A university student and community volunteer, Matthew “Matt” Kafker has participated in two international volunteer missions through the Global Works organization. During his free time, Matt Kafker pursues a healthy lifestyle that includes practicing mindfulness meditation.
A discipline that dates back thousands of years to Eastern religions and spiritual practices, mindfulness meditation involves the practitioner paying attention to the present moment through mantras, conscious breathing exercises, or other methods. The practice has made its way into mainstream Western culture over the past few decades through the efforts of yoga practitioners, religious gurus, and scientists such as Jon Kabat-Zinn, a Harvard-based researcher and doctor who popularized the connection between mindful meditation and improved health.
In recent years, a growing body of evidence suggests that mindfulness meditation has beneficial effects for insomnia, anxiety, chronic pain, and a host of other medical issues. Additionally, researchers are finding that mindfulness meditation, along with a mindfulness meditation-based treatment called mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT), can help with depression as well.
For example, recent studies have shown that mindfulness meditation and MBCT can be effective in preventing patients with controlled depression from sliding back into depressive symptoms. Meanwhile, in 2014, a meta-study published in JAMA Internal Medicine looked at nearly 50 studies on the link between mindfulness and depression and found that mindfulness meditation offers the same level of benefit for individuals with depression as medication does.
No comments:
Post a Comment