Mindfulness is the Tool for Anxiety and Stress Relief

Mindfulness is the act of consciously focusing our mind in the present moment, without judgement and without attachment to the moment.

 Photo by Vlad Tchompalov on Unsplash

Overview 

In today's world we all think too much, seek too much, want too much, as Eckhart Tolle once stated, and forget about the joy of just being. So many of us find it increasingly difficult to focus just one thing at a time. When we do not have sufficient time, our technological devices enable us to be in multiple places all at once. But it comes with a cost. Modern technology has split our concentration into smaller bits, scattering them in many directions. As we have become more habituated with technology, we also seem to have lost our ability to live in the present - a place where we actually want to be without stress and distractions. Although we can connect with just about anybody with a touch of a finger, we often find ourselves unable to engage in genuine, one-on-one communication. On one hand, technology has made us more efficient and productive but, on the that, we find that our attention is scattered and our life marked by stress and complications. Consequently, we are not always mindful when we are communicating with ourselves or with others.

Mindfulness

So what exactly is mindfulness ? It is the act of consciously focusing our mind in the present moment, without judgement and without attachment to the moment. It can help us become more aware of what is going on for us both internally and externally. We become more present to the here and now. Jon Kobat Zinn defines mindfulness as the

awareness that arises by paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally.

According to  Thich Nhat Hanh, the term mindfulness refers to

keeping one's consciousness alive to the present moment.

Mindfulness and Stress Relief

A secular practice of mindfulness has entered the mainstream across the world in recent years, it has its roots in ancient Hindu and Buddhist tradition as a means of calming the mind and gaining insight into the impermanent and interdependent of the self. In last four decades (Modeled after the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program created in 1979 by Jon Kabat-Zinn to help counter stress, chronic pain, and other ailments, mindfulness courses) thousands of studies have documented the physical and mental health benefits of mindfulness in general and inspiring countless programs to adapt various models for schools, prisons, hospitals, veteran centers and beyond.

Suzanne Westbrook , retired professor and internal-medicine doctor at Harvard University says,

Our mind wanders all the time, either reviewing the past or planning for the future.Mindfulness teaches you the skill of paying attention to the present by noticing when your mind wanders off. Come back to your breath. It’s a place where we can rest and settle our minds.

Jeanne Mahon, Director of the Wellness Center of Harvard University says,

We were tasked to find ways for the community to cope with stress. And at the same time, so much research was coming out on the benefits of mindfulness and meditation.

We keep offering mindfulness and meditation because of the feedback. People appreciate to have the chance for self-reflection and learn about new ways to be in relationships with themselves.

Practicing mindfulness improves both our physical and psychological wellbeing resulting in positive changes in our health, attitudes, and behavior.  Photo by Jared Rice on Unsplash

There are also numerous books written by experts on mindfulness that show us ways how to live in the present  moment with ourselves and with others. This is accomplished by engaging in different kinds of meditation techniques which emphasize the cultivation of keen awareness to experiences in present moment without any kind of analysis or interpretation.or having any kind of attachment to a particular outcome. 


Psychologists and neuroscientists have helped to bring the practice of mindfulness meditation into mainstream medicine, demonstrating that practicing mindfulness improves both our physical and psychological wellbeing resulting in positive changes in our health, attitudes, and behavior. According to these experts, mindfulness techniques benefit us in a number of important ways; it helps relieve stress, lowers blood pressure, reduces chronic aches and pains, helps with sleep, reduces gastrointestinal problems, and finally mindfulness is good for our heart.

Mindfulness' acceptability and popularity has been bolstered by a growing body of research showing that it reduces stress and anxiety, improves psychological wellbeing.  Sara Lazar, a neuroscientist and assistant professor of psychology at Harvard Medical School (HMS) and assistant researcher in psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital, documented that mindfulness meditation can change the brain’s gray matter and brain regions linked with memory, the sense of self, and regulation of emotions. New research by Benjamin Shapero and Gaëlle Desbordes is exploring how mindfulness can help depression.       

The pioneer of scientific research on meditation, Dr Herbert Benson, extolled its benefits on the human body — reduced blood pressure, heart rate, and brain activity — as early as 1975. He helped demystify meditation by calling it the “relaxation response.” Benson is director emeritus of the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and Mind/Body Medicine Distinguished Professor of Medicine at HMS.

