How Meditation Affects The Brain

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Mindfulness and meditation have been gaining a lot of recognition for the past years. Many celebrities have been spotted practicing it which gave way to the birth of meditation guides and yoga teachers. Let’s get to know how mindfulness and meditation affects the work of the brain.

Meditation and Mindfulness

Meditation is defined as a set of techniques that is practiced by a person by being in a state of awareness while focusing on the sensation, emotion and thoughts while meditating. While mindfulness is just one of the 3 types of meditation. Mindfulness is one type of meditation which also focuses on a person’s thoughts and feelings through the use of breathing methods, guided imagery and other techniques that clears the mind of stress and relaxes the body.

7 Ways Meditation Affects the Brain

Both meditation mad mindfulness needs a person practicing it to be in a heightened state of awareness with focused attention to the sensation, emotions and thoughts.

1. Preserves Aging of the Brain

According to studies, people who have been practicing meditation for a long time were proved to have better- preserved brains than those who do not practice it. Through the use of CT-Scan, the researcher found out that there are more grey matter volume in the brain of those meditators who have been practicing for more than 20 years. Meditation helps slow down the aging process by stimulating the brain whenever a person meditates.

2. “Me” First

With everything that is going on in our day-to-day lives, our mind has been working non-stop to keep up with its demand. Meditation helps calm the mind and bring the focus on oneself. A Yale study was able to prove that meditation can reduce the self-referential thoughts and mind-wandering of a person which is often associated with stress, worry and even fear of the past and the future. Meditation was able to quiet down these weary thoughts and instead make new connections in the brain that improve one’s focus more.

3. Lessen Depression and Anxiety

Millions of people are being diagnosed with mental health problems each year. Majority of which is depression and anxiety. Meditation along with mindfulness were effective in toning down the symptoms of patients with depression and anxiety. Studies show that its effectivity is same as the use of anti-depressants but without the risk of experiencing the adverse reactions of the drug. Since meditation is also one way of training the brain, it gains the capability to increase the awareness of the mind and focus on things that matter.

4. Improves Memory and Cognition

Since meditation mainly works on the brain, it does not only affect the emotional and social parts of the brain but also the cognitive area of the brain too. Meditation and mindfulness increase the cortical thickness of the hippocampus, which is responsible for thinking, learning, memory and problem solving. Improving a person’s cognitive abilities.

5. Focus and Attention

Meditation and mindfulness require a lot of focus and attention on what you are currently doing in order to attain that level of awareness. Studies show that meditation and mindfulness help train the minds of the people and improve their memory and focus. By doing and practicing it every day, we will not notice it but we are slowly becoming more attentive and focused on the things that we are doing.

6. Helps with Addiction

There has been a number of studies relating mindfulness and meditation to addiction. These studies found out that meditation is a very effective way of alleviating addiction especially for recovering addicts. One study found out that mindfulness and meditation is an effective way of making smokers quit. It helps get through the craving.

7. Great for Kids

We mainly hear adults practicing mindfulness, but kids may do so too. Meditation and mindfulness were already practiced in some schools as it was proven to stimulate the brain’s development of children making it easier for them to learn their lectures at school. Also, meditation at school are much needed breaks that decreases the stressors of children. Lastly, it showed that meditation and mindfulness greatly increase the attendance and GPA of students at high-risk schools.

Mindfulness At The Office

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We spent most of our days inside our office, working. When we enter the office, the first thing to do is sit down and work. This goes on for the next 12 hours with eating breaks in between. We are so focused on work that we forget to stop, breathe and think. Doing this will improve the quality of your work.

Benefits of Mindfulness

The workplace is full of conflict and stress especially when the workload or task at hand becomes hard to bear. Doing something to relieve your mind and body from this stress is essential for a good day’s worth. Here’s why mindfulness is recommended to be done at work:

  • Stress Reduction ­– it is the number one and most popular benefit that one can get from practicing mindfulness at work especially since stress is also the most common cause of workers absenteeism.
  • Better Understanding – Working requires you to be able to absorb new information or ideas. Studies show that letting the brain take a break once in a will further improve one’s problem-solving, critical thinking and skills development. They are able to process information much faster leading to a more efficient work.
  • Adaptability – The ability to adapt at work is a must. Having this skill proves that you are able to easily acclimate to different situations and be able to think fast on different situations. Mindfulness increases your adaptability and will improve your leadership skills and performance.
  • Creativity – Since mindfulness focuses on the mind, it also enhances one’s creativity. It motivates people, making you think more innovatively. Also, mindfulness lessens distractions and focuses on what’s important.

Mindfulness at Work

Practicing mindfulness at work does not consume so much of your time and space. You don’t need a lot of equipment or items. You may use whatever you see around you that is available. Here are the ways you can practice mindfulness at work:

Be Aware and Awake

Mindfulness is – overall – a state of awareness. It works when one is being conscious about his or her present state at the moment of mindfulness. At work, our mind is mind blown with all the task and to dos. To be mindful at work requires you to be consciously present on whatever task you are doing, while you are doing it, and as well as being able to manage both your mental and emotional state. You may not even realize but by focusing on a report or task, you are already practicing mindfulness. Don’t forget to bring back your thoughts to the task at hand whenever you feel that it’s slipping away.

