Benefits of Meditation and Mindfulness
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Mindfulness has been the 'flavour of the month' for health books recently. I think of mindfulness as focusing on the present and being in the moment and a technique to deal with stress and anxiety in our busy lives. And indeed, many recent titles on mindfulness are about mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR).
Because stress is a contributing factor to various diseases, meditation and mindfulness may have health benefits beyond lowering stress. For example, meditation together with light treatment has been shown to be more effective than light treatment alone for psoriasis. MBSR techniques also had positive short-term and long-term effects in terms of pain and overall well-being, for patients with fibromyalgia.
Recent research has shown the intriguing results of meditation reducing the rate of brain aging as well as affecting the length of telomeres of breast cancer survivors. Telomeres protect chromosomes from damage; longer telomeres are believed to protect against disease.
However, meditation doesn't help with all conditions. For example, one recent study showed that meditation alone did not lower blood pressure and another study found no evidence of meditation helping with weight loss. But even without these benefits, meditation can help you manage your stress, reduce negative emotions and improve your emotional well-being.
For more about the health benefits of meditation, you can check out one of the titles below or attend one of the library's meditation programs:
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