Why Mindfulness Is Important For Your Mental Health
Mindfulness is the art of becoming more aware of your surroundings and self in the present moment. This technique involves shifting those thoughts that are making you feel stuck in the past or worrying about the future back to the present moment in time.
Being more mindful means having a greater awareness of the here and now instead of that could’ve, would’ve, should’ve. Mindfulness is a common technique that is used in a lot of therapy practices to help with various mental health conditions.
No matter what exactly you’re struggling with, mindfulness has been proven to help with things like anxiety, depression, lack of concentration, stress, negative self-talk, and more. This is why mindfulness is important for your mental health.
Reduced Anxiety, Depression, and Stress
Mindfulness is extremely beneficial for your mental health. It’s a coping mechanism that can help bring you back to the present moment. Since a lot of mental health concerns stem from worrying about past actions or future events, mindfulness can help keep you grounded. Mindfulness has been proven to be beneficial for reducing anxiety, depression, and stress.
Improved Physical Health
In addition to improved mental health, mindfulness can also help improve physical health. Practicing mindfulness has been proven to help with things like lowering blood pressure, reducing chronic pain, improving sleep, lowering stress levels, alleviating digestive issues, and even treating heart diseases.
Boosts Your Memory
You’ve probably misplaced your keys, forgot about an appointment, or couldn’t remember if you paid a bill or not. We’ve all been there. Proactive interference is a common issue that can cause moments of forgetfulness in someone’s daily life and routine. Proactive interference is what causes older memories to get in the way of accessing new memories. Mindfulness can also give someone more clarity when it comes to their own memories.
Improves Cognitive Functions
Memory improvements aren’t the only area that sees benefits from mindfulness. Several different cognitive abilities show benefits with the incorporation of mindfulness. Everyday tasks and skills like your attention span, thinking clearly, and shifting your thoughts and focus are all abilities that can be strengthened and improved with mindfulness. By being more mindful, you’ll be able to think more clearly, concentrate, problem-solve, and quickly adapt to new information as you receive it.
Managing Your Emotions
Emotional regulation is another benefit of mindfulness. By practicing mindfulness, you’ll work on identifying and managing your emotions. Emotional regulation can be a vital asset in multiple areas of your life, such as your overall mental health and wellness, your career, and your personal relationships.
Better Relationships
Emotional regulation can help improve the relationships in your life, but mindfulness, in general, also works to do the same. More mindful people are more willing and able to accept their partners as they are — strengths and weaknesses included. This means that there will be a lot less of a focus on a partner’s flaws or on changing them. Acceptance ensures that there is also a greater sense of satisfaction and overall happiness.
How to Be More Mindful
Mindfulness is extremely important for your mental health. There is a wide variety of mindfulness tools and techniques available. There isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to mindfulness. You can practice being more mindful in your day-to-day in many different ways. Here are a few of the many different ways you can incorporate mindfulness into your life:
Body scan
Clean your house
Deep breathing
Garden
Go for a walk outside
Listen to music
If you’re not sure how to get started, we’re here to help. Reach out to us today to get started on a path towards being more mindful.