A few years ago, I visited a psychologist for anxiety. One thing I remember that was really interesting was a technique called ‘mindfulness’. It is a bit like meditation. Essentially, you sit down, allow thoughts to come and go without focusing or worrying about them, pay attention to how your breathing feels, and pay attention to internal and external feelings, such as tension in your muscles, or quiet sounds outside.
I know many people dismiss meditation and mindfulness as silly or unrealistic, but it actually has some real scientific evidence supporting it. My psychologist recommended a few videos, which I will link below. Mindfulness can help relieve symptoms of anxiety, and even cause measurable, physical changes to your brain.
Headspace is a great way to get into mindfulness. They have videos as short as 1 minute guiding you though mindfulness sessions. You can find more about it here!
Psychology is a relatively new science, less than 200 years old, so I think it is exciting to discover just how much influence psychology has on physiology. Some people say “it’s all in your head” and it might be, but your head is still part of your body.
If you have time, this is a longer discussion of mindfulness:
You can even measure your level of mindfulness with this tool!
Author: Aidan Court