There are many benefits of mindfulness uncovered via various research and studies. These benefits are seen in physical health, mental health, and emotional health, among different other places.
The following outlines a list of specific benefits of mindfulness and the impact those benefits have.
What Are The Benefits Of Mindfulness
1. Survive And Thrive With Mindfulness
Mindfulness is essential in times like this.
The daily loud chatter in your head can be stopped by mindfulness, which can be invaluable when people are worried about everything.
Emotions like fear, sadness, and anger—which we all feel from time to time—are perpetuated by ruminative thinking.
The benefits of mindfulness help us connect with awareness and let things come and go without our attention-getting stuck on them.
Mindfulness helps us acknowledge any situation without allowing us to get carried away with strong emotions; it can, in turn, help bring us back to a centered calm.
Only then can we see more clearly what we have control over and what it is that we do not.
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.
2. Experience Joy
Consider this scenario.
You are playing with your kid, they’re running around, laughing, growing, and developing right in front of your eyes, but you are not there.
Your body is, but your mind is thinking about that promotion that you never got. You are pissed off and feel slighted. You are fantasizing that the person they picked will screw it up, and you will be glad.
So, because your mind is in the past, obsessing over something that you have no control over and ruminating, you missed out on precious moments with your child; moments of joy and bonding, moments you will never get back.
You also caused yourself stress and anxiety. Those thoughts did absolutely nothing to support your well-being.
This is one of the greatest gifts of mindfulness and being present.
When we are not present in life’s day-to-day moments, we lose out on precious joys and experiences that enrich our lives.
Let go of the past, forget the future, and live in the moment, in the here and the now. That is where your life is, the only reality that is real.
3. Better Overall Health
Mindfulness has been shown to improve overall health and wellness.
One study on the benefits of mindfulness showed that mindfulness was linked to improved cardiovascular health because its practice led to a lower incidence of smoking, increased physical activity, and a healthier body mass index.
Another study looked at how mindfulness impacted health behaviors.
Mindfulness increased behaviors related to health, such as:
- Getting regular health check-ups
- Avoiding alcohol and nicotine
- Being more physically active
- Using seat belts
Mindfulness shows that with overweight adults:
- It lowers blood pressure
- Improved eating attitudes and behaviors
- Helped with losing weight
- Decreased depression and anxiety (Ackerman, 2017)
4. Stress Reduction Benefits Using Mindfulness
There have been multiple studies supporting the idea that one of the largest benefits of mindfulness is stress reduction.
A 2016 study found that mindfulness produced less avoidance and more approach coping as a response to stress than relaxation or self-affirmation controls.
Mindfulness was shown to facilitate an adaptive response to daily stressors and aid in alleviating stress by elevating emotion regulation which creates a better mood and ability to cope with stress (Ackerman, 2017).
5. Mindfulness Helps Decrease Depression
The link between mindfulness and decreased depression symptoms has long been established as one of the benefits of mindfulness.
A 2016 study by Costa and Barnhofer found that just a brief mindfulness training aided study participants in dealing with depression by reducing depressive symptoms via greater emotional regulation.
Another study showed that Mindfulness Behavioral Cognitive Therapy reduced depressive episodes, anxiety, and stress.
Additional research has found that mindfulness also helps those identified as chronically depressed, suicidal, or having suicidal thoughts and ideations.
In these individuals, mindfulness has been shown to reduce suicidal thoughts and ease symptoms of depression.
Mindfulness is thought to be so effective because it gives people the tools they need to better cope with and regulate their emotions which leads to a better ability to cope with and manage depression.
Meditation is not evasion; it is a serene encounter with reality.
6. Increased Academic Performance
Consistently practicing mindfulness has been shown to boost academic success among students in multiple groups and in various ways.
Research shows that elementary students who practice mindfulness go on to exhibit higher levels of academic achievement, significant prosocial behaviors, and a better ability to regulate their emotions.
