We all want to live happier, healthier lives. To do this, however, we need to take care of our mental health just as much as we do our physical health.
And considering The World Health Organization (WHO) predicts that depression is to become the second leading cause of global disease by 2020, it seems we could all benefit from stronger, healthier, happier minds.
Set to become the technique that revolutionises the wellness industry, mindfulness has proven to benefit mental health in many ways.
Here are four reasons why you should set your mind to mindfulness:
It strengthens your immune system
A 2003 study revealed that participants who underwent a short-term mindfulness-training program developed a stronger immune response when challenged with a flu injection. And having a healthy immune system has a host of other health benefits.
It helps you make better decisions
Whether we’d like to admit or not, we’re all a little biased. These biases often cause us to make poor or rash decisions.
Mindfulness training helps you develop the refined levels of self-awareness that are necessary to see your biases objectively, before they influence your decisions. It also helps you strengthen the mental agility you need to make choices that fall outside of your comfort zone i.e. deciding to wake up for a gym class at 5:30 am in the middle of winter.
It improves your mental health
There is now years worth of research that proves how mindfulness can improve our mental health in many different ways, meaning that practising mindfulness is as important to our wellbeing as staying hydrated and eating wholesome foods is.
One of these studies revealed that mindful meditation can reduce the rate of relapse depression by up to 44% of previous sufferers, an effect so powerful it could be compared with staying on a maintenance dose of anti-depressants.
It helps you get more done
Mindfulness practice helps you filter through the chaos of your mind, giving you a clearer idea of what’s really important. This saves you time and energy and helps you focus better and makes you more productive.
It also helps you get more done in those seemingly useless, quiet moments of the day you would normally spend scrolling through Instagram or updating your Facebook profile picture.
Living a happy and healthy life is a full time job. But with correct mindfulness practice, you can achieve greater success and greater happiness.
Content from MindBodyGreen.com, read more here, here and here