Short Mindfulness Exercise

Mindfulness exercises may also be done at work without needing any kind of mat. Here are some short mindfulness exercises you can do:

  • Body scan meditation – Lie on your back on your swivel chair and gently extended your legs and arms at the side with palms facing up. Close your eyes and gently bring your mind to focus on every part of your body from head to toe and vice versa. Be aware of any sensations, emotions, and even thoughts that are associated with each part of your body while you are doing it. You may do this for as short as a minute or longer.
  • Sitting meditation – Sit comfortably on your working chair with your back straight and feet resting flat on the floor. Put your hands on your lap. Close your eyes and start breathing through your nose. Focus on your breathing in and out and the sensations that you feel. Bring your mind to focus when you notice it lingering everywhere else.
  • Walking meditation – if you are tired of your working space, you may opt to go out for a short walk. It may be done around the office or up on the rooftop. Find a quiet place then begin walking slowly. Focus on the overall experience of walking, notice how you keep your balance and the movements needed to keep walking. If you find yourself at the end of the path, you may go for another walk if you want.

Be a Single – Tasker

People mostly multi-task these days because they think that they are able to achieve more if they do so. Little did they know that they are doing much less when they do two things at a time.  Try to start being a single tasker. Let your mind focus on one task at

Mindful Thinking: Stop Ruminating and Overthinking

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The mind has a way to affect the body either positively or negatively. If you keep on overthinking and ruminating about something that recently happened or something about the past, then sooner or later you might see how it negatively affect your health and wellbeing. Know how mindful thinking help calm the mind.

Ruminating and Overthinking

The “act of thinking deeply” or “the tendency to engage in sustained, repetitive thinking about negative topics” defines ruminating. We have a tendency to think worse about things especially when we are not confident enough about ourselves or about what we are doing. We can also see rumination in people who are suffering from depression or from current personal problems. Rumination is a repetitive behavior or pattern of thinking that is why people who experience them often found themselves thinking over and again about the meanings, consequences or causes of the depressive symptoms. Here are some examples of rumination:

  • Feeling upset about work that causes you to relive the moment all over again, feeling and thinking about what happened that causes you to feel bad.
  • When arguing with a friend or a relative, you kept on thinking about the fight you had and reflect on what you did wrong or you shouldn’t have said to them.
  • Receiving negative remarks at work that made you lose confidence. You kept on thinking about it and often associate these negative feelings to your behavior.

Overthinking is the act of thinking too much, instead of acting or doing things, you end up overthinking. Overthinking leads to over analyzation or commenting on the same thoughts over and again. People overthink because they are putting pressure on themselves as they are scared to make mistakes. Here are some examples of overthinking:

  • When making a decision, you kept on questioning the decision and letting your thoughts dive-in to the what ifs and what nots of it.
  • When you are trying to understand why a certain person behaves or acts the way they did. You tend to read what they are doing and give meaning to it all over again.
  • When you are conscious of even the smallest of details and gives meaning to it by thinking about it multiple times.

Overthinking and rumination are two different things. The former kept on thinking about things too much while the latter is the repeated act of thinking negatively. You can ruminate while overthinking and vice versa.

Effects of Overthinking and Ruminating

Too much thinking is not healthy for your body. It is the same as pushing your body to its limit, it becomes tired and overworked. Rumination and overthinking may be a common coping mechanism for some, but what they didn’t know is how badly it affects their body. Some studies show that people who often ruminate or overthink has a high chance of having depression and having a depressed mood. The repeating negative thoughts that happened to them in the past may cause them to interpret their current lives negatively and they lose confidence in themselves.

Also, overthinking and ruminating has been associated with mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and borderline personality disorder. This is because prolonged overthinking and rumination may already be considered as negative feelings which is a symptom of mental health illness.

Ways to Stop Ruminating and Overthinking

Mindfulness thinking exists to help out these problems regarding repeated negative thoughts. It is a simple practice of mindfulness that generally acts on a way of thinking of an individual. In this way, we can train the brain to focus its attention on the state of being mindful. We listed down a few mindful thinking exercises that you can try to lessen the thoughts inside your head:

1. Mindful Breathing – be aware of your breathing and bring yourself to focus on the act of breathing by slowly inhaling air, feeling your chest rise and slowly exhaling. Try your best to focus on your breathing while you reflect on you your feelings and thoughts for a few minutes.

2. Practice mindful yoga – Yoga does not only make your mind focus on what you are doing but also strengthens your body as it involves being aware of your bodily sensations while breathing in a relaxed state.

3. Mindful walking – take some time to go to a nearby park or at your backyard and just focus on the surroundings. Appreciate what you are seeing while concentrating on your breathing.

