Mindfulness

Posted on Exercise, Mindfulness

Revitalize Yourself with Innovative Strategies for Beauty and Well-Being

Healthcare In a world where first impressions matter and personal well-being is the cornerstone of a fulfilling life, finding unique ways to elevate your appearance and mental health can be transformative. It’s more than just following trends; it’s about embracing a holistic approach that includes physical vitality and inner peace. This article will take you on an inspiring journey through innovative strategies that not only rejuvenate your body but also nurture your spirit.

Boost Your Vitality with Fitness and Nutrition

To truly enhance your energy levels and overall well-being, integrating a well-rounded fitness regimen with a nutritious diet is key. Incorporating high-intensity functional training with strategic nutritional choices can boost your metabolism and improve your cardiometabolic health. Understanding the importance of meal timing and food quality can also aid in better recovery and sustained energy levels throughout the day.

Find Peace through Mindfulness Meditation

Incorporating mindfulness meditation into your daily routine can significantly help manage stress and anxiety, common hurdles in achieving both physical and mental well-being. Even a short duration of mindfulness practice can alleviate anxiety symptoms and improve your overall sense of well-being. For those new to mindfulness, numerous resources and guided practices are available to help you experience its calming effects firsthand. By making meditation a habit, you’re taking a proactive step toward a healthier and more peaceful life.

Refresh Your Body with Hydrating Foods

Incorporating hydrating foods like fruits and vegetables into your diet is a versatile strategy for enhancing both your appearance and overall health. Foods like watermelon and cucumbers, with their high water content, offer a delicious way to boost hydration without relying solely on beverages. Not only do these foods help maintain fluid balance, but they also provide vital nutrients and fiber, supporting your body’s functionality and well-being. By consciously choosing water-rich foods, you can effectively promote a well-hydrated body, ensuring you look and feel your best.

Keep Health Records Organized

Keeping your medical documents organized is essential for quick access and efficient management of your health information. Start by dividing your paperwork into categories like medical history, bills, and insurance forms. Digitizing your records not only streamlines your storage but also protects them from physical damage. Saving documents as PDFs preserves the formatting, ensures compatibility across devices, and provides a secure, easily shareable file that cannot be easily altered. You can utilize an online PDF creator to create PDF files.

Try Sustainable Fashions

Embracing sustainable fashion not only elevates your style but also contributes positively to your overall well-being. By choosing garments crafted from innovative and eco-friendly materials, you support practices that reduce environmental impact. These materials, often free from harmful chemicals, ensure comfort and ease, which can significantly influence your mental state, helping you feel more at ease and confident throughout your day.

Boost Career Prospects Through Higher Education

Earning a degree can significantly boost your career prospects by equipping you with specialized knowledge, critical thinking skills, and qualifications that make you more competitive in the job market. A degree can also open doors to higher-paying roles and leadership positions while expanding your professional network. The flexibility of earning an online degree allows you to continue working while advancing your education. For example, earning a master’s in data science can help you develop skills in data science, theory, and application, enhancing your value in various industries.

Develop a Skincare Routine

Establishing a skincare routine that aligns with your specific skin type is crucial for achieving the healthy complexion you desire. By integrating practices such as daily cleansing, moisturizing, and applying sunscreen, you allow your products to work more effectively over time. This not only addresses common issues like acne or premature aging but also fosters a habit of self-care that enhances your overall well-being. Incorporating natural ingredients and maintaining a consistent routine can transform your skin’s health, leading to radiant, glowing skin that reflects your commitment to personal wellness.

Focus on Core-Strengthening Exercises

Focusing on exercises such as planks and various yoga poses can significantly enhance your core strength, which is crucial for maintaining proper posture. A reliable core acts as a foundation for your body, helping to relieve tension in your neck and shoulders by ensuring your spine remains in alignment. This alignment not only helps reduce back pain but also increases your awareness of how you position your body.

Ultimately, the art of enhancing your look and well-being is about crafting a lifestyle that celebrates individuality and nourishes both body and soul. By weaving together these diverse yet interconnected strategies, you empower yourself to create a life rich in vitality, confidence, and balance. Each step, from the mindful selection of fashion to the purposeful pursuit of personal goals, writes a unique chapter in your journey toward self-renewal. Embrace these insights as your compass, guiding you to a future where you shine with authenticity and thrive in all aspects of life.

