Mindfulness

Improve Your Health and Wellbeing with Mindfulness

You’ve probably heard of the term “mindfulness.” But what you may not know is how vitally important mindfulness is to your overall health.

Studies have shown, time and time again, that mindfulness practices can help you manage stress, a major cause of a weakened immune system.

Mindfulness can also reduce anxiety and depression, and even help you better cope with serious illnesses.

Plus, those who practice mindfulness often say they are more relaxed, more self-confident, and generally happier in life.

What is Mindfulness?

Mindfulness is the quality or state of being conscious or aware of something. It’s also a mental state achieved by focusing one’s awareness on the present moment.

When we talk about mindfulness, it’s not something esoteric or “woo.” In fact, it’s something we all possess; we simply need to learn how to harness it.

Being mindful includes having deliberate awareness—paying attention on purpose.

It also involves being nonjudgmental, not seeing things as good or bad but just as they are. This is a vitally important point, as we all have a set of beliefs that we’ve learned over a lifetime.

Additionally, a big part of being mindful is being nonreactive or choosing not to give in to that automatic impulse when confronted by a situation.

“Mindfulness is the practice of being present in the moment without judgment. Mindfulness is a choice, and there are many techniques to help people become more intentional in their daily lives. It is a powerful tool with many documented health benefits. It has often been said that mindfulness is a prescription with no side effects.” 

Our Providers Are Excited to Help You!

Contact our New Patient Coordinator for a Free Phone Consultation. She can explain our protocols and fees in more detail so that you can enjoy a more vibrant and healthy life!

Contact our New Patient Coordinator at 972-960-4800

How Your Brain Responds to Mindfulness

While mindfulness has long been known to be a vital tool for improving health—both mental and physical—it’s also been shown to change the brain in some remarkable ways. Here are a few specific examples:

Cerebral Cortex:  This forms the outer layer of your brain and is home to your long-term memories. People who regularly practice mindfulness have been found to have more gray matter (the nerve cells that help with speech, memory, decision-making, and self-control) in this area.

Anterior Cingulate Cortex:  Located behind your brain’s frontal lobe, this area is responsible for attention, decision-making, and
impulse control. Mindfulness increases activity in this area, which leads to greater focus and self-control.

Prefrontal Cortex: Covering the front part of your brain’s frontal lobe, the prefrontal cortex helps you make decisions and perform complex cognitive tasks. Mindfulness helps strengthen his area while also weakening its connection to your brain’s emotional center, the amygdala.

Amygdala: Your amygdala is activated when you experience something emotional, which is why it’s considered your brain’s fight-or-flight center. Mindfulness helps to shrink this area.

Hippocampus:  Names (including the new colleague you met yesterday), directions (how to get to your cousin’s house, for example), and events (such as last weekend’s wedding) are tucked away here. Practicing mindfulness can make your hippocampus larger.

Health Benefits

Practicing mindfulness is not only good for your mental health, but it can also make a huge difference in your physical health.

We know that’s probably not a surprise because you understand how the mind and body are intimately connected. However, here are just a few of the many benefits of starting and continuing a mindfulness practice:

• Stress reduction
• Better mood
• Improved immune response
• Higher quality sleep
• Relaxation
• Less depression
• Anxiety control
• A more positive attitude
• Improved self-confidence
• A better understanding of self-defeating behaviors
• Better social relationships
• Increased creativity
• Longer attention span and increased ability to focus
• Lower blood pressure
• Decreased symptoms of gut issues, such as Irritable Bowel Disease (IBS)
• A better ability to cultivate kindness and compassion towards self and others
• Pain reduction, both physical and psychological

Elements of Mindfulness

Mindfulness contains three key elements: intentional awareness, living in the present, and life balance. By focusing on these elements, you can become far happier in life, far less stressed, and far healthier overall.

INTENTIONAL AWARENESS

When you’re intentionally aware, you are focusing on the present and consciously choosing to take a certain action. Here are some things you can start doing right now to practice intentional awareness in your life:

Look at what’s going on around you. This can be as simple as slowing down, getting out of your head, and taking a minute to really LOOK at your environment and what’s happening.

Tune out distractions. If you’re used to mindlessly scrolling through social media, for example, you’ll need to intentionally turn it off. Set a time each day when you look at social media and then set it aside the rest of the time.