4. Guided meditation – if you think you cannot meditate on your own, you can try guided meditation where an instructor is guiding you while meditating.

5. If you are in a middle of a stressful situation or just feeling anxious for some reason, take a break and try to practice breathing for a few minutes. This will help clear your mind and just bring your focus on your breathing.

What is Mindful Yoga?

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Many thought that yoga is a form of mindfulness – it is and it is not. Yoga may be done just like any other form of exercise or workout. If you want your Yoga practice to be more beneficial, you can opt to incorporate mindfulness in it by doing mindful yoga. Here’s all you need to know about mindful yoga.

Mindful Yoga

The benefits of mindfulness are well-known to everyone as it is proven effective for almost anyone who is practicing it. Mindful Yoga is yet to be popular. It is the application of traditional Buddhist mindfulness teachings on the physical practice of yoga. Going deeper and making it a life-changing approach.

Mindfulness has been always associated with the practice of yoga. Mindful yoga focuses on the mind and body awareness where a person practicing it cares much about the sensations that yoga brings rather than on their body alignment and physical posture. The goal of mindfulness in yoga is to cultivate mindfulness and bring awareness to the physical activity by shifting the focus to the exact moment and transforming every movements to a form of meditation. Mindful yoga is a form of observation rather than reacting. You get to observe your mind and how your body feels while doing different yoga pose.

MBSR or Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction is a practical training program developed by researchers and scientist to assist people who are suffering from anxiety, depression and pain. It is backed up by science and was proven to be effective in decreasing the participant’s symptoms.

4 Foundations of Mindful Yoga

1. Mindfulness of the Body

Awareness of the body is just one of the four foundations of mindfulness. As the body is a collection of many parts, the skin, bones, teeth, nails and all the other parts are within an even bigger or larger entity – the body. Mindfulness helps us train ourselves to observe out body part by part, rather than focus on the whole body itself.

2. Mindfulness of Feelings

Mindfulness is defined as a state of awareness which means that one should be aware of both your bodily sensations and emotions. These feelings may be pleasant, unpleasant or neutral. Mindfulness makes us observe and fully acknowledge such feelings, in this way we learn to accept and be more aware of it. That feelings are just an emotion or sensation that should not overpower us but instead make us see the truth in ourselves.

3. Mindfulness of Mind

The mindfulness of mind does not refer to the mind that is responsible for thinking but more on the consciousness or awareness side of the mind. Since the mind has many wonders, the information that it gathers has a great impact on our internal mental status. If we pay attention more on how the thought rises than what our thoughts are, then we may learn not to attach ourselves or our identity in these thoughts.

4. Mindfulness of Dharma

“Dharma” is a Sanskrit word which means “Yoga”. It can also be defined as the “natural law” or “the way things are”. Another foundation of mindfulness is that of mental objects where we learn that everything that we see around us exists for us only as mental objects. They are a manifestation of reality that was translated in our mind through our senses.

Mindfulness of Dharma is a practice of awareness of the existence of the things that is surrounding you and being aware that they are only temporary and conditioned by everything else.

4 Mindful Yoga Poses

1. Savasana or the Corpse pose

Savanasa is just one of the 4 poses that was taught by Buddha. It is done by lying on your back with your feet at least 12 to 18 inches apart, arms at your sides a few inches away from your torso with the palms facing upwards. Let your gravity overcome your body and surrender your full weight to it. You can do it to start or end your yoga practice.

While on this position, focus on your breathing and your bodily sensations. Let it overwhelm your body and observe how your body reacts to it. If your mind wanders, try to bring it back to the breath and the body.

2. Eye-of-the-Needle Pose

After Savasana, still lying on the floor, place your other right shin on your left thigh then draw your left knee towards your chest. Reach between your legs with your arm and around the outside of the left leg with your left arm and clasp your hands. Observe if your breathing was held or restricted while stretching and then continue your normal breathing.

3. Cat- Cow Pose

Position your body on a hands and knees position with the hands directly under the shoulders and the knees under the hips. On inhalation, tilt the pelvis forward, opening the belly toward the floor and let the spine move into the torso creating a gentle backbend. Reach the crown of your head and tailbone towards the celing. While exhaling, round your back and scoop the tailbone between your legs then tilt your head to gaze back towards the thigh. Do this a couple of times while breathing normally.

4.  Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward-Facing Dog Pose)

Do a downward facing dog pose. Tuck your toes under, lift your hips and strengthen your legs. Coordinate your breathing as you straighten both of your legs and stay on this position and do at least 8 to 15 breaths. Enjoy the experience and create different postures. Don’t forget to put yourself in a state of awareness while practicing this yoga pose.

There are many other yoga poses that you could try. These are only a few examples of it. Yoga is a good practice of mindfulness as it coordinates both the mind and the body benefitting both of it. Let us know if you were able to try these yoga pose and how it change your life. 