Relaxation Response

The response is defined as our personal ability to encourage our body to release chemicals and brain signals that makes our muscles and organ slow down and increase blood flow to the brain.

Photo by Ralf Skirr on Unsplash -
Buddha statue in the mist. Bana Hills, Vietnam.

Dr Herbert Benson can be largely credited for demystifying meditation and helping to bring it into the mainstream by renaming meditation the Relaxation Response. His studies in the 1960s and 1970s were able to show that meditation promotes better health, especially with individual with hypertension. People who meditate regularly enjoy lower stress levels, increased wellbeing, and even are able to reduce their blood pressure levels and resting heart rate.

The Relaxation Response is essentially the opposite reaction to flight-or-flight response. According to Dr Benson Relaxation Response is beneficial, as it counteracts  the physiological effects of stress and the fight-or-flight response.

  

                                
Learning the Relaxation Response is a great skill that can help us to be better equipped to deal with life's unexpected stressors, heal ourselves, and achieve better health.  

Ongoing Popularity of Mindfulness in the field of Work-Life balance

Since mindfulness has so many important benefits for us, whether they are connected with our physical or emotional wellbeing, mindfulness training has certainly become tremendously popular in the United States and other parts of the world. Companies like Adobe, Amazon, Ford, General Mills, Google, Target, Goldman Sachs, to name a few, have all instituted mindfulness training for their employees so that they are healthier, less stressed and more focused on their jobs. Mindfulness experts are also training CEOs and higher officials of major corporations on mindfulness techniques.

Business Leaders who practice mindfulness report that they now perceive issues more objectively, they can form deeper relationships that are empathic, and they are not driven by their ego and pride as they learn to be humble.

The goal of mindfulness is to always be in the present moment.

 Photo by Thomas Griesbeck on Unsplash

These business leaders often mention that they are also more productive, more creative in solving problems, more satisfied with their jobs and are less stressed in challenging situations.

How to practice Mindfulness ?

Although there is actually more than one way to such practice, the goal of mindfulness is to always be in the present moment. This is achieved by focusing on our breathing as we meditate. When we meditate, we pay attention to the thoughts and sensations that distract us but we  do not fight them. Nor do we pass any judgement on them. We just observe these thoughts and sensations and go back to focusing on our breathing again. Our goal is to allow our mind to refocus on the present.

Out of some mindfulness technique the four approaches can be rounded up to begin with.

Thoughts

The key point mindfulness is to be aware of what is happening in the present moment without passing judgement on that awareness. It is normal for our mind to stay active during meditation but we must try to observe our thoughts like clouds passing by, and return our focus on breadth.

Body Sensations

Paying focused, non-judgemental attention to the subtle sensations in our body as an itch or tingling and likes and let them pass. We must stay focused on the sensations.

    

Sensory

Here we practice observing sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and touches. We name the 'sight', 'sound', 'smell', 'taste' or 'touch' without judgement and let them go.
Whatever it is, zero in on the tone and quality with intention. Music can also be a useful focus in mindfulness meditation, with additional benefits like energizing us in the morning or relaxing us at night. The key is to find what works for us. Some people might find that a quiet room is what works best for them, while others might find that focusing on their favorite music is the most effective.    

Emotions

In this mindfulness technique, we allow emotions to be present without judgement. We practice a steady and relaxed naming of emotions such as 'joy' , 'anger', 'frustration' while accepting the presence of the emotions without judgement and letting them go.



It has been observed in various studies  that under stress and anxiety our eating patterns affect very easily. Under this condition we tend to eat less or eat heavily.  When stressed, people often instinctively use their sense of taste as a stress reliever, whether they're munching mindlessly or satisfying sweets cravings brought on by cortisol. But the sense of taste can be a healthy, effective complement to mindfulness exercises.

The focus is on being present during the meal. This supports healthier eating because the mind and body are more aware of the process

 Photo by Angelos Michalopoulos on Unsplash

             
Mindful eating involves slowing chewing, putting down your fork between each mouthful, and being aware of the tastes of what you are eating. During mindful eating, avoid being distracted by any type of screen, whether its a television or mobile device. The focus is on being present during the meal. This supports healthier eating because the mind and body are more aware of the process. Doing this can also help prevent overeating because we are more aware of when we are truly full versus just mindlessly eating. By focusing on the taste of food, the experience of eating, and the sensations of our body, we will feel satiated sooner.