Discover expert insights and empowering stories at Patient Talk and join a community dedicated to transforming experiences!

Posted on ADHD, Mindfulness

Mindfulness for ADHD folks

Study suggests that adopting a supine or upright posture facilitates ease of performing body-scan meditation for people with hyperactivity tendency
A study suggests that adopting a supine or upright posture facilitates the performance of body-scan meditation for people with hyperactivity tendencies.

ADHD is a developmental brain condition with symptoms such as inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. People with ADHD struggle with self-control and may also experience anxiety, depression, academic challenges, and low self-confidence. These symptoms can be alleviated through holistic approaches such as mindfulness-based stress reduction and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy. These practices help patients focus on the present moment with purpose and without judgment. However, these meditation practices, which involve sitting in specific postures, can be challenging for patients with high ADHD tendencies.

“Even though mindfulness programs have been created for patients with ADHD, there are challenges with mindfulness meditation. To address this, we have researched different postures that can be used by both high and low ADHD tendencies patients to make meditation easier without the need for special tools,” explained Dr. Fukuichi.

In this study, the participants were divided into four groups: combined, hyperactive/impulsive, inattentive, and without ADHD tendencies. They were then asked to perform body-scan meditations in upright, slumped, leaning-back sitting, and supine postures and answer a questionnaire. To assess their responses to various postures during meditation, researchers developed the Mindfulness Encouraging Reactions Scale (MERS) and the Mindfulness Discouraging Reactions Scale (MDRS).

The researchers discovered that individuals with a tendency for hyperactivity and impulsivity found body-scan meditation to be more challenging when performed in a slumped posture, but easier when done in supine or upright postures. These findings suggest that individuals with hyperactivity and impulsivity tendencies may benefit from adopting an upright or supine posture when practising body-scan meditation in order to facilitate sustained focus and attention.

Posted on Mindfulness, Weight Loss

Can practising self-compassion help people achieve weight loss goals?

Drexel study finds being kind to oneself helps people cope with setbacks and resume pursuing goals faster.
Drexel study finds being kind to oneself helps people cope with setbacks and resume pursuing goals faster.

Losing weight is extremely difficult because high-calorie, delicious food is very accessible. Despite best intentions, it’s common to wind up overeating. These setbacks can be frustrating and demoralizing and often lead people to abandon their goals. A new study from the Center for Weight, Eating and Lifestyle Sciences (WELL Center) in Drexel University’s College of Arts and Sciences explored whether practising self-compassion – or treating oneself with the same care and kindness that people typically offer to their loved ones – helps people become more resilient to these overeating setbacks.

Recently published in Appetite, researchers found that when study participants had more self-compassionate responses to their lapse, they reported better mood and self-control over their eating and exercise behaviour in the hours following the lapse. The findings suggest that self-compassion can help people engage in healthier weight loss behavior by helping them become less demoralized by setbacks.  

“Many people worry that self-compassion will cause complacency and lead them to settle for inadequacy, but this study is a great example of how self-compassion can help people be more successful in meeting their goals,” said Charlotte Hagerman, PhD, an assistant research professor in the College and lead author. “The road to achieving difficult goals—especially weight loss—is paved with setbacks. Practicing self-compassion helps people cope with self-defeating thoughts and feelings in response to setbacks, so that they are less debilitated by them. In turn, they can more quickly resume pursuing their goals.”

Hagerman and colleagues collected data from a group of 140 participants who were trying to lose weight through a group-based lifestyle modification program. Participants responded to surveys on their smartphones multiple times a day to report whether they had experienced a dietary lapse – eating more than they intended, a food they didn’t intend, or at a time they didn’t intend – and the extent to which they were responding to that lapse with self-compassion. The researchers also asked about participants’ moods and how well they had been able to practice self-control over their eating and exercise behavior since the last survey they responded to.

Hagerman noted that weight loss and maintenance are extremely difficult, and people typically blame themselves for a lack of willpower.

“In reality, we live in a food environment that has set everyone up to fail. Practicing self-compassion rather than self-criticism is a key strategy for fostering resilience during the difficult process of weight loss,” said Hagerman. “The next time you feel the urge to criticize yourself for your eating behavior, instead try speaking to yourself with the kindness that you would speak to a friend or loved one.”