Mindful Running And Mindful Exercise: Your Fitness Journey

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If you are a fan of the great outdoors and enjoy simple runs then maybe this is for you. Did you know that you can actually do exercise activities while practicing mindfulness? Feel the fresh air as you appreciate the beauty of nature while being active. Start your health and fitness journey now.

Mindful Running

With mindfulness having a number of proven health benefits, we can continuously add it to our daily routine. We often associate mindfulness with a state of silence and awareness, but you can actually combine it with other healthy pursuits that is really helpful in elevating one’s sense of well-being.

Studies suggested that meditation can be done along with running or walking. It was able to reduce symptoms of depression in people who are suffering from it and increased their mental health. The outdoors and the natural sounds that it makes are great psychological factors that impacts a person’s performance in life or even at work. It has a way of encouraging people to reflect inwardly while running and focus on their body showing great results. Running also tones down possible distractions that is present during other mindfulness practices. Here some advice you can follow for better results of mindful running:

  • Release yourself from unwanted distractions and daily pressures that life brings while running.
  • Feel the flow in your body and listen to it: your breathing, your posture and your heightened senses.
  • Breathing mindfully is a great response to stress, try to focus more on the process of breathing. Breathe through the nose and exhale through the mouth.
  • Connect with the memories that are associated with your body. It may be a recent injury of experience related to running or other activities. Doing this will help you create a deeper connection with yourself.
  • Keep the internal conversations between you and your body and not with other people. Sometimes, it’s best that you talk with yourself and assess how is your current state or condition in the moment.
  • Don’t worry about the anchor points or timing devices – just listen to what your body wants and what it needs.

Mindful Exercise

Some people just love exercising so much. But what if you can do exercising while being in a state of mindfulness? It is the same as hitting two birds with one stone – your body and mind become healthy at the same time.  The difference between mindful workout and a traditional mindfulness practice is instead of zoning out and feeding your mindful with unnecessary thoughts, you will draw your mind back to the physical activity that you are doing and focuses on connecting the two activities together. Mindful exercises or workouts involves paying much attention to the flow that happens in the body while being in a state of awareness through exercising. It is a good way to unify the mind, body and breathing practices.

Here are few helpful tips to help create a more grounded practice of mindful exercising:

1. Prepare your mind before your body

It is hard to do any activity if you already have a busy schedule. In order to practice mindful exercise better, you need to take a portion of your day just for mindfulness. It is important to bring your mind to a neutral state prior to the start of the exercise by doing a few minutes of mindful breathing as a way of clearing your mind and preparing it for the exercise.

2. Create a purpose every time you exercise

Having a purpose before doing any activity is a great motivator. Any person who wants to do something has a goal, and for mindful exercise you can set one purpose for doing so – to lose weight. Your goal will keep you in track and maintain the focus that you needed in order to attain it.

3. Take it slow

Do not exercise just because it is a “to-do” item on your list. Don’t make it as a chore and let it just be a part of your daily life. Give yourself a permission to take time and engage your full body. Be thankful and grateful about many things in your life and appreciate how exercising not only benefits your but most importantly, your mind.

Can Mindfulness Make Anxiety Worse?

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Being anxious is a normal response of the body especially when it is faced with threats and stress. When anxiety becomes a constant part of your life, then you may have an anxiety-related problem. Treating such problems will need you to be able to clear your mind and deal with your stressor.

Anxiety

Anxiety is commonly felt when the brain reacts to the stressors and threats that a person is facing. Everyday, we are facing different challenges whether at home, school, and even at work. Feeling anxious every now and then is common but when you started to notice that you are feeling more anxious than usual and it is affecting your daily tasks then, you may need to consider consulting a psychiatrist.

Here are some of the most common Anxiety Disorders and their associated signs and symptoms:

Front view of a woman suffering social anxiety attack on city street
  • Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) – symptoms occurs for more than 6 months. A person with general anxiety disorder feels excessively anxious most of the day. Most of the anxiety attacks caused by GAD is triggered by any work or relationship problems, health problems and any unexpected life occurrence that may not be ideal for a person. Some patients constantly feel anxious all day even without the presence of such triggers. Symptoms of GAD includes feelings of restlessness, easily fatigued even by simple tasks, have difficulty concentrating on tasks, being irritable more than usual, noticeable muscle tension when having an anxiety attack, unable to control feelings of worry and fear, sleeping problems such as difficulty falling or staying asleep and having an unsatisfying sleep.
  • Panic Disorder – this is one of the most common anxiety disorders and is often seen in movies. When a person is having an anxiety attack, it causes a person to feel muscle tension, palpitations, chest pain and increased sweating. People often mistake panic attacks for heart attacks and sometimes, choking. The panic attack is often caused by a fear on an object or a situation. Identifying its triggers is helpful in preventing future panic attacks. Other symptoms that a person who has panic disorders experience shortness of breath, feelings of impending doom, and feelings of being out of control.
  • Phobia – It refers to a certain fear on a specific object or situation. When a person is faced with this trigger, they feel intense fear that is out of proportion. The most common trigger is the fear of heights. People with phobia also experiences excessive worry or irrational fear of an object or situation, tries their best to avoid the feared object or situations, when exposed to the trigger, they feel an immediate intense level of anxiety and some may be able to endure the unavoidable situation or object but with an intense anxiety.