Final Thought

While all this may seem to be a new-age approach to our holistic wellbeing, hard medical evidence demonstrations that we can train our brains to function differently and that brains can adapt and rewire. This phenomenon, known as neuroplasticity, suggests that there are concrete and provable benefits to exercising the brain by engaging in mindfulness. It is precisely because of this scientific component that mindfulness has gained traction with people who might otherwise this to be spiritual  bewilderment.   

Since the key to developing a strong mindfulness practice is consistency, it's best to try a variety of techniques and find the method or methods that work best for us. Any technique that allows us to focus on the present can help you practice mindfulness. Remember that we don't need a fancy setup—look to nearby sounds, sensations, tastes, and our own mind and body to help alleviate stress and increase relaxation. Adding moments of mindfulness to our everyday activities can help us incorporate this meditative technique into our daily routine.

And finally, of course, most of us will never have the capacity to meditate at the level of a monk. But neuroscientists seem to be convinced that there is hope for far less experienced meditators because by engaging in mindfulness meditations they will have more capacity for a working memory, more focused attention and  less stress in their lives.

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A Possible Dependence Syndrome Emerges from Mobile Phones

Photo by Adolfo Félix on Unsplash

We would like to be a little happier. The problem is that much of what determines happiness is not in our control. Some of us are genetically predisposed to see the world through rose-coloured  glasses, while others have a generally negative outlook. Bad things happen, to us and in the world. People can be unkind and jobs can be tedious. But we do have some control over how we spend our leisure time. That's one reason why it's worth asking, which leisure time activities are linked to happiness and which are not.

There are some organizations, universities that conduct studies on happiness. In a recent analysis of one million US teens shows how teens were spending their time and which activities correlated with happiness, and which didn't.
The study focused if changes in the way teens spend their free time might partially explain a significant drop in teens' happiness after 2012 - and perhaps the decline in adults' happiness since 2000 as well.

Overuse of Mobile Phone 

Mobile Phone overuse is a dependence syndrome seen among mobile phone users. Some mobile phone users exhibit problematic behaviors related to substance use disorders. These behaviors can include preoccupation with mobile communication, excessive money or time spent on mobile phones,

Photo by René DeAnda on Unsplash

use of mobile phones in socially or physically inappropriate situations such as driving an automobile.  Increased use can also lead increased time on mobile communication, adverse effects on relationships, and anxiety if separated from mobile phones or in a signal connectivity issue.

World Health Organization on Dependence Syndrome

The Tenth Revision of  the International classification of  Diseases and Health Problems (ICD-10) defines the dependence syndrome as

being a cluster of physiological, behavioural, and cognitive phenomena in which the use of a substance or a class of substances takes on a much higher priority for a given individual than other behaviours that once had greater value. A central descriptive characteristic of the dependence syndrome is the desire (often strong, sometimes overpowering) to take the psychoactive drugs (which may or not have been medically prescribed), alcohol, or tobacco. There may be evidence that return to substance use after a period of abstinence leads to a more rapid reappearance of other features of the syndrome than occurs with nondependent individuals.  

ICD-10 further states that in unqualified form, dependence refers to both physical and psychological elements. Psychological or psychic dependence refers to the experience of impaired control over drinking or drug use while physiological or physical dependence refers to tolerance and withdrawal symptoms. In biologically-oriented discussion, dependence is often used to refer only to physical dependence.

Dependence or physical dependence is also used in the psychopharmacological context in a still narrower sense, referring solely to the development of withdrawal symptoms on cessation of drug use. In this restricted sense, cross-dependence is seen as complementary to cross-tolerance, with both referring only to physical symptomatology (neuroadaptation).

