Impact of Mindfulness on our Health & Wellbeing

“As you read this, wiggle your toes. Feel the way they push against your shoes, and the weight of your feet on the floor. Congratulations, you’ve just done a few moments of mindfulness”

Says Tom Ireland writing for 'Scientific American'

Did you know Mindfulness originates from Buddhism?

We don’t have to be Buddhists to practice it though.

“You too could become enlightened!”

It’s been a useful therapy for anxiety and depression for around the last decade.

Schools, pro sports teams and military units are exploring it’s possibilities for enhanced performance, and is showing promise as a way of helping sufferers of chronic pain, addiction and tinnitus, too.

There is even some evidence that mindfulness can help with the symptoms of certain physical conditions, such as irritable bowel syndrome, cancer, and HIV.

“And all it involves is some quiet reflection each week and even better 10 minutes each day”. 

If you would like to try some mindfulness, we like to use this one for clients, it’s just 10 minutes long just click here.

A University in North Carolina at Chapel Hill demonstrated a correlation between mindfulness practice in couples and an enhanced relationship.

“The couples reported improved closeness, acceptance of one another, autonomy, and general relationship satisfaction.” 

This ‘loving-kindness’ type meditation involves positive imagery and wishes towards another or yourself affecting how we relate to people.

One study tested participants by showing them pictures of strangers after carrying out this particular ‘loving-kindness’ meditation.

The participant’s thoughts and feelings were positively affected regarding the stranger’s pictures, which demonstrated how the meditation heightened their abilities to socially connect.

Also, parents of children with disabilities noticed increased positive parenting and improved relationship with their children. They also experienced less stress as a result of the mindfulness.

“In these studies, the children of these parents benefited from the mindful parenting practice, showing decreases in aggressive and non-compliant behaviour.”

If you or someone you know is interested in experiencing the benefits of mindfulness, or you are finding life difficult to cope with, please contact Therapy for Life

Sam or Jackie will be happy to help you.
Source:
Scientific American
Mindfulness Research

Which stress do you suffer from? And is it making you ill?

Research has shown that there are types of stress that can cause different personality traits, physical symptoms and occur at various durations.

Did you know… Loneliness could be genetic!

It’s possible that different variations in our genes cause the way we select to live our lives.

The process by which the body reads its genetic code is called ‘Genetic Expression’

“The degree to which the genetic code is expressed may be different in lonely versus non lonely individuals.”

EVOLUTION

The effect loneliness has on us plays an important part in the continuation of our species stemming back to the basics of our evolution.  Loneliness compels us to forge relationships for the purpose of survival.

“and opportunities to pass on one’s genes to the next generation.”

Our genetics seem to be the lens through which we view our environment and perceive it as either lonely or not.

“Genes could be related to the way in which lonely people behave in their environment, to how their stress system operates, or to which environments they self- select into.”

The research proved substantially that loneliness is a heritable trait.

In intervention research, specific types of cognitive behavioural therapy, such as Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction training, reduced loneliness in the experimental group relative to a control group. It’s suggested that therapy had a physical affect on the immune system (Creswell et al., 2012)

Evidence is pointing towards there being a link between loneliness and the immune system.

In cancer research, this loneliness ‘Genetic Expression’ is related to survival time in cancer patients, lonely people tend to pass away earlier that non-lonely people which propels thought towards the link between loneliness and mortality. (You, Yeh, & Su, 2013)

Loneliness is a complex trait affected by genetics and environmental influence

But no two people’s experience and perception of their social network is the same, so research is by no means certain.

As a counsellor, I have observed that one client’s perception of their personal loneliness could be another’s ideal situation depending on their point of view. 

People that head down into the vicious cycle of depression can often feel alone and unable to help themselves when in fact they are not alone. Their perception is affected by depression as if looking through a negative lens at the world. 

Taking the first step towards counselling is a huge jump towards self-awareness.

Taken from The Genetics of Loneliness

Authors

(Luc Goossens et al., 2015) Sage Publishing

http://pps.sagepub.com/content/10/2/213.full.pdf+html