Mindfulness and Anxiety

Mindfulness is a common go-to for people who wants to relieve their everyday stress. Mindfulness is the basic human ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we’re doing and not overly reactive or overwhelmed with what’s going on around us. It is a type of meditation that you can do anywhere for a short period of time. There are many testaments to the beneficial effects of mindfulness, but little is known about its unwanted effects.

In recent studies, it was said that out of many people who practice mindfulness, about 12 percent of them experience unwanted effects. This is true especially in the case of people who suffers from anxiety and depression. Mindfulness can aggravate the anxiety and depression that they are feeling.  Some people who meditate often lose control of their feelings of fear, anxiety or panic because they are desperate to go out of their current situation. In their attempt to control these unwanted thoughts and feelings, they become even more counterproductive and actually ends up causing them to overthink more.

Mindfulness is often misunderstood because of its claim that it can actually control one’s thought and feelings. Many people take it the wrong way and ends up causing themselves further distress. Mindfulness, if done the right way, can enhance one’s psychological capacity and flexibility making you acknowledge these thoughts and feelings and take action based on your personal values. Still, mindfulness is a good tool in overcoming an anxiety disorder as long as it is done correctly.

Can Mindfulness Help With Anxiety?

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Being anxious all the time has some great impacts on your body. It can lower your energy and have certain unwanted effects on your brain. Feeling anxious is a common reaction especially when faced with certain situations but experiencing it too much may actually be harmful for you.

Anxiety

Anxiety is one of our common emotion. It is the brain’s way of reacting to the stressors and alerts your body of any harm or danger ahead of you. Everyone will feel anxious every now and then – at work, home or school. Being anxious from time to time is okay but when you noticed that it becomes more common than usual then you have to rethink again. Excessive anxiety in the presence of stressors may cause a person to feel overwhelmed. If the anxiety you have makes you unable to do daily tasks that you usually do, then you may consider consulting a doctor or a psychiatrist.

There are many kinds of Anxiety Disorder. Here a few of the most common ones and their associated signs and symptoms:

Generalized Anxiety Disorder

People who have generalized anxiety disorders have been showing excessively anxious for at least 6 months. Common stressors for such are work, relationship problems, health, and any unexpected life circumstances. In some patients, even if there’s no trigger they tend to feel anxious too.

General Anxiety Disorder symptoms includes:

  • Feelings of restlessness
  • Easily fatigued even by simple tasks
  • Have difficulty concentrating on tasks
  • Being irritable more than usual
  • Noticeable muscle tension when having an anxiety attack
  • Unable to control feelings of worry and fear
  • Sleeping problems such as difficulty falling or staying asleep and having an unsatisfying sleep.

Panic Disorder

Panic disorder is often seen on televisions shows and series. In panic disorder, a person suddenly feels an intense feat that causes one to perspire a lot, have palpitations and chest pain. Some patients even think that they are having a heart attack or choking during panic attacks. The episodes of the panic attack peaks within minutes and is triggered by a fear on an object or a situation. People who have panic disorder often worries about their next attack. Knowing the trigger of such episodes is helpful in preventing future attacks.

Here’s what some people experience during a panic attack:

  • Increase in heart rate and pounding heartbeat
  • Sweating too much
  • Trembling or shaking of the body
  • Shortness of breath or feels like you are choking on something
  • Feelings of impending doom
  • Feelings of being out of control

Phobia-related Disorders

People often use the “Phobia” to refer to a specific object or situation that a person fear. It is almost the same on how psychiatry defined it – an intense fear of specific objects or situations. The most common of which are the fear of heights or flying. It is normal to feel fear when exposed to a certain situation but people with phobias feel fear that is out of proportion than the actual danger posed by the situation or the object. People with phobia experiences:

  • Excessive worry or irrational fear of an object or situation
  • Tries their best to avoid the feared object or situations
  • When exposed to the trigger, they feel an immediate intense level of anxiety
  • Some may be able to endure the unavoidable situation or object but with an intense anxiety.

Mindfulness And Anxiety

Is mindfulness able to help someone who is anxious? According to recent researches, mindfulness is able to reduce the level of anxiety of a person. Mindfulness works by teaching our brain to focus our attention on the present moment while removing the unwanted thoughts in our brain such as worrying and ruminating about the past.

Being anxious means that you are thinking too much in your brain and your body is reacting to that stress. Mindfulness teaches us and our body on how to respond to this stress simply just by being in a state of awareness where one will only focus on meditating. Mindfulness is just one of the adaptive reactions that a person can try to do especially during difficult situations.

