What Is Mindfulness and How Can It Help Your Health and Wellness? | Everyday Health

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What Is Mindfulness and How Can It Help Your Health and Wellness?
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Medically Reviewed by  Justin Laube, MD
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There are simple ways to center your thoughts and practice mindfulness anywhere.
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The practice of mindfulness has been associated with benefits that range from stress reduction to relieving back pain to calming the symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). It can also make everyday moments richer, but if you’ve never tried to be mindful, you might be unsure exactly what it is or how to try it.
Mindfulness is actually quite simple, according to Jane Ehrman , who teaches mind-body tools and methods at Cleveland Clinic in Ohio. “It’s the practice of paying attention to just one thing; it’s being in the moment and aware of what you’re doing,” she says. “So, if you’re cutting a carrot, you’re paying attention to cutting the carrot. You’re not in your head thinking about six other things you need to do,” she says.
When you’re being mindful, says Ehrman, "you’re aware of your surroundings and also able to respond to what’s happening. In mindfulness, you’re using your senses, being present, and not rehashing things that have already happened,” she says.
When you’re mindful and present, you can enjoy each moment more, because you’re fully alive, says Ehrman. “Think about eating your favorite ice cream. When you’re practicing mindfulness, you can enjoy the flavor, feel how cold it is, and experience the texture and taste in your mouth and how good it feels when you swallow it,” she says.
Contrary to what many people think, mindfulness isn’t about “shutting your mind off,” says Ehrman. “Only dead people’s minds are shut off; when you’re alive, your mind is always going,” she says. “Mindfulness is about practicing paying attention to one thing, and so as soon as your attention wanders, bring it back. When you do that, you’re strengthening your ability to focus and concentrate better and longer,” she adds.
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A Brief History of Mindfulness
Mindfulness began in the Buddhist and Hindu traditions hundreds of years ago, according to Ehrman. Although there isn’t complete agreement among scholars, modern-day mindfulness as it’s practiced in the United States owes many of its principals and insights to Jon Kabat-Zinn, a meditation teacher and mind-body medicine researcher who was born in New York City in 1944.
After encountering a Zen missionary while he was in college, Kabat-Zinn went on to study meditation with Buddhist teachers including Philip Kapleau, Thích Nhất Hạnh, and Seung Sahn before eventually founding the Stress Reduction Clinic at the University of Massachusetts Medical School  in Worcester, says Ehrman.
According to Kabat-Zinn's book Full Catasrophe Living, mindfulness is a moment-to-moment awareness and is cultivated by intentionally paying attention to the present moment with a nonjudging and nonstriving attitude of acceptance. ( 1 ) Observing one’s own thoughts and feelings in this way can highlight the subjectivity and transient nature of them.
Everyday Ways to Practice Mindfulness
The practice of mindfulness can be religious or secular, says Ehrman. “At our clinic, we have a secular approach of being just present with your breath and how it feels as you breathe in and breathe out. Experience how the air feels as your chest expands and contracts. Notice how your body feels sitting in the chair without judging it or trying to change it,” she says.
A simple way to practice mindfulness during your day is when you go on a walk, suggests Ehrman. “While you’re walking, instead of thinking about all kinds of stuff you did or need to do, pay attention to how the air feels as it brushes past your skin. Notice trees and your surroundings. Notice how your body feels as you breathe air in and what’s happening in your body as you take each step.”
You can practice mindfulness at work, too, says Ehrman. “Before a meeting, take a minute to just breathe in and out, and let your stress go,” she says. By doing that, you’re actually centering yourself and getting oxygen to your brain and body, which can allow you to be more present at the meeting, she adds.
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Benefits of Mindfulness for Your Body and Health
Practicing mindfulness doesn’t just help you deepen your experience of everyday moments — it’s associated with health benefits for both the body and mind, says Ehrman.
Anxiety Reduction
“Mindfulness can help when you’re in your head and scaring the daylights out of yourself worrying about something,” says Ehrman. By using mindfulness techniques, you can be more intentional about what you’re choosing to pay attention to or think about, she adds. “It can reduce anxiety. Part of anxiety is a story that you’re telling yourself in your head that’s usually not the truth — it’s distorted and often very negative,” she says.
