Six Remarkable Benefits of Mindfulness

Picture by Simon Migaj

The term ‘mindfulness’ refers to the state of being fully present and engaged in the present moment. This means being aware and accepting of one’s own experience, thoughts, and emotions without any form of judgment or distraction.

The awareness and acceptance associated with mindfulness can be cultivated through many practices, including yoga, tai chi, and, most frequently, meditation. Common to all these practices is their focus on training the ability to be aware of and control our thoughts, hoped to help individuals go about their day to day lives in a generally more mindful way.

As noted by the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, the past five years have seen a surge in the popularity of mindfulness worldwide, now a buzzword in today’s frantic, high-pressure society. Saying this, mindfulness is not a new concept. The practice has been an integral part of Buddhism for over 2500 years. Many proponents of mindfulness, including most Buddhist practitioners, claim it has countless, widespread benefits. But, is being mindful really as beneficial as it is argued to be?

Well, here are a few remarkable and evidenced based benefits of the practice that suggest that yes, it is.

1. Decreased stress and anxiety

This is probably the one you’ve heard of. Mindfulness has been shown to play a key role in reducing stress and anxiety - something we are all far too familiar with in the fast-paced world we live in.

It makes sense that being more present at the moment would mean you are less likely to be worrying about future events or dwelling about the past, things that typically cause stress and anxiety. Not only this, but research also shows that mindfulness may actually alter the structure of the brain. Following a series of mindfulness classes, the amygdala (known as the ‘anxiety engine’ of the brain) appears to shrink, with participants often reporting a coinciding decrease in anxiety.

2. A potential therapy for depression

Mindfulness has long been known to relieve symptoms of depression. In fact, mindfulness has been seen to prevent the recurrence of depression just as effectively as antidepressant medication. Mindfulness appears to boost neuron production (known as neurogenesis) in the hippocampus, a region of the brain associated with memories and emotion. Critically, it seems that mindfulness could help to rebuild and repair the loss of neurons caused by depression in this important brain area.

3. Better sleep

After a long, tiring day there’s one thing we want: to sink into the bed. But sometimes, even though we’re tired, our mind just won’t be quiet, stopping us from falling asleep. By encouraging us to simply ‘watch’ our thoughts instead of getting caught up in them, mindfulness has been shown by researchers at UCLA to improve sleep quality and make falling asleep much easier. Sounds great, right? We all know how refreshing a good night’s sleep can feel, brightening our mood for the following day, and also having long-term benefits on our immunity and cardiovascular health.

4. Improved Gut Health

Heard of the mind-gut connection? A link between the mind and the gut has long been considered by scientists. Indeed, mindfulness meditation is known to alter over 1000 genes related to the production of proteins known to cause inflammation in the gut. This can lead to improvements in symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome, enhancing general gut health.

5. Reduces unconscious biases

The benefits of mindfulness are not limited to those practicing it, but even extend to our impact on those around us! There is evidence that highlights the role that mindfulness can play in reducing our unconscious biases (whether race-related, gender-related, or anything-related); highly important in our strive for equality in present society. This is likely owing to the ability of mindfulness to enhance our compassion towards others, and reduce our reliance on stereotypes when making decisions. Mindfulness also helps with being less reactive and slowing down the decision making process, which helps with biases.

6. Boosts workplace performance

The benefits of mindfulness don’t end there. The practice of Mindfulness works to improve processes such as attention, concentration, learning, and memory. Not to mention the vast gains that have been observed in creativity. Turns out, worrying less gives us a lot more scope to be creative! It is improvements like this that explain why mindfulness can have such a positive impact on the productivity of businesses.

So, it appears that everyone can benefit from practicing mindfulness. Although a lot of regular practice is necessary to experience these perks, this may merely involve ten mindful minutes each day. Definitely achievable!

To kick-start your, and your colleagues, journey down the path to mindfulness, we run Mindfulness and Stress Management Trainings as well as customised 1:1 coaching sessions with mindfulness techniques applied to it. These programs will help you and your colleagues to reap not only the personal but also the business-wide benefits of being more mindful.

Please contact us at FELIZ Consulting to learn more.

Best wishes,