Mindfulness Tricks to Reduce Anxiety

Hispanic woman walking on winding path in lush green forest

There are different mindfulness practices that you can try to reduce the anxiousness that you are feeling. Try it out and let us know if it works for you, too.

Set an intention – know the reason on why you are practicing mindfulness. Setting an intention every morning before important activities will help you focus and remind you on why you are doing it every day. If a certain event is making you feel anxious – like a major speech at school – set an intention for it so that you’ll be even more motivated to finish and do your speech.

Try guided meditation – some people just have a hard time meditating without a guide. If you are one of them, you can try looking for online programs or phone apps that shares free guided meditation.

Mindful coloring – this is commonly done by children, but it works as good for adults too! Set aside a couple of minutes on your day and let your creativity flow. You may opt to buy or print some nice pictures that you can color. 

Take a walk – taking a walk works wonders. Being outside and having your alone time and just focusing on your senses and the environment is not only comforting for your body but for your mind too.

Can Mindfulness Cure Depression?

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Mindfulness has become greatly popular these days. Its benefits were proven both by people who practice it and by science itself. But is mindfulness capable of curing mental illness, like depression?

Mindfulness

Mindfulness is the basic ability of the human mind to be fully aware of the present, of where we are and what we are doing.  As defined by the American Psychological Association (2012), it is “a moment-to-moment awareness of one’s experience without judgement. In this sense, mindfulness is a state and not a trait.”  It a pretty straightforward word, but its meaning can do so much. It has its way of snapping us back to reality and to what we are feeling. 

Mindfulness helps divert your attention and purposely focus on what is happening at the present moment – accepting it without judgement. It is achieved when a person reaches a certain state where they become more aware of the present moment while acknowledging and accepting whatever it is that they are feeling, thinking, and the bodily sensations that is overflowing in their body. It heightens your sensations and lets you focus on it to more.

Benefits of Mindfulness

Helps you sleep

If you are having a difficulty sleeping at night, mindfulness is there to help you sleep without worries. The state of mindfulness needs you to clear or empty your mind and remove those wary thoughts that you’ve been keeping. Mindfulness brings you a relaxed state and helps  you create a mental space where you are able to welcome sleep.

Reduce Stress

Everyone experiences stress at some point of the day, whether it be at work, home or school. Mindfulness was proven to reduce the stress levels a person has by alleviating some of their worries. Practicing mindfulness gives you better control of yourself and makes you focus on the things that matter while preventing you from being distracted.

Improves self

At one point in your life, you may have felt lost and did not understand yourself at all. Mindfulness helps improves your perception about yourself and makes you aware of the current state of your emotions. Of course, other self-care habits should be done also to further improve yourself.

Depression

Depression is just one of the most common mental illness in the world and has killed thousands of people in a year. Depression is a silent-killer and usually people who suffers on it does not show their suffering. Depression not only affects adults, but children too.

Depression is a mood disorder that is characterized by a persistent feeling of sadness, loss of interest and disinterest in performing daily activities. People who suffer from depression may feel down from time to time or all day long. They are unable to cope and adjust to the struggles and setbacks that they have in life and succumb to their problem. By understanding depression and recognizing its symptoms, you may help yourself or another person to overcome their problem and feel better:

  • Feelings of helplessness and hopeless as if nothing you do can improve your current situation.
  • Loss of interest in performing daily activities. From taking a bath to going to work, you are no longer energized to do such tasks and prefers to be alone all day long.
  • Loss of appetite leading to a significant decrease in weight.
  • Lack of sleep or oversleeping. Some can’t sleep because of their problems while some sleep too much to not have time to think about their endeavors.
  • Change in behavior like becoming easily angered or irritability.
  • Loss of energy. Easily fatigued by performing simple tasks. The body feels heavy when doing even small chores.
  • Strong feelings of worthlessness and guilt by repeated criticizing self for the faults and mistakes done.
  • Unable to concentrate at school or at work and tends to have significant decline in performance.

If you have any of the symptoms above, please consult your doctor or a psychiatrist near you.

Can Mindfulness Cure Depression?

With depression taking a lot of people lives each year, one would be curious if there are other ways to cure depression. Mindfulness has been greatly studied by scientists and researchers to see if it has an impact in treating depression. Researchers were able to formulate a therapeutic program for patients who have chronic depression and anxiety called Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy.

MBCT is an 8-week mindfulness-based program that was based from cognitive therapy. Cognitive therapy teaches patients on how to redirect their negative thinking and is the gold standard for treatment of depression. The combination of mindfulness and cognitive behavioral therapy is ideal as the former brings you to a state of awareness, specially your feelings, while the later teaches you to redirect these negative thoughts and countering them with actual positive event in your life.  

MBCT is performed only by experts and should not be attempted by anyone. MBCT in combination with proper intake of anti-anxiety or anti-depressant medications will further improve a patient’s condition and lead to faster recovery a patient.