Substance use disorders can be defined by 11 factors, according to DSM-5, such as

1. Use in larger quantities or for longer than initially intended. 
2. A desire to cut down or control use.
3. Spending a great deal of time obtaining, using or recovering from the substance
4. Cravings and urges to use the substance 
5. Unable to manage undertakings at workplace, home or school because of substance use.
6. continuing to use, even when it causes problems in relationships.
7. Giving up important social, occupational, or recreational activities because of substance use.
8. Use in situations in which it is physically hazardous.
9. Continued use of the substance despite adverse physical and psychological consequences associated with use.
10. Needing more of the substance to get the desired effect (tolerance)
11. Development of withdrawal symptoms

Smartphone addiction can be compared to substance use disorders in that smartphones provide the drug (entertainment and connection) while acting as the means by which the drug is consumed. A study conducted at Alabama State University on the effects of smartphones on students, defines the issue by stating that we are not addicted to smartphones themselves, but that

we are addicted to the information, entertainment, and personal connections (that a smartphone delivers).   

People have an affinity for constant entertainment, and smartphones provide the quickest and easiest accessible route to it.

A Possible Threat Emerges

In another study, it was analyzed data from a nationally representative survey of eighth, 10th and 12th grades that's been conducted annually since 1991.

Every year, teens are asked about their general happiness, in addition to how they spend their time. It is found that teens who spent more time seeing their friends in person. exercising, playing sports, attending religious services, reading or even doing homework were happier. However, teens who spent more time on the Internet, playing computer games, or social media. texting, using video chat or watching TV were less happy.

Photo by qi bin on Unsplash

         
In other words, every activity that didn't involve a screen was linked to more happiness, and every activity that involved a screen was linked to less happiness. The differences were considerable - teens who spent more than five hours a day online were twice as likely to be unhappy as those who spent less than an hour a day.

Of course, it might be that unhappy people seek out screen activities. However, a growing number of studies show that most of the causation goes from screen use to unhappiness, not the other way around.

In one experiment, people who were randomly assigned to give up Facebook for a week ended that time happier, less lonely and less depressed than those who continued to use Facebook. In another study, young adults required to give up Facebook for their jobs were happier than those who kept their accounts. In addition, several longitudinal studies show that screen time leads to unhappiness but unhappiness does not lead to more screen time. If we want to draw a conclusion based on these researches, it would be very simple - put down your phone or tablet and go do something - just about anything - else.       
 

It's not just Teens 

These links between happiness and time use for screens are worrying news, as the present generation of teens spends more time with screens than any previous generations. Time spent online doubled between 2008 and 2016, and 82 per cent of 12th grades now use social media everyday (up from 51 per cent in 2008).

Sure enough, teens' happiness suddenly plummeted after 2012 . So did teens' self-esteem and their satisfaction with their lives, especially their satisfaction with their friends, the amount of fun, they were having and their lives as whole. These declines in well-being mirror other studies finding sharp increases in mental health issues among them, including depressive symptoms, major depressions, self-harm and suicide. Especially compared to to the optimistic and almost relentlessly positive millennials. They are markedly less self-assured and more are depressed.

A similar trend might be occurring for adults. In the same study it is found that adults over age 30 were less happy than they were 15 years ago, and that adults were having sex less frequently. There

Photo by Ross Sneddon on Unsplash

may be many reasons for these trends, but adults are also spending more time with screens than they used to. That might mean less face-to-face time with other people, including with their sexual partners. The result is - less sex and less happiness.

Causes are more Social than Economic Environment

Although both teen and adult happiness dropped during the years of high unemployment and the Great Recession (2008-2010), happiness didn't  rebound in the years after 2012 when the economy was doing progressively better. Instead, happiness continued to decline as the economy improved, making it unlikely that economic cycle were to blame for lower happiness after 2012.

Growing income inequality could play a role, especially for adults. But if so, one would expect that happiness would have been dropping continuously since 1980s when income inequality began to grow. Instead, happiness began to decline around 2000 for adults and around 2012 for teens.

Nevertheless, it's possible that concern about the job  market and income inequality reached a tipping point in the early 2000s. Somewhat surprisingly, we found that teens who didn't use digital media at all were actually a little less happy than those who used digital media a little bit (less than an hour a day0. Happiness was then steadily lower with more hours of use. Thus, the happiest teens were those who used digital media, but for a limited period of time.

Final Thought

The answer, then, is not to give up technology entirely. Instead, the solution is a familiar adage -

Photo by Quino Al on Unsplash

everything  in moderation. We should use our phones for all the cool things, it's good for and then set it down and go do something else.
Enough evidences support and ensure us that we might be happier for it.
            

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