Benefits & Research

What are the benefits of mindfulness?

Research sited by the British Mindfulness Academy in 2023 has presented the following findings.

  • Anxiety, stress, depression, exhaustion and irritability all decrease with regular sessions.  
  • Mindfulness improves working memory, creativity, attention span and reaction speeds. It also enhances mental and physical stamina and resilience.
  • It soothes the parts of the brain that produce stress hormones and builds those areas that lift mood and promote learning.
  • Mindfulness can dramatically reduce pain and the emotional reaction to it.
  • It even reduces some of the thinning of certain areas of the brain that naturally occurs with ageing.
  • Mindfulness improves mood and quality of life in chronic pain conditions.
  • Mindfulness reduces the risk of developing and dying from cardiovascular disease and lowers its severity should it arise.

Research studies available

Research suggests that people with higher levels of mindfulness are better able to regulate their sense of well – being by virtue of greater emotional awareness, understanding, acceptance, and the ability to correct or repair unpleasant mood states. Baer et al., 2008; cf. Brown, Ryan & Creswell, 2007; Feldman et al. 2007

An eight week study showed that individuals who had the largest shifts in frontal brain activity also had the strongest anti – body reaction to a flu vaccine. That study was the first to show that Mindfulness training can change the brain and the immune system in a way that may increase resistance to disease. Davidson and colleagues, 2003.              

Research has consistently shown that mindfulness training reduces symptoms of stress and negative mood states and increases emotional well – being and quality of life among people with chronic illness. Ludwig and Kabat – Zinn, 2008.