For example, instead of a person saying to his or herself, “You have no willpower,” reframe it to a kinder – and truer – statement: “You’re trying your best in a world that makes it very difficult to lose weight.”  Hagerman added that this isn’t letting yourself “off the hook” but giving yourself grace to move forward in a highly challenging process.

The research team hopes this will lead more effective interventions that teach people how to practice self-compassion in the moments that they experience setbacks, such as overeating or weight gain. They also hope to study the best strategies to teach people how to practice true self-compassion, reducing self-blame and criticism, while also holding themselves accountable to their personal standards and goals.

“It can be easy for the message of self-compassion to get muddied, such that people practice total self-forgiveness and dismiss the goals they set for themselves,” said Hagerman. “But we’ve shown that self-compassion and accountability can work together.”

Posted on Mindfulness, Obesity, Weight Loss

Practicing mindfulness can help people make heart-healthy eating choices

Practicing mindfulness focused on healthy eating can be good for the heart, a new study shows, because it improves self-awareness and helps people stick to a heart-healthy diet.

When people who had elevated blood pressure participated in an eight-week mindfulness-based blood pressure reduction program for the study, they significantly improved their scores on measures of self-awareness and adherence to a heart-healthy diet compared to a control group. The results were published in JAMA Network Open.

“Participants in the program showed significant improvement in adherence to a heart-healthy diet, which is one of the biggest drivers of blood pressure, as well as significant improvements in self-awareness, which appears to influence healthy eating habits,” said lead study author Eric B. Loucks, an associate professor of epidemiology, behavioral and social sciences, and director of the Mindfulness Center at Brown University.

Loucks said the study helps explain the mechanism by which a customized mindfulness training program adapted toward improving diet can affect blood pressure.

“Improvements in our self-awareness, of how different foods make us feel, of how our body feels in general, as well as our thoughts, emotions and physical sensations around eating healthy as well as unhealthy food, can influence people’s dietary choices,” he said.

High blood pressure, a major cause of cardiovascular disease, is the single most important risk factor for early death worldwide, according to a recent report by the World Health Organization, leading to an estimated 10.8 million avoidable deaths every year. The important thing to note about those avoidable deaths, Loucks said, is that there is ample research supporting effective strategies to control and prevent hypertension.

“Almost everyone has the power to control blood pressure through changes in diet and physical activity, adherence to antihypertensive medications, minimizing alcohol intake and monitoring stress reactivity,” he said.

A heart-focused mindfulness program

The mindfulness-based blood pressure reduction program used in the study, which Loucks developed in 2014, trains participants in skills such as meditation, yoga, self-awareness, attention control and emotion regulation. What makes the program unique, he said, is that participants learn how to direct those skills toward behaviors known to lower blood pressure.

The MB-BP plan consisted of a group orientation session, eight 2.5-hour weekly group sessions and one day-long retreat, as well as recommended home practice for 45 minutes, six days a week. The program was led by trained instructors with expertise in cardiovascular disease etiology, treatment and prevention. Classes were held in Providence, R.I., at Brown University and at a health center in a lower-income, urban neighborhood.

The study compared two groups, totaling 201 participants. The 101 people in the test group were a part of the 8-week MB-BP program, which included personalized feedback and education about hypertension risk factors; mindfulness training of participants in relationship to hypertension risk factors (including mindful eating); and behavior change support. The “usual care” control group received educational brochures on controlling high blood pressure. Both groups received a home blood-pressure monitoring device with usage training, and options for referral to primary care physicians.

The researchers focused on participant adherence to the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) program, a balanced eating plan rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains and low-fat dairy, intended to create a heart-healthy eating style for life. Despite its effectiveness, adherence to the DASH diet is typically low.

After six months, the mindfulness group showed a 0.34-point improvement in the DASH diet score. Loucks explained that this effect can be interpreted as equivalent for a participant shifting from a vegetable intake approaching recommended levels (2-3 servings) to recommended levels (at least 4 servings), or making similar shifts across another component of the DASH score. The control group showed a -0.04-point change in DASH diet score.

The mindfulness group also showed a 0.71-point improvement in the average interoceptive awareness (which is the process of sensing and interpreting signals from one’s own body) score compared to six months prior, which outperformed the control group by a significant 0.54 points.

The authors said the trial results offer evidence that an adapted mindfulness training program for participants with high blood pressure that targets diet and self-awareness significantly improves both.