Fuel your body with brain foods. Begin to consciously add more foods to your diet that help fuel your brainpower. This includes green, leafy vegetables, berries, fatty fish like salmon, nuts, and seeds.

Focus on how you affect others. When you’re interacting with another person, start becoming more aware of how they react to you. Are there things you could be doing that are affecting them positively? Negatively? By becoming more aware of this, you can change relationships for the better.

LIVING IN THE PRESENT

This is perhaps the most important—and often most difficult—element of mindfulness. It can be almost impossible to let go of the past in certain situations, yet it’s the only way you can truly move forward. Here are a few ways to start living more in the present:

Pray. The practice of setting aside time and connecting to something higher than yourself can be highly beneficial. It not only keeps you focused on the present, but it also connects you to something more spiritual and can relieve the pressures of daily living.

Meditate. There are many different forms of meditation, but they all share one thing in common: Meditation allows you to clear your mind, relax, and focus on the here and now. Meditation has been proven to reduce stress and offers many health benefits.

Volunteer. Helping others has been shown to be one of the most rewarding things a person can do. It reduces stress, increases self-confidence, and makes people happier. Plus, when you’re volunteering, you’re focused completely on your task or activity, which keeps you in the present.

Appreciate the small things. Take a bit of time each day to look around and feel gratitude for what you have right now. Gratitude is a powerful tool to bring you out fear, doubt, worry, or any other negative emotion. When you appreciate the small things in life, you’ll feel less stress and anxiety.

LIFE BALANCE

Mindfulness can help you get your life in balance—and who doesn’t need more balance in life, especially these days? We all have so many demands on our time, and things can easily become overwhelming. Here are a few ways to get your life in balance:

Take care of yourself. Self-care is not selfish. In fact, it’s vitally important for your overall well-being. This very much includes taking care of your health and being aware of what your body is telling you. For more information on how to improve your overall health, please read our Functional Medicine page.

Learn to say no. Take time to sit quietly, without distractions, and evaluate your priorities both at work and at home. Then, decide where you want to spend your time that will be most beneficial to you and say no to everything else. It’s about setting healthy boundaries—and boundaries are vital to prevent burnout!

Strengthen your relationships. Studies have shown that strong relationships and social support can improve health and increase longevity, so spend time nurturing relationships that mean something to you. This is also a part of evaluating your priorities and setting boundaries so you spend time with people who make you feel good. 

Roll with the punches. We all know that failure is a part of life—but how you deal with that failure can make all the difference. By practicing mindfulness, you’re far more likely to view any failure as something you simply let go of and move past. This not only makes you far happier but will also help you achieve your goal despite any temporary setback. 

For more simple tips on how you can start practicing mindfulness now, including how to begin a meditation practice, please read our blog post on the subject.

We Are Here to Help Achieve Greater Wellness

As you can see, mindfulness is an important part of your overall health and wellness, by helping you live a more intentional, happier life.

Combine a mindfulness practice with the services offered here at Forum Health Las Colinas, and you have the recipe for a life of greatly improved wellness!

Our providers help you achieve this through a functional medicine approach to find the root causes of diseases and conditions. We spend quality time with you in order to truly get to know you and treat you with a whole body/whole mind approach to promote optimal wellness and high quality of life.

If you are in a place of feeling unwell or experiencing unpleasant symptoms and feel like you need some help to get your life on track, come in and see us. While we are not psychologists, we are able to thoroughly identify and treat any physical issues that may be contributing to mental and emotional problems.

Often, we find that hormonal imbalances, gut health issues, nutritional deficiencies, and food sensitivities can all contribute to feelings of depletion, signs of an underlying illness, and more.

We can also provide guidance and/or referrals to help with your mental and spiritual health, and most importantly, our compassionate providers can be just the starting point you need and can be a big part of your support system.

The human body is a miraculous thing, and once steps are taken to restore you back to health, you will start to feel better quickly and will be on your way to a better quality of life filled with vitality and greatly improved health and wellness!

Our Providers Are Excited to Help You!

Contact our New Patient Coordinator for a Free Phone Consultation. She can explain our protocols and fees in more detail so that you can enjoy a more vibrant and healthy life!

Contact our New Patient Coordinator at 972-960-4800

Or complete the form below and she will contact you. There is no obligation to this consultation. If you feel we are a good fit for you, our New Patient Coordinator can also get you booked for your first appointment.