Top 10 Mindful Eating Books

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Mindfulness has been a popular practice these days especially when the majority are required to stay inside their homes. One way of practicing mindfulness is through mindful eating. Mindful eating is one of the powerful ways of meditating by focusing on your food. We listed down books that are proven to work and can help you during your mindful eating journey.

Mindful Eating

Mindful eating is a practice of mindfulness. It was said that this concept was from the Buddhist. It is a known form of meditation that will help you recognize your emotions and feelings properly and cope up with it by combining food and meditation. During Mindful eating, one is expected to put their full focus on the process and experience when eating. Mindful eating involves:

  • Eating slowly.
  • Minimizes distractions prior to starting.
  • Listening to the cues of your body for hunger.
  • Eating only until you are full enough.
  • Distinguish true hunger from non-hunger triggers for eating.
  • Engaging your senses by focusing on what you see, what you smell, the sound you make, the flavor and the texture of the food.
  • Coping with your problems that is the cause of your anxiety with food.
  • Eating properly to maintain overall health and well-being
  • See how the food affects your feelings and even your figure.
  • Appreciate the food you are eating.

Mindful Eating Books

1. Eating Mindfully By Susa Albers Psy.D

The book is currently on its 2nd edition.  It is one of the first books written regarding mindful eating that was created for the view of a psychologist who is practicing her profession. All the writings on the book were based from her experiences in the clinics, real-life stories and even research.

2. Body Kindness: Transform Your Health From The Inside Out – And Never Say Diet Again By Rebecca Scritchfield

Food diet may have been one of your choices when it comes to losing weight but some who researched thoroughly may find themselves looking at books about mindful eating. Unlike the others, this book explores many facets of self-care and support one’s journey to heal with the use of food. It is explained through a conversational way where you will feel like you’ve been talking to her seriously with your struggle and problems in life. The author, Rebecca, has been a practicing counselor for years and this will be seen in her book as she shares her experiences and personal stories.

3. Intuitive Eating: A Revolutionaty Program That Works By Evelyn Tribole And Elyse Resch

This book is not just about mindful eating, but it is a more intuitive way of eating. Intuitive eating is more of a process of changing how you view food and eating. It tells the readers how intelligent the human body is and how it doesn’t need the measurement, calorie counting, weight taking to achieve the healthy body that you want. Listening to your body may be the best way of understanding it and following its desires may lead you to your healthiest self. The facts stated in this book are also backed up by science, not just another hearsay or a story made up by the authors.

4. Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think By Brian Wansink

Mindful eating is better understood when you learn about mindless eating. Brian Wansink was dubbed as “The Sherlock Holmes of Food” because of his fascinating and clever ways with food. He shared it on this book where he focuses on the mindless eating environment and researches regarding how the groceries, restaurants, and other products mindlessly lead us into eating more than we think we already do. The book has also scientific evidence which validates all of the authors claims.

5. Eat What You Love, Love What You Wat With Diabetes: A Mindful Eating Program Thriving With Prediabetes Or Diabetes By Michelle May MD

Unlike the other books who catered to the general population, this book on mindful eating focuses on people who are prone to acquiring diabetes, are pre-diabetic and those who are diagnosed with diabetes. Michelle May is a practicing doctor and has a first-hand experience with these patients. She knows best how important the mind is in having the discipline and achieving the goal of a healthy self.

6. Meal By Meal: 365 Daily Meditations For Finding Balance Through Mindful Eating By Donald Altman

It was said that mindful eating is a Buddhist concept. Donald Altman is not only a practicing psychotherapist but also a former Buddhist monk. He was able to incorporate the knowledge and practices of Buddhism in his book. It does not only provide a year worth of daily meditations but also provides inspirational quotes and tips on mindful eating.

7. Harvest For Hope: A Guide To Mindful Eating By Jane Goodall, Gary McAvoy and Gail Hudson.

These trio are renowned scientist who take a hard look at the food that we produce and eat. They were able to incorporate the science of eating to changing the individual and the environment positively. They also looked at how the making of food and products has a factor in achieving a good mindfulness.

8. The Self Compassion Diet By Jean Fain MSW

It may say the word “Diet” in the title but it is not really a diet book. It is a compassionate book on mindful eating where self-compassion was used as a great factor in eating mindfully. Jean Fain is not only a psychotherapist but also a teacher at Cambridge Health Alliance. Like the others, she shares her knowledge and experiences in handling patients in her book.

9. The Joy of Half a Cookie: Using Mindfulness to Lose Weight and End the Struggle with Food by Jean Kristeller, PhD

The author’s Mindful Eating Training programs shows how mindfulness techniques can transform your relationship with food. The book is filled with different effective practices that will lead you to healthier choices with food. It is also a tool to help you “tune in to your own hunger experiences” and begin your journey to awareness and mindful eating.

