information in any given situation. This, in turn, empowers us to make better decisions. Mindfulness training helps individuals avoid those errors and mistakes that occur when attention strays. It also enhances self-regulation and leads to the ability to appraise situations and events with greater calm and equanimity.6
Employee Turnover
Research data indicates that workplace mindfulness not only improves performance, it also increases the degree of attachment to the employer, as measured by decreased intention to seek new employment elsewhere.5
Emotional Intelligence
Increased Physical Wellbeing
Can dramatically reduce pain and the emotional reaction to it.8,9Â Recent trials suggest that perceived pain âunpleasantnessâ levels can be reduced by 57%, while very experienced mindfulness practitioners report reductions of up to 93%.10
Meditation and mindfulness, improve the control of blood sugar in type II diabetes.11
Meditation improves heart and circulatory health by reducing blood pressure and lowering the risk of hypertension. Mindfulness also reduces the risk of developing and dying from cardiovascular disease and lowers its severity should it arise.12
Clinical trials show that mindfulness improves mood and quality of life for sufferers of chronic pain conditions such as fibromyalgia13Â and lower-back pain,14Â in chronic functional disorders such as IBS,15Â and in challenging medical conditions, including multiple sclerosis16 and cancer.17
Improved Brain Functioning
Meditation Enhances Brain Function
Increases grey matter in areas associated with self-awareness, empathy, self-control and attention.18Â It soothes the parts of the brain that produce stress hormones19 and builds up those areas that lift mood and promote learning.20Â It even reduces some of the thinning of certain areas of the brain that naturally occurs with ageing.21
Better Immunity
Meditation improves the immune system. Regular mindfulness practitioners are admitted to hospitals far less often for cancer, heart disease and numerous infectious diseases.22
*(Taken from http://franticworld.com/what-can-mindfulness-do-for-you/)
References
1. Baer, R. A., Smith, G. T., Hopkins, J., Kreitemeyer, J. & Toney, L. (2006), âUsing self-report assessment methods to explore facets of mindfulness, Assessment, 13, pp. 27â45.
2,3. Jha, A., et al. (2007), âMindfulness training modifies subsystems of attentionâ, Cognitive Affective and Behavioral Neuroscience, 7, pp. 109â19; Tang, Y. Y., Ma, Y., Wang, J., Fan, Y., Feng, S., Lu, Q., et al. (2007), âShort-term meditation training improves attention and self-regulation, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (US), 104(43), pp. 17152â6; McCracken, L. M. & Yang, S.-Y. (2008), âA contextual cognitive-behavioural analysis of rehabilitation workersâ health and well-being: Influences of acceptance, mindfulness and values-based actionâ, Rehabilitation Psychology, 53, pp.479â85; Ortner, C. N. M., Kilner, S. J. & Zelazo, P. D. (2007), âMindfulness meditation and reduced emotional interference on a cognitive taskâ, Motivation and Emotion, 31, pp. 271â83; Brefczynski-Lewis, J. A., Lutz, A., Schaefer, H. S., Levinson, D. B. & Davidson, R. J. (2007), âNeural correlates of attentional expert- ise in long-term meditation practitionersâ, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (US), 104(27), pp. 11483â8.
4. Ivanowski, B. & Malhi, G. S. (2007), âThe psychological and neuro- physiological concomitants of mindfulness forms of meditationâ, Acta Neuropsychiatrica, 19, pp. 76â91; Shapiro, S. L., Oman, D., Thoresen, C. E., Plante, T. G. & Flinders, T. (2008), âCultivating mindfulness: effects on well-beingâ, Journal of Clinical Psychology, 64(7), pp. 840â62; Shapiro, S. L., Schwartz, G. E. & Bonner, G. (1998), âEffects of mindfulness-based stress reduction on medical and pre- medical studentsâ, Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 21, pp. 581â99.
5. Examining workplace mindfulness and its relations to job performance and turnover intention. Erik Dane and Bradley J Brummel, Human Relations published online 3 June 2013.
6. Dane E (2013) Things seen and unseen: Investigating experience-based qualities of attention in a dynamic work setting. Organization Studies 34(1): 45â78.
7. Brown, Kirk Warren, Ryan, Richard, M. (2003), âThe benefits of being present: Mindfulness and its role in psychological well-beingâ, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84(4), pp. 822â48; Lykins, Emily L. B. & Baer, Ruth A. (2009), âPsychological Functioning in a Sample of Long-Term Practitioners of Mindfulness Meditationâ, Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy, 23(3), pp. 226â41.
8. Kabat-Zinn, J., Lipworth, L., Burncy, R. & Sellers, W. (1986), âFour- year follow-up of a meditation-based program for the self- regulation of chronic pain: Treatment outcomes and complianceâ, Clinical Journal of Pain, 2, p. 159; Morone, N. E., Greco, C. M. & Weiner, D. K. (2008), âMindfulness meditation for the treatment of chronic low back pain in older adults: A randomized controlled pilot studyâ, Pain, 134(3), pp. 310â19; Grant, J. A. & Rainville, P. (2009), âPain sensitivity and analgesic effects of mindful states in zen medi- tators: A cross-sectional studyâ, Psychosomatic Medicine, 71(1), pp. 106â14.
9. Brown, Christopher A., Jones, Anthony K. P. 2013, MD, âPsycho- biological Correlates of Improved Mental Health in Patients With Musculoskeletal Pain After a Mindfulness-based Pain Management Programâ, Clinical Journal of Pain, 29(3), pp. 233â44.