Among teenagers enrolled in a mindfulness program and pursuing a general education certificate, mindfulness helped decrease anxiety and depression which contributed to tremendous academic success.
Children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds who participated in a mindfulness program saw lower rates of stress which led them to focus better at school.
Urban males who partook in MBSR saw less stress, reduced anxiety, and decreased negative coping, improving their ability to deal with academic pressure and achieve academic success.
Middle school students who participated in a mindfulness course also showed greater levels of well-being and a higher reliance on mindfulness in school which led to greater academic achievement and overall quality of life.
Among ADHD children showed that mindfulness led to less aggression and conduct problems which contributed to better focus on academic activities.
7. A Better Ability To Deal With Bullying
It turns out that mindfulness can also help children and young people cope with bullies.
Mindfulness can play a role in protecting children against the depressive symptoms associated with being the victim of bullying.
A 2005 dissertation by Sandra Mccloy looked at how mindfulness can be used as a coping tool for bullying by helping kids consider perspectives that differ from their own and find more appropriate and constructive reactions when they are bullied.
Research also suggests that mindfulness can help improve empathy and social/emotional learning, which could stop bullies from engaging in bullying behaviors (Ackerman, 2017).
8. Lowered Blood Pressure Is A Benefit Of Mindfulness
A new study shows that mindfulness can effectively reduce high blood pressure.
Participants who enrolled in the Mindfulness-Based Blood Pressure Reduction Program explicitly created to assess acceptability, feasibility, and effects of mindfulness on hypothesized proximal self-regulation mechanisms saw a significant reduction in blood pressure levels that were still in effect at follow-up examinations one year after the trial.
After a year mark, the blood pressure of the participants was still lower than their baseline, and participants who had previously struggled to follow healthy lifestyle recommendations before the study was still maintaining positive lifestyle changes (Berman, 2019).
9. Mindfulness Boosts Resilience
Resilience is the ability to bounce back quickly from the challenges and hardships one faces.
Mindfulness has been shown to boost resilience and help understand and regulate one’s emotions.
Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy reduces problem behaviors, attention problems, and anxiety while improving social-emotional resiliency.
Another study on mindfulness and resilience looked at children involved in the mental health system and/or the welfare system.
The study found that mindfulness improved emotional regulation, mood, empathy, confidence, self-esteem, coping, and social skills. Additionally, their ability to pay attention and focus increased (Ackerman, 2017).
10. Enhance Job Performance
Increasing research has gone into the link between the benefits of mindfulness and job performance, with much evidence supporting mindfulness’s positive impact on workplace performance.
A 2014 study by Dane & Brummel showed that mindfulness when used in the service industry, improved job performance even when adding control for workers’ level of engagement.
Office employees who participated in an 8-week mindfulness training experienced higher levels of job satisfaction and lower levels of job-related stress.
This ultimately increased job performance as rated by their employers.
In 2016, Gallant found that mindfulness led to improved executive functioning because of improved inhibition abilities.
Mindfulness in the workplace can increase the number of contract hours employees work (Ackerman, 2017).
11. Mindfulness Lowers Burnout Rates
There is much research to support the idea that mindfulness can aid in the prevention of feeling burnout at home, in the community, and at work.
In 2014, Dane and Brummel studied the relationship between mindfulness and turnover intention. The results found that employees higher in mindfulness were less likely to leave their jobs for any reason.
Mindfulness-based stress reduction led to reduced work-related burnout while also improving the mental health of the healthcare providers being studied.
Mindfulness can enhance well-being within the work environment and contribute to lower levels of burnout for employees in a range of careers and positions (Ackerman, 2017).
11. Conclusion
Mindfulness can be an incredible asset when practiced consistently and intentionally.
The conscious practice of becoming more aware of the moment and the present while also learning to free yourself from judgment can lead to a host of benefits for the physical, mental, and emotional body.
Leave us your comments about how you use mindfulness in your everyday living.
