Mindfulness really is one of the best ways to tackle stress
IT’S the form of meditation beloved by Hollywood stars. Now a study has found that mindfulness really is one of the best ways to tackle anxiety.
Researchers found that the Buddhist philosophy was far more effective than other techniques for stress-management.
Mindfulness, championed by actresses Emma Watson and Angelina Jolie, holds that the worries of everyday life can be eased by paying greater attention to what is happening in the present.
A study found it can cut levels of stress hormones which can lead to high blood pressure. Researchers asked 89 participants with anxiety to give a demanding presentation in front of an audience in white lab coats with clipboards.
Those who had practised mindfulness coped much better than those using conventional stress-busting tactics, which include time management, eating better and exercising more. The study’s lead author, Dr Elizabeth Hoge, of Massachusetts General Hospital, said: ‘This is not just a fad, it has been around for thousands of years in Buddhist countries, and we have found it helps people in a very practical sense.
‘We think it works because it helps people create a little bit of distance between their thoughts and themselves, seeing that their worries will pass.’
The research, in the journal Psychiatry Research, looked at patients with generalised anxiety disorder – chronic and excessive worrying.
They were randomly divided, with half taking an eight-week mindfulness course.
In sessions lasting two-and-ahalf hours, these people went through the three main tenets of mindfulness, first focusing closely on their breathing and then different parts of their body, before doing some gentle Hatha yoga stretching exercises. The meditation was followed by ‘homework’ such as eating a meal mindfully by focusing on every bite.
When tested for levels of the adrenocorticotropic hormone, which is triggered by stress, their levels were lower than the other half of the group.
They had done a more traditional stress- management course, involving advice about how to use their time, nutrition and sleep, with recorded tapes to take home. The researchers found the mindfulness group were also better able to cope with a stressful short-notice eight-minute public speaking task in front of a panel of people wearing white lab coats, taking notes and holding a large video camera, followed by a fiveminute mental arithmetic test.
Dr Hoge said: ‘We were testing the patients’ resilience, because that’s really the ultimate question – can we make people handle stress better?’