The Importance of Mindfulness
Article by Jessica Noon
The benefits of a consistent exercise routine have been stressed for decades now and if exercise is your thing you probably already have a solid routine in place. When it comes to this routine it’s likely that you will have considered; the exercise type, the time of day to work out and the length of the session. Since we put so much effort into our physical health and building a consistent routine in the pursuit of health, should we not be putting as much effort into building the same consistent routine for working on our mental health?
You may already be practising some mindfulness, but how regularly are you doing this and how structured are your sessions? Dropping in and out of mindfulness when you need to is absolutely fine and is probably what the majority of us are currently doing but research suggests that this isn’t the best way to optimise what you gain from the mindfulness practises. It has been suggested that making a consistent routine for your mindfulness practises in the same way that you would for an exercise routine helps us to get the most out of practising mindfulness.
What is mindfulness?
Mindfulness is defined in most cases as a state of mind in which your awareness of yourself and your environment is heightened so that one remains observant without intense reaction or judgement. In practice, a great way to think about mindfulness is exercise for your brain. If practised regularly mindfulness can improve your emotional wellbeing and concentration much in the same way as physical exercise benefits your cardiac health and muscles.
Benefits of mindfulness
The peak in interest for mindfulness has been driven partially by the potential benefit of heightened everyday mindful experience in a way that promotes a better every day. Depending on the individual, this may mean more awareness of the sensory experience of one’s surroundings, having a more positive outlook, kinder interactions with others, or embracing a more focussed and meaningful purpose. Studies have suggested that those categorised as mindful individuals make more reference to ‘seeing,’ ‘hearing’ and ‘feeling,’ suggesting a heightened attention to life.
In practice, mindfulness practices are probably most well known for their effect on depression and anxiety but there are also a number of other benefits that have the potential to enhance any individual’s life. Some benefits of practising the mindfulness regularly include:
Higher brain function
Better immunity
Greater awareness of self
Better stress management
Better productivity
Slower cognitive decline
Improved relationships and communication
As you can see from the list above, mindfulness has the potential to impact every aspect of your life from the personal, to social, to work and even to overall health in ageing. The benefits span both the short and long term if practised consistently.
The importance of consistency
Being able to do something consistently means that you need to enjoy it. There are many different types of popular mindfulness practises that you can choose from depending on what best suits you. If you are currently struggling with practising mindfulness daily or even weekly, maybe the reason is because they aren’t the practises that are best suited to your lifestyle and your needs.
Enjoyment could even vary based on the time of day you practise, the length of the session, the activity or even the place you practise so if you are feeling disconnected with your current practises or the first ones you try you may just need to vary these things until you find the combination that works for you.
Choosing a practise
Mindfulness meditation
Meditation is probably the thing that most people think of when they think of mindfulness but is also probably the most intense practice as it involves clearing the mind to allow self-inflection and get deeper than ‘surface thinking’.
The great thing about meditation is that there are several great tools and apps available to get you started and keep you going, from 5 minute guided practices to the longer self-guided meditations.
Breath work
The average human breathes in and out around 22,000 times per day but how often do we actually focus on the action? Breath work is accessible to everybody, everywhere which may make it a great first point of access for mindfulness.
An initial starting point for breath work is the 4-7-8 breathing exercise. Breathe in for 4 counts, hold for 7 counts and breathe out for 8 counts and then repeat this at least 4 times.
Body scan
This is another very accessible mindfulness technique that can be practised anywhere at any time.
To try body scanning; whilst at rest, clear your mind and try to focus methodically on the sensations in each part of your body. This may be something that fits in well before bed and you have a couple of minutes to clear your mind and ground yourself before going to sleep.
Create a mantra
A mantra is a phrase of meaning to you that you can repeat regularly. The mantra can develop over time or even change when new priorities emerge, and you may even have multiple different mantras to apply to different needs.
Some examples of mantras include ‘I can let go of things that do not serve my best interests,’ ‘I am in control of my own emotions’ or ‘Every day is a new beginning.’ Start with one and see how it feels.
Keep a journal
Journalling is probably one of the more time-consuming practises that it may be best to ease ourselves into. Journaling has a lot of potential for helping us to process our thoughts and emotions in a slow and more focused way but the biggest thing to bear in mind when journalling is to remain as honest as possible. This journal is to reflect in private so that you can be more aware of how you feel so try not to write down what you want to think and feel but rather what is actually going through your head and how you actually feel about it.
Mindful movement
This is where those of us with a regular exercise routine might want to think about how we can combine daily movement and mindfulness. Instead of intense, high-speed exercise think about slowing it down and focus on carrying out movements with care and purpose.
Try pilates, yoga or walking, these exercises are the perfect compliment to mindfulness and they give you the time to really contemplate how your body feels and how settled your mind is.
Practise gratitude
Practising daily gratitude may be a great place to start with your mindfulness routine as it is a quick and easy activity that can have a big impact on perception.
An easy way to get going on this is to write down 2 or 3 things you are grateful for each day and see how this changes your outlook on experiences.
Getting started
Pick a time that works for you
The same time will not work for everybody so even If you see your favourite influencers channelling that 5am meditation energy, try not to just copy them. Think about a time that works in your regular routine so that you don’t have to make huge changes to allow for the practice. This time might be before anybody else gets up in the morning, after everybody has gone to bed in the evening or even during your lunch break at work.
Be realistic
Try not to dive in thinking that you are going to be able to do hour long meditations and keep a journal because let’s face it that’s probably not going to happen. Try to think about how much free time you realistically have and are willing to allocate to mindfulness and then choose one activity that you are going to try out.
Don’t worry about succeeding
I can more or less guarantee that after the first time you practise mindfulness, you will feel as though you didn’t do it right, that the session wasn’t long enough, or you don’t feel any different. Be gentle with yourself, it will take time to feel aware during the practise and then probably even longer to notice the benefits.
Keep going
As mentioned above you may need to change your practise to make it work for you but even if the first couple of attempts don’t feel like successes just keep trying and stay consistent like you would with physical exercise.
Summary
Mindfulness is not about striving for particular emotions such as happiness, peacefulness or relaxation but rather about accepting situations more freely and having greater emotional intelligence and ability to manage these emotions. Try and remember this when working on your mindfulness practises, it is not particularly about becoming happier but rather being more aware of yourself, others and your surroundings.
This blog post was written by Jessica Noon @noontrition, a master’s Dietetics student at Manchester Metropolitan University. Jessica holds a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from The University of Sheffield and a postgraduate certificate in human nutrition from The University of Chester. Jessica has particular research interests in the areas of intuitive eating and gut health. Personally, Jessica loves to run and bake.
References:
(1) Kaplan D. M., Raison C. L., Milek A., Tackman A. M., Pace T. W. W. and Mehl M. R., 2018. Dispositional mindfulness in daily life: A naturalistic observation study. PLoS ONE, 13(11).
(2) Martinez-Perez I., Garcia-Rodriguez A., Morales-Rodriguez F. M. and Perez-Marmol J. M., 2023. Mindfulness Abilities Are Associated with Anxiety Levels, Emotional Intelligence, and Perceived Self-Efficacy. Sustainability, 15(6).
(3) Mindfulness, 2021. Mental Health Foundation. Available at: Mindfulness | Mental Health Foundation
(4) Mindfulness, 2022. NHS. Available at: Mindfulness - NHS (www.nhs.uk)
(5) Mindfulness exercises and tips, 2021. Mind. Available at: Mindfulness exercises and tips - Mind