The Nutrient: MBSR, Responding instead of reacting, Meditation resolves anxiety

Research

Effects of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction on employees’ mental health
Journal: PLOS ONE

A review of 23 studies found that mindfulness can decrease the levels of emotional exhaustion (aka burnout) at work.

"Demanding workplace challenges can produce stress and symptoms of burnout. In the Netherlands, the professionals reporting the highest levels of work pressure and stress are teachers and healthcare providers, and teachers appear to have the highest burnout percentage in the Dutch workforce. Burnout is a major cause of loss of engagement, disease, and disability."

How would being mindful help prevent burnout?

"Baer highlighted several mechanisms that might account for how mindfulness skills can reduce symptoms and bring about behavioral change: exposure, cognitive change, self-management, relaxation, and acceptance."

Name another intervention that can offer the same benefits. Exercise comes to mind, but it doesn't offer acceptance.

Anything else?

"We also found a significant increase in mindfulness, personal accomplishment, (occupational) self-compassion, quality of sleep, and relaxation."

I'm telling you, mindfulness is a superpower.

Article

Use mindfulness to respond to stress instead of overreacting
Dr. Adam

Do you react or respond to stress? The difference is all about control, which comes from being mindful.

"...something unexpected happens when you start to pay attention to the physical sensations, perceptions, thoughts and imagery of the present: gradually, the mind quiets."

News

Meditation Equal to First-Line Medication for Anxiety
Medscape

"What was remarkable was that the medication worked great, like it always does, but the meditation also worked great; we saw about a 30% drop in symptoms for both groups. That helps us know that meditation, and in particular mindfulness meditation, could be useful as a first-line treatment for patients with anxiety disorders."

Here's a reminder of the options beyond (and in addition to) an SSRI to treat anxiety. The issue is the time commitment. This article references a study where participants meditated for 45 minutes a day(!) for 8 weeks. Is meditation helpful? Of course. The therapeutic dose is just a lot compared to taking a pill, which makes it a tough sell. That's why it's mission-critical to start a mindfulness practice now, even it's just a few minutes a day, even if you're not anxious.

Words of the week

"How we pay attention to the present moment largely determines the character of our experience, and therefore, the quality of our lives." – Sam Harris