Mindfulness
Sunny Krishnani
Something I would read up on is practicing Mindfulness. In graduate school, I wrote a whole paper on its benefits of relieving stress. When one fails to manage stress, it can be the start of some dangerous health risk factors such as high cholesterol, heart disease, and even strokes
Heart disease is the number one cause of death in the United States for the adult population. It affects adults of all ages, genders, races, and socioeconomic statuses and is associated with many unhealthy behaviors. Heart disease, also known as cardiovascular disease, includes artery and blood vessel diseases, heart rhythm diseases, and heart defects. This disease is the cause for one in four deaths and 610,000 people in the United States each year. It can be caused by a multitude of unhealthy behaviors. Stress and, more specifically, poor stress management is known to greatly increase the likelihood of the three main risk factors of heart disease; physical inactivity, unhealthy eating, and increased tobacco and alcohol use. Stress also exposes the body to many unhealthy hormones and physiological changes. Stress has also been linked to blood clots, which can directly cause a heart attack. However, identifying stress and being able to cope with stress is associated with lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels.
Currently, 44% of Americans feel more stressed now than they did 5 years ago; 1 in 5 of them feel extreme stress (heart palpitations, shaking, depression). According to the American Institute of Stress, 75% of all doctor’s visits are due to stress-related ailments and stress is the basic cause of 60% of all human illnesses. Stress related ailments cost the US $300 billion a year, $100 billion more than what obesity costs.
Work-related stress is the cause for 10% of total strokes.
What mindfulness is is living life "in the moment." Mindfulness is a state of active, open attention on the present. When you're mindful, you observe your thoughts and feelings from a distance, without judging them good or bad. Instead of letting your life pass you by, mindfulness means living in the moment and awakening to experience.
It is quick, easy, can be done almost anywhere and does not require anything, but one’s mind. Mindfulness is a very new and exciting field and is in turn gaining much attention in the stress coping research world. Since it is so new, there are no present statistics on how many adults in the U.S. are practicing mindfulness activities. However, data shows how beneficial this practice can be for those coping with stress. Grossman and associates performed a meta-analysis on mindfulness based stress reduction techniques and found that in almost all of the studies, stress levels decreased and ability to cope increased, among a broad range of individuals. Significant results on the individual level have also been seen. Individuals have reported significant decreases in their daily hassles, psychological distress, and even medical symptoms. This makes mindfulness based activities imperative for stress coping and may be important for preventing heart disease later in life. Mindfulness has also been known to have an amazing carryover effect. Those who use mindfulness to reduce stress are more likely to apply mindfulness techniques to health behaviors such as physical activity and healthy eating. In result, not only does mindfulness benefit the mind, but also physical health, making the benefits of mindfulness innumerable.
TL;DR Simple mindfulness activities include making time to play with pets and spending time with family, visiting a museum or other cultural event, meditation and yoga classes focused on stress relief, reading poetry, the newspaper, or other small pieces of literature, recreation, and recording one's feelings when being stressed.
Here are a few links and additional information to help you
http://www.forbes.com/sites/drewhansen/2012/10/31/a-guide-to-mindfulness-at-work/#38030d6870d7
http://www.pocketmindfulness.com/6-mindfulness-exercises-you-can-try-today/
http://www.mindful.org/5-tips-for-practicing-mindfulness-at-the-office/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thYoV-MCVs0 [20 min]
https://www.ted.com/talks/andy_puddicombe_all_it_takes_is_10_mindful_minutes?language=en
EDIT: Thank you for the gold! Happy to have the chance to share some of my info about Mindfulness to others.