Mindfulness may reduce doctor visits

[Nelson Vergel]

I have used mindfulness by just breathing deeply 4 times per day and being aware of my surroundings and my body for 2 minutes. I use an app on my phone called Mindfulness (click here) to send me text reminders. This has really decreased by stress and made me more aware of my present moment. Even my blood pressure decreases. Most of us breathe too shallow and forget that all it takes is a few minutes a day to do this. I do not close my eyes or sit still. I just do what I am doing while breathing deep and concentrating on how alive I feel at that single moment. More and more research shows that mindfulness has health benefits.

New Canadian research finds a reduction in primary care visits among individuals receiving mindfulness-based therapy for depression.


Investigators discovered frequent health service users who received mindfulness-based cognitive therapy showed a significant reduction in non-mental health care visits over a one-year period, compared with those who received other types of group therapy.


The mindfulness therapy group had one fewer non-mental health visit per year, for every two individuals treated with this therapy – which translates into a reduction of nearly 2,500 visits to primary care physicians, emergency departments or non-psychiatric specialists in Ontario over eight years.

http://psychcentral.com/news/2014/0...pression-may-also-reduce-md-visits/73942.html

 

[Nelson Vergel]

For those of you who cannot sit still but still want to meditate in a practical way, here is an easy guide to do so while you are walking. I do this and it only takes 2-3 minutes.

Practice Walking Mindfully