Mindful Exercise Analysis

Reflection I chose to try doing a mindfulness exercise every morning for twenty-one days in order to see the effects it would have. A few years ago I was really good about consistently doing a mindful exercise every morning and I remembered it having a positive effect. Based on my past experiences I decided to give it another try. At the end of the twenty-one days, I found there was a heavy decrease in stress, my memory was improved slightly, emotions were more level, and my mind was sharper or more focused. The stress or anxiety levels decreasing as well as emotions being level is a very common effect people find with practicing mindfulness, “ In one study, participants randomly assigned to an eight-week mindfulness-based stress reduction
It felt like by taking ten minutes out of the beginning of the day I was already being productive. This improved mood and attitude definitely helped me at work (and the occupation dimension) with dealing with problems or issues. I had much more patience and had the ability to clear my mind in order to deal with the problem in front of me. This improved my social dimension of wellness as well by putting me in a better frame of mind to communicate with those close to me. Some of the activities also involved another person which contributed to this positive change. Another interesting change I noticed was in my sleep patterns. I normally have a fair bit of difficulty falling and staying asleep, as well as waking up. Through some research I found that there’s actually a connection with reduced insomnia symptoms and doing mindful meditations, “A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials for insomnia found that eight weeks of in-person meditation training significantly improved total waking time and sleep quality in patients with insomnia” (Headspace Company). I think overall that I picked a habit that was easy for me to stick to as I could do it (in some cases) on the go, as well as having some flexibility in timing. I wanted to stick to morning to help my mind free up space and be in the right mind set for the day to come, but it wasn’t something that was