Research published in February 2014 in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry has shown that mindfulness-based stress reduction programs can reduce symptoms such as chronic worrying, poor sleep, and irritability in generalized anxiety disorder . ( 2  PDF)
Pain Management
It may seem counterintuitive to think that mindfulness could help with pain, but the practice can help you work through it, says Ehrman. “When you’re in chronic pain and then all of a sudden, the pain gets worse, you’re not mindful or in the moment. Instead, you’re noticing that it’s getting worse. You go up into your head and you might start thinking, ‘How much worse can it get?’ ‘I wonder how long it will last?’ or ‘Why is it hurting like that?’” she says. “You’re no longer present to the pain, because you’re in your head already playing it out.”
In mindfulness, when you are fully present for the pain you can breathe into it, explains Ehrman. “As you breathe and as you exhale, you can start to settle and soften the areas around the hurt, and that actually reduces some of the pain,” she says. “It brings you to a place where you can respond to those questions running through your head,” she says.
“You can say to yourself, ‘I’m just going to stay with this and breathe with it.’ Imagine breathing in a calm energy and on the exhale, you’re imagining letting that tension go,” she says. Staying present with that discomfort allows you to work with and through the pain, she adds.
Different mindfulness techniques are used to manage pain in many chronic conditions including fibromyalgia , back pain, arthritis , headache, and irritable bowel syndrome . according to an article published in September 2016 in Annals of Behavioral Medicine. ( 3 )
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Improved Disease Management
Chronic  stress can impact the way the body regulates the inflammatory response, which is thought to promote the progression of some chronic diseases, per past research. ( 4 ) Research, including a study published in 2014 in the Journal of Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, has found links between stress and autoimmune disease, migraine, obesity, diabetes, high cholesterol, heart disease, and high blood pressure. ( 5 )
Practicing mindfulness is one way to reduce stress, according to Ehrman. “When you’re stressed out, your immune system is like, ‘What’s going on here? Is there an invader around here?’” she says.
Mindfulness can help rebalance the immune system, she says. “When your brain is in a state of peace and calm, your cells and tissues can repair themselves, and your body heals faster,” says Ehrman. There have been several studies to support this premise, including one in which patients undergoing heart surgery who elected to do guided imagery had a shorter length of stay and needed fewer pain medications, she says. ( 6  PDF)
Mindfulness and Health Conditions
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Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
Practicing mindfulness can ease the symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome , says Ehrman. Recent research published in April 2020 in Neurogastroenterology and Motility found that people who underwent mindfulness training were able to reduce the severity of IBS symptoms and improve their quality of life. ( 7 )
“The bowel or gut is the seat of emotion. When you get nervous, you get a knot in your stomach, and when you’re excited, you feel butterflies,” she says. Because your gut is always paying attention to your perceptions and to what you’re thinking, when you can calm yourself down, your bowel can calm down, she explains.
Menopause Symptom Management
It’s estimated that as many as 85 percent of postmenopausal women have experienced at least one symptom of menopause, which can include hot flashes, sleep disturbances, vaginal dryness, and mood changes, according to a study published in August 2015 in BMC Women's Health. ( 8 )
A study published in January 2019 in the journal Climacteric examined the association between mindfulness and menopausal symptoms in 1,744 women and found that women with higher mindfulness scores and less stress had, on average, lower symptom scores for irritability, depression, and anxiety, though it didn’t show any benefits for hot flashes or night sweats. ( 9 )
Past research has also found that women who practiced mindfulness over a period of several weeks were “bothered less” by hot flashes and night sweats and reported improvements in overall quality of life. ( 10 )
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Higher-than-normal stress levels can negatively impact skin and worsen inflammatory skin conditions, including eczema , psoriasis , and acne , according to Apple Bodemer, MD , a dermatologist at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison.
Meditation has been shown to deactivate parts of the brain that are stimulated by chronic itch and stress and to decrease inflammatory markers. ( 11 ) Patient interviews in past research on eczema and mindfulness reported that subjects noted an improvement in sleep quality and the ability to handle stress, as well as improved ability to stop the itch-scratch cycle. ( 12 )
Benefits of Mindfulness for Self-Care
Mindfulness can be an important component of self-care because it gives you the space to check in with yourself different moments; by noticing your thoughts and feelings, you can make adjustments to your habits and behaviors, says Ehrman.