10. Zeidan, F., Martucci, K. T., Kraft, R. A., Gordon, N. S., McHaffie, J. G. & Coghill, R. C. 2011, âBrain Mechanisms Supporting the Modulation of Pain by Mindfulness Meditationâ, Journal of Neuro- science, 31(14), p. 5540. See also the accompanying comments regarding morphine effectiveness by Fadel Zeidan of the Wake Forest University School of Medicine at http://ow.ly/i8rZs.
11. Walsh, R. & Shapiro, S. L. (2006), âThe meeting of meditative disci- plines and Western psychology: A mutually enriching dialogueâ, American Psychologist, 61, pp. 227â39.
12. Kabat-Zinn, J., Lipworth, L., Burncy, R. & Sellers, W. (1986), âFour-year follow-up of a meditation-based program for the self- regulation of chronic pain: Treatment outcomes and complianceâ, Clinical Journal of Pain, 2, p. 159; Brown, Christopher A., Jones, Anthony K. P. (2013), âPsychobiological Correlates of Improved Mental Health in Patients With Musculoskeletal Pain After a Mindfulness-based Pain Management Programâ, Clinical Journal of Pain, 29(3), pp. 233â44; Lutz, Antoine, McFarlin, Daniel R., Perlman, David M., Salomons, Tim V. & Davidson, Richard J. (2013), âAltered anterior insula acti- vation during anticipation and experience of painful stimuli in expert meditatorsâ, Journal NeuroImage, 64, pp. 538â46.
13. Grossman, P., Tiefenthaler-Gilmer, U., Raysz, A. & Kesper, U. (2007), âMindfulness training as an intervention for fibromyalgia: evidence of postintervention and 3-year follow-up benefits in well-beingâ, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 76, pp. 226â233; Sephton, S. E., Salmon, P., Weissbecker, I., Ulmer, C., Floyd, A., Hoover, K., et al. (2007), âMindfulness meditation alleviates depressive symptoms in women withfibromyalgia: results of a randomized clinical trialâ, Arthritis & Rheumatism, 57, pp. 77â85; Schmidt, S., Grossman, P., Schwarzer, B., Jena, S., Naumann, J., and Walach, H. (2011), âTreating fibromyalgia with mindfulness-based stress reduction: results from a 3- armed randomized controlled trialâ, Pain 152, pp. 361â9.
14. Morone, N. E., Lynch, C. S., Greco, C. M., Tindle, H. A. & Weiner, D. K. (2008b), ââI felt like a new personâ â the effects of mindfulness med- itation on older adults with chronic pain: qualitative narrative analysis of diary entriesâ, Journal of Pain, 9, pp. 841â8.
15. Gaylord, S. A., Palsson, O. S., Garland, E. L., Faurot, K. R., Coble, R. S., Mann, J. D., et al. (2011), âMindfulness training reduces the sever- ity of irritable bowel syndrome in women: results of a randomized controlled trialâ, American Journal of Gastroenterology, 106, pp. 1678â88.
16. Grossman, P., Kappos, L., Gensicke, H., Dâsouza, M., Mohr, D. C., Penner, I. K., et al. (2010), âMS quality of life, depression, and fatigue improve after mindfulness training: a randomized trialâ, Neurology, 75, pp. 1141â9.
17. Speca, M., Carlson, L., Goodey, E. & Angen, M. (2000), âA random- ized, wait-list controlled clinical trial: the effect of a mindfulness meditation-based stress reduction program on mood and symptoms of stress in cancer outpatientsâ, Psychosomatic Medicine, 62, pp. 613â22.
18. Hölzel, B. K., Ott, U., Gard, T., Hempel, H., Weygandt, M., Morgen, K. & Vaitl, D. (2008), âInvestigation of mindfulness meditation prac- titioners with voxel-based morphometryâ, Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 3, pp 55â61; Lazar, S., Kerr, C., Wasserman, R., Gray, J., Greve, D., Treadway, M., McGarvey, M., Quinn, B., Dusek, J., Benson, H., Rauch, S., Moore, C. & Fischl, B. (2005), âMeditation experience is associated with increased cortical thicknessâ, NeuroReport, 16, pp. 1893â7; Luders, Eileen, Toga, Arthur W., Lepore, Natasha & Gaser, Christian (2009), âThe underlying anatom- ical correlates of long-term meditation: Larger hippocampal and frontal volumes of gray matterâ, Neuroimage, 45, pp. 672â8.
19. Tang, Y., Ma, Y., Wang, J., Fan, Y., Feg, S., Lu, Q., Yu, Q., Sui, D., Rothbart, M., Fan, M. & Posner, M. (2007), âShort-term meditation training improves attention and self-regulationâ, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 104, pp. 17152â6.
20. Davidson, R. J. (2004), âWell-being and affective style: Neural sub- strates and biobehavioural correlatesâ, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, 359, pp. 1395â1411.
21. Lazar, S., Kerr, C., Wasserman, R., Gray, J., Greve, D., Treadway, M., McGarvey, M., Quinn, B., Dusek, J., Benson, J., Rauch, S., Moore, C. & Fischl, B. (2005), âMeditation experience is associated with increased cortical thicknessâ, NeuroReport, 16, pp 1893â7.
22. Davidson, R. J., Kabat-Zinn, J. Schumacher, J., Rosenkranz, M., Muller, D., Santorelli, S.F., Urbanowski, F., Harrington, A., Bonus, K. & Sheridan, J. F. (2003) âAlterations in brain and immune function produced by mindfulness meditationâ, Psychosomatic Medicine, 65, pp. 564â70; Tang, Y., Ma, Y., Wang, J., Fan, Y., Feg, S., Lu, Q., Yu, Q., Sui, D., Rothbart, M., Fan, M. & Posner, M. (2007), âShort-term med- itation training improves attention and self-regulationâ, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 104, pp. 17152â6.