10.  Savor: Mindful Eating, Mindful Life by Thich Nhat Hanh and Lilian Cheung

Thich Nhat Hanh is a renowned Zen Buddhist master which Lilian Cheing is a Harvard nutritionist. This powerful duo collaborated to make this book on mindful eating. It is what everyone is hoping for: a mix of mindfulness and proper nutrition. It does not only teaches you to achieve full awareness when eating but also pay attention to your eating habits to eat healthier. They were also able to put some healthy alternatives to the popular food and practical exercises on mindful eating.

Let us know if you read any of this book and found your way to better health. Mindful eating is a practice of the mind and the body and is not a diet regimen.

Can Mindfulness Help With Weight Loss?

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During this quarantine, there are a lot of people who spent their time mostly at home. Many browse the internet and often found themselves watching YouTube videos especially those inspiring workout videos. They are really inspiring to watch but not everyone has the motivation to do the work. Mindfulness is a great alternative in losing weight, without having to exert much effort like in working out.

Mindfulness

Mindfulness is a way of being present and fully focused on whatever it is that is happening at the present moment. With mindfulness, you remove all the possible distractions around you and free yourself from it while focusing about your thoughts and feelings during meditation.

Some say that mindfulness is also a training. It is a way of training us to pay close attention to ourselves by not worrying about the challenging past, the unexpected present and the unknown future. These three things are the most common cause of stress for any individual who’s living their life.

Take note though, that mindfulness is not like Buddhism or any kind of religion. It does have a belief system and the science of mindfulness are mostly based on research. Meaning, many scientists were able to prove the benefits of mindfulness in many aspects of our lives.

Mindful Eating

There are many ways on how to practice mindfulness. You may not even realize it, but you may be doing it every day. The practice of mindfulness has a lot of different exercises. Some of which can actually help you with your weight loss. The most popular one is Mindful Eating.

The Digestive system is composed of complex processes that somehow send signals to the brain to register satiety. If a person eats too fast and overeats, these might send signals to the brain causing them to feel fullness. Being distracted while eating may also slow down the digestive process causing us to have indigestion and this might lead to us not getting enough nutrition from the food that we are eating.

Mindful Eating, also called as “intuitive eating” is when a person brings themselves on a state of awareness while eating. Mindful eating is a way of bringing your full attention on your food: how it smells, taste, the color, and even the sensations you felt while eating. It is a way of appreciating the process of eating and allowing it to enter your mind and body. Mindful Eating is not a weight-loss cure in itself, but it is a part of a bigger approach that can lead a person to eating healthy leading to their goal to lose weight.

Mindfulness and Eating

Mindfulness can actually work when you use it the right way. It may not work as much as other diet therapies, but it is one way of figuring out how to eat right. This does not only help your mind but also keeps your body fit and healthy.

1. Before eating anything: Pause and Think.

A big part of mindful eating is thinking about why you chose the food and why are you eating it. Before you start eating feel your body: Is your stomach growling? Are you attracted to your food? Can you feel your mouth salivating? Consider all of these factors before eating. Pausing prior to eating allows us to make eating more purposeful and allows us to focus more on what we are doing.

2. Take a Bite and Chew

Get a piece of that food and slowly put it on your tongue. Savor every sensation that you felt while the food was in your mouth: What does it taste? Are the flavors amazing? Does it change your mood? Did you feel the sensations flowing through your body as you chew?

Do not slurp or inhale your food in front of you. This does not only look good, but it can actually affect your digestion causing it to slow down. Also, you will miss out the different flavors and the texture of the food as you are too busy satisfying your hunger. Chewing properly is a part of mindful eating as it allows you to totally experience the process of eating itself. Make sure to completely chew your food before you swallow it.

3. Drink Water before Meals

Some researches advice people to drink water before having meals as this is also one way of preventing yourself from overeating. It is usually easy to do and eventually becomes a habit as time goes by. Also, drinking water prior to meals allows you to have some time to clear your thoughts and focus on the upcoming process of eating.

4. Choose Colorful and Flavorful Foods

The eyes not only guide us to see around us but also shows us to the wonders of life. Choosing a colorful and flavorful meal composed of unprocessed foods has a great importance in Mindful Eating. Naturally healthy and whole foods have unique flavors that you cannot get from eating processed foods.

5. Do not be distracted

If possible, close any gadgets that you have that might interfere with your meditation. You should only be able to focus on what you are eating. Also, by doing this, you will not be easily distracted, and your full attention will be on the process of eating only.

Research shows that the noise your food makes when you eat can actually influence how much food you consume. The sound can either make you eat a lot or less. People who often eat with their earphones on is prone to overeating.

6. Count to Twenty

Did you know that it takes about 20 minutes for the digestive system to actually send signals to your brain to tell it that you are full? In this small window of time, you might find yourself overeating. Consider taking a break in a buffet before getting another plate for your round two. The waiting period gives time for your body to process the food that you ate.

Everyone wants to lose weight, but we all know that it includes a lot of work before it can be achieved. Mindfulness is only one of the ways that you can use to lose weight. This should be combined with exercise can help attain your goal to be fit and fab this quarantine.