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Improved Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence is the ability to perceive, understand, regulate, and express emotions in ways that are appropriate to the situation and context, according to an article in the November 2018 issue of Frontiers in Psychology. ( 13 ) By staying present in the moment, you can be more thoughtful in how you speak or react, says Ehrman. “Say you’re in a difficult situation or having a difficult conversation with someone, take a breath or two before you respond. Just settle yourself so that you’re actually deciding what you’re going to say and how you’re going to say it,” she says.
Improved Ability to Make Diet and Food Choices
Mindful eating is a good practice, whether you’re eating healthy foods or not, says Ehrman. “If you’re going to eat some ice cream or your favorite brownie, you should thoroughly enjoy it,” she says.
“How often do you take the first bite and go, ‘That’s great,’ and then you’re off the races in your head about stuff and the next thing you know, you’ve eaten it all without realizing it,” she says. “As my husband sometimes says, ‘Who finished my popcorn?’ she adds with a laugh.
“When you eat mindfully, you may find that you eat less because you’re more satisfied,” she says.
Better Sleep and Less Insomnia
Our thoughts often start racing as soon as our head hits the pillow, says Ehrman. “We begin thinking about what didn’t get accomplished, what needs to get done tomorrow, or an uncomfortable situation that we’ve been ‘spinning’ all day,” she says.
“Instead of going down that path, try to mindfully get into bed and take 30 seconds to feel your body resting on the mattress. Feel the covers resting on your skin and how comfortable those covers feel and just breathe,” she says. Be present with the fact that the day is done, and give yourself permission to simply lie there and breathe, says Ehrman.
There is research to back up this advice, including a randomized clinical trial published in April 2015 in JAMA Internal Medicine. Investigators found that mindfulness was more effective in improving sleep and daytime tiredness than a sleep hygiene education intervention. ( 14 )
How to Start Practicing Mindfulness
Choose a place where you can be free of interruptions from people, pets, and anything else, suggests Ehrman. “Use your smart device to set a timer for one or two minutes. If you want to have some instrumental music or nature sounds in the background, do that,” she says.
“Sit or lie down comfortably — you don’t have to be cross-legged or with your thumb and a certain finger together — you don’t have to do any of that,” says Ehrman. “If you’re comfortable closing your eyes, I suggest you do that, because that can take out a lot of distractions. Then just pay attention to your breathing,” she says. When you have some kind of thought, just tell yourself you’ll come back to that later, and go back to focusing on your breathing, she says.
Often people focus on a mantra, which can be spiritual or secular, says Ehrman. A mantra is a word or phrase that is repeated during mindfulness. Examples of mantras are, “In this moment, I am well,” or “In this moment, I am peaceful and calm,” she says. “You can also focus on just a word — for example, ‘joy,’ and just repeat that at your own pace.”
Even for someone who has been practicing mindfulness for as long as Ehrman has, there can be an ongoing argument in her head about whether it’s working or if she should continue. “And that’s okay. There’s no good or bad or right or wrong way — it’s a practice every day,” she says.
You don’t necessarily need a dedicated space or a timer to practice mindfulness, says Ehrman. “You can practice anywhere. You don’t even need to sit; you can stand and gaze out the window or even stare at a beautiful scene on your screensaver, she says.
Another way to begin the practice of mindfulness is through yoga , a mind-body practice that incorporates movement with mindfulness, says Ehrman. “In yoga, you have to pay attention to the position in the body and breathe into it. It’s very difficult to be in your head and actually do the yoga positions well,” she says. “Focus and balance are also very strongly connected — try to stand on one foot while you’re thinking about your to-do list, and you’ll fall over right away,” she says.
Mindfulness Resources
If you’re ready to try mindfulness, most communities have universities or community organizations such as the YMCA to get you started. Below is a list of some of recommended resources to help you begin your journey.
Books
Wherever You Go, There You Are, by Jon-Kabat Zinn
Mindfulness, by Mark Williams and Denny Penman
Peace is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life, by Thich Nhat Hanh
Online Resources