Hello everyone! It’s April from Relax Lang Mom here. I hope you’re all doing well on this lazy Sunday afternoon.
Today I want to share about a fascinating topic I’ve been exploring – the benefits of mindfulness meditation. As many of you know, being a mom means life can get pretty hectic at times between the kids’ activities, housework, and trying to juggle everything else. I’m always on the lookout for ways we can help manage stress and take better care of our mental health. Now listen, I know sitting still and being quiet with your thoughts isn’t always the easiest thing for us busy mamas to make time for. Believe me, I get it – between the kids, chores, and everything else spinning around in my head, finding a spare moment can feel almost impossible!
Benefits of Mindfulness Meditation
But hear me out, because I really think taking even just a few minutes a day could start improving our lives in some pretty cool ways. For starters, the studies show mindfulness really helps sharpen our focus and attention spans. (Dwivedi, 2013)[1]. In particular, MRI scans detected increased activity in brain regions tied to attention and sensory processing after mindfulness training. As any mom knows, those often take the biggest hits with our crazy schedules! But can you imagine how much smoother your mornings might go if you felt a little more mentally rested and on top of things?
That’s why I was so intrigued when I came across some recent research on mindfulness meditation. The scientific studies are showing it has all sorts of cognitive, psychological, physical and social benefits. It gets better too. Did you know that apart from improving your attention, memory, processing speeds and executive functioning, researchers are also finding that mindfulness may help boost our memory and problem-solving skills over time. How sweet would that be? To feel like you’ve got all your mom brain balls in the air without dropping any. Plus it seems to lift peoples’ moods and lower stress levels. We sure could use more of that around here, am I right?!
Research also found mindfulness enhances emotional regulation, and leads to greater emotional stability overall. In another well-designed study, researchers at Wake Forest University found improvements in working memory, executive functioning and visuo-spatial processing among participants who completed an 8-week mindfulness program (Zeidan et al., 2010)[2]. Beyond performance gains, mindfulness trainees also reported reduced fatigue, anxiety and improved mood. As moms we definitely experience lots of ups and downs with our emotions on a daily basis. Having tools to manage stress and ride those emotional waves seems so valuable.
There’s also evidence that regular mindfulness practice can help protect our brains as we age. It may counteract cognitive decline. Can you believe taking 10 minutes a day now might help protect our brains as we get older? Sign me up for that anti-aging powers, yo! I’ll take any edge I can get. That’s an amazing anti-aging perk if you ask me! Some studies have also linked mindfulness to better treatment of depression and anxiety. For those of us who struggle with those issues now and then, that’s certainly good to know.
And if you can believe it, studies even point to mindfulness helping us be even nicer, more thoughtful people overall. Feeling like you’re becoming anti-social? Researchers found mindfulness relates to increased prosocial behavior too. So not only are we taking care of our own mental health and stress levels with meditation, we may even become better family members and community members in the process. Wouldn’t that be nice? I know my house could always use a little more calm, kindness, and cooperation!
having read this, it seems like mindfulness meditation really is a well-rounded practice that supports so many aspects of our well-being. I plan to keep exploring this topic and learning more techniques to try. So look, I’m not saying it’ll be easy to carve out meditation time at first. But even starting with just 5 minutes here and there could start you noticing a difference.
For any of you interested in giving mindfulness a shot yourself, let me know if you’d like some easy beginner meditation resources and guides. And be sure to sign up for my newsletter so you don’t miss next month’s self-care spotlight article.
Let me know if you want to be accountability buddies or have any other questions. You’ve got this mama – I believe in you! Now it’s time for me to head to the farm and watch the sunset with a cup of tea. Hope everyone has a relaxing rest of your day! Thanks for reading!
