Dedicating just 10 minutes a day to mindfulness can improve emotional well-being, reduce depression and anxiety, and promote healthier lifestyle habits, according to a study that highlights the transformative power of mindfulness practice.
New research by scientists at the University of Southampton and the University of Bath reveals how brief moments of mindfulness of just 10 minutes a day can improve wellbeing, combat depression and anxiety and motivate people to adopt a healthy lifestyle. healthier, including better exercise, eating and sleeping habits. The findings have been published in British Journal of Health Psychology.
The study included 1,247 adults from 91 countries and shows that short mindfulness sessions, offered through the free Medito mobile application, can provide significant benefits. The participants, mostly without prior mindfulness experience, were randomly assigned to a mindfulness routine for a month or to a control group that listened to clips from Alice in Wonderland. Daily mindfulness sessions included relaxation exercises, intention setting, body scanning, focused attention on breathing, and self-reflection.
Participants completed surveys about their mental health before and after 30 days of mindfulness training. The results were surprising. After the training, participants who used the mindfulness app reported:
- Reduction of depression by 19.2% more than the control group.
- Improved well-being by 6.9% more.
- Decrease in anxiety by another 12.6%.
- More positive attitudes towards health by 7.1% more than the control group.
- Greater intention to take care of their health by 6.5% more than the control group.
An accessible tool to improve mental health
Co-author Dr Ben Ainsworth, leader of the Digital Intervention Group at the University of Southampton, said: “The research highlights how digital technology, in this case a free app, can help people integrate behavioral and psychological techniques into their lives in a way that suits them.”
The positive effects of mindfulness were largely maintained after 30 days. At follow-ups one month later (Day 61), the mindfulness group continued to show improvements in their well-being, depression, attitudes, and even reported better sleep quality.
In their comments, participants highlighted numerous benefits of practicing mindfulness, such as greater self-control, gratitude, being more patient and enjoying the present moment more, gaining a better understanding of how the mind works, and having a better perspective on many things: a different view of the world.
“It is encouraging to see that such a light and accessible intervention can impact healthy lifestyle behaviors and that these benefits were maintained after the mindfulness course ended.”
Excitingly, this study is one of the first to show that the benefits of mindfulness for well-being and mental health can arise from the changes in lifestyle behaviors it promotes. This highlights the potential for mindfulness practice to encourage healthier living, such as exercising regularly, something the team is keen to investigate next.
The study was led by psychologist Masha Remskar, an expert in behavior change, mindfulness and exercise, based at the University of Bath, who commented: “This study demonstrates that even brief, daily mindfulness practices can offer benefits, becoming an simple but powerful tool to improve mental health.”
Commenting on findings linking mindfulness practice with healthier habits, Remskar added: “It’s exciting to see how the benefits of mindfulness extend beyond depression, well-being and anxiety, and into other health behaviors like sleep.” better and develop stronger intentions to lead a healthy lifestyle. Mindfulness builds the psychological skills necessary to establish healthy habits; we hope to demonstrate in future work that once these skills are acquired, they can be used to improve various health behaviors, from; exercise regularly until you stop smoking.
“It is encouraging to see that such a lightweight and accessible intervention, with the potential to reach a wide global audience, can impact healthy lifestyle behaviors. Even more encouraging is that these benefits were maintained after the course of mindfulness, suggesting that this practice can help build sustainable habits,” concludes Dr. Max Western from the University of Bath and co-author of the work.