“The program gives participants the tools to make heart-healthy diet changes that can lower their blood pressure and decrease their risk of cardiovascular disease,” Loucks said.

The researchers are studying different “doses” of the program (for example, shorter program lengths, fewer sessions), as well as factors influencing the implementation of the MB-BP plan in a real-world setting — including eligibility for health insurance coverage, accessibility for different patient groups and flexibility for physicians.

Posted on Mindfulness

Changing Your Relationship with Food Through Mindful Eating

By Synctuition

Do you have a love-hate relationship with food? Do you eat mindlessly even though you are not hungry? Or do you simply not mind what is on your plate? If the answer to any of these questions is “yes”, relax! You are not alone. Eating is one of the greatest pleasures in life. However, eating too much or not eating correctly can seriously affect your health. What if the key to changing your relationship with food is within you? Learn how being mindful can radically transform your eating habits and improve your well-being.

“One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.” — Virginia Woolf

Let’s start with the basics: understanding the connection between food and well-being. Did you know that your brain and your gastrointestinal tract share a close relationship? The gastrointestinal tract houses billions of bacteria that affect the production of neurotransmitters, which are chemical substances that carry special messages (dopamine or serotonin) from the gut to the brain. Following a balanced diet ensures the growth of “good” bacteria. And these bacteria are vital for your health as they:

  • Provide protection against toxins and bad bacteria.
  • Limit inflammation.
  • Improve nutrient absorption from your food.
  • Activate neural pathways that travel between the gut and brain.

All of these actions help your brain receive positive messages that are reflected in your mood and emotions.

The effects of a bad diet

If you mostly eat junk food, chances are you will trigger inflammation and harm neurotransmitter production. Sugary foods, for example, feed bad bacteria to the gastrointestinal tract and cause inflammation. They might also trigger a spike in dopamine, known as “feel good” neurotransmitters. So is the case of the infamous “sugar rush” that commonly preludes a drastic downfall that translates into bad moods.

So what should you put on your plate to keep physically and mentally healthy? Scientists believe that diets that are high in vegetables, fruits, unprocessed grains, fish and seafood, and contain modest amounts of sugar, lean meat, and dairy are the most beneficial for your health. That’s the case of traditional Japanese and Mediterranian diets. Interestingly, studies show that the risk of depression is 25% to 35% lower in those who eat a traditional diet compared to those who follow the typical Western diet.

Mindful eating: making peace with food

“To eat is a necessity, but to eat intelligently is an art.” — François de la Rochefoucauld

Now that you know more about the link between food and mental health and what sorts of foods are more beneficial, it’s time to embrace positive change. And yes, this is much easier said than done. Sometimes, even when we know which kinds of foods are better for us, keeping a healthy diet is extremely challenging. In order to change your relationship with food, the first thing you should do is reflect on your eating habits. Before following a strict diet, hiring a personal chef, or buying a lose-weight-fast program, ask yourself a few questions:

Are there any physical, emotional, or environmental factors that trigger binge eating, overeating, or not eating?

How does your body let you know when it’s hungry? Do you pay attention to these signs?

Are you distracted whenever you eat? Where does your mind go during meal times?

Finding the answers to these questions will help you get to know yourself better. This is necessary because no action plan to improve health works without the right mindset. Before listening to what others have to say about nutrition, listen to your body. Paying close attention to your body’s many cues widens your understanding of yourself, giving you the kind of insight needed to change your behaviour.

This is what mindfulness is about. Mindfulness means paying close attention to the present moment. When you are mindful, you are not rushing, multitasking, or worrying about the past or future. Rather, you are calm and focused. Not only does mindfulness help you make better eating choices, but it also supports you in every other aspect of your life.

Quick tips for mindful eating

Consider your grocery list and be mindful of what you put on your shopping cart. No matter how tempting the sugary snacks or fatty foods are, remember that you are in control and have the ability to choose what is more beneficial for your health.

At the table, try to be fully aware of what you are eating. Eat slowly and engage your senses focusing on flavours, textures, aromas, and colours. This will help you appreciate the food’s taste and enjoy the overall experience. And don’t forget to be kind and patient with yourself. Not everything goes according to plan and changing your eating habits might require time and effort. Instead of beating yourself up and reacting negatively to setbacks, respond with love and compassion. 

Finally, bear in mind that mindfulness is a skill you master through daily practice.