How Mindfulness Meditation Can Reduce Stress & Improve Mood

Does stress get to you sometimes? (If you answer no to this question, please e-mail me your secret!) Do you ever have a hard time tracking where it comes from? Does it ever feel like stress just “came out of nowhere?” Mindfulness meditation may be able to help. Although a relatively new practice in the United States, Mindfulness meditation is quickly becoming a treatment of choice for a variety of psychological disorders such as: depression (7), generalized anxiety disorder (8), obsessive compulsive disorder (6), and more. You don’t have to be suffering from any of the above mentioned maladies to benefit from this practice.

An 8-week study (2) of mindfulness strategies performed on medical and pre-medical students concluded that the students experienced: Reduced anxiety, psychological distress and depression, and increased scores on empathy levels. Similar studies (1, 3, 4, 5) have concluded that subjects reported increased quality of life, mood, immunity, and decreased stress.

Science isn’t discovering anything new, they’re just catching up with what other cultures and spiritual creeds have known for a long time. Mindfulness Meditation can be tracked back to early Buddhist principles. Mindfulness is essentially being present in the current moment, regardless of circumstances. You became an observer of your mind and thoughts, instead of being a thinker. Before you get an image in your head of a crazy guy going off in a dark corner somewhere and closing his eyes to recite nonsense, let’s learn a little more.

What Is Mindfulness Meditation And How Can It Benefit Me?

Mindfulness meditation is a discipline that typically involves focusing on select stimuli or an object / action, such as breathing. This discipline, when refined, helps take us out of the constant barrage of thoughts, and ultimately can help us calm the mind. That is why it has done so well in research so far.

There are two prominent promoters of Mindfulness meditation in the U.S., and I am a fan of both of them. They have both lectured extensively on Mindfulness Meditation, and have excellent publications. The first is Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD. He has published extensive research on the application of Mindfulness to psychological disorders. Check out this brief video for his precise definition of mindfulness:

If you search his name on Youtube, you can learn plenty more about mindfulness.

I also recommend all of his publications:

The second expert in the field of Mindfulness Meditation that I highly recommend is: Jonathon Kaplan, PhD. He has an interesting twist on the subject. His primary publication and website is entitled: Urban Mindfulness. Dr. Kaplan explains how mindfulness can be practiced in practically any setting, even a metropolitan subway train! This video is fascinating, and I highly recommend checking it out.

Watch February 21, 2011 – Urban Mindfulness on PBS. See more from Chicago Tonight.

This Is Great And All, But Will Mindfulness Benefit Me?

Yes! Mindfulness can be for everyone! The more you utilize the practice, the more benefit you will likely get out of it. In order to do so, I recommend reading some of the above publications or watching extended videos of the above-mentioned experts in the field.

I will likely be writing a lot more about this topic in the future, so subscribe to the newsletter for future updates.

SOURCES:

(1) Mindfulness-based stress reduction and health benefits: A meta-analysis: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022399903005737

(2) Effects of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction on Medical and Premedical Students: http://www.springerlink.com/content/rv62q98671062146/

(3) Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction in Relation to Quality of Life, Mood, Symptoms of Stress, and Immune Parameters in Breast and Prostate Cancer Outpatients: http://www.psychosomaticmedicine.org/content/65/4/571.short

(4) Mindfulness-based stress reduction and health-related quality of life in a heterogeneous patient population: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0163834301001499

(5) Relationships between mindfulness practice and levels of mindfulness, medical and psychological symptoms and well-being in a mindfulness-based stress reduction program: http://www.springerlink.com/content/n26838t52m727u13/

(6) The use of mindfulness in obsessive compulsive disorder: suggestions for its application and integration in existing treatment: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cpp.557/abstract

(7) Prevention of relapse/recurrence in major depression by mindfulness-based cognitive therapy: http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/ccp/68/4/615/

(8) Effectiveness of a meditation-based stress reduction program in the treatment of anxiety disorders: http://www.columbia.edu/itc/hs/medical/cp4/client_edit/topic4/sg3b-1.pdf

Image by: Mari Smith: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jon_Kabat-Zinn.jpg