Mindfulness & Healthy Lifestyle Optimisation
Being mindful in everyday life influences engagement in healthy behaviours. So often we decide to make changes to our health aiming to do more exercise, eat well and improve sleep quality. However, to make these healthy behaviours stick it is important to have the psychological and emotional tools in place to support change. A high level of stress is a strong predictor of unhealthy behaviour, unless this is managed, the positive intentions we have around our health are hard to achieve.
By exploring the ways Mindfulness can reduce stress, it is possible to see how these mechanisms lead to long term, sustainable healthy behaviours.
Mindfulness Mechanisms Supporting Healthy Behaviour
Mindfulness—paying non-judgmental attention to the present moment, influences behavioural health through several different processes.
Reduced stress perceptions and reactions
Experience is made up of two elements, primary and secondary. Primary is our direct felt experience in the moment, we are aware of this through our senses. Secondary is our reactions to the experience, thoughts and judgements we automatically add. Mindfulness helps us to observe primary experience and separate this from secondary experience. In stressful situations, we become aware of how the body feels and notice when the mind is automatically generating unhelpful threatening thoughts and emotions. This situational distancing supports us to alter our perceptions of stress, to stay with the body and let go of judgement.
Mindfulness supports us to be more aware of how we react to aversion. Primarily where do we feel it in the body? We then notice the secondary thoughts, emotions and tension that arise when we fight difficult experience. Mindfulness helps us to bring an attitude of acceptance rather than automatically chasing stressors away, we respond wisely rather than react. This adaptive stress response promotes wellbeing.
By improving our stress perceptions and reactions we gain a heightened sense of control and internal motivation to make healthier choices.
Increased psychological flexibility and greater reappraisal use
Mindfulness helps to support a more flexible mindset and emotional management during times of stress. With constant competing demands on our time, it is difficult to prioritise healthy behaviours. Mindfulness helps to develop psychological flexibility. We learn to observe thoughts without judgement and learn that thoughts are not facts. This reduces the power of negative thought patterns that emerge during times of stress. With wise response, acceptance, values aligned action and more self-compassion, we can better manage changing circumstances. We can sustain engagement with different situational demands. This reduces stress, promotes coping techniques and supports maintenance of long-term health goals.
Mindfulness encourages cognitive change through habitual reappraisal, learning to modify emotional responses to a situation. This prevents habitual negative interpretations of events that can impact the pursuit of health goals. Situations are met with curiosity and adaptive responses. This supports self-compassion and understanding, so health goals are not abandoned but reassessed and maintained.
Evidence shows that mindfulness enhances coping techniques and reduces stress. With a more flexible mindset and better management of emotions, we can engage more fully in healthy behaviours. Research highlights a strong positive association between mindfulness and sleep quality, physical activity and healthy diet. This understanding of how mindfulness influences behavioural health shows the powerful combination offered by mindfulness teaching and health coaching.
