Mindfulness-where you are aware of your thoughts and feelings-is a good protection against heart disease, a new study has found.
People who are more focused on the present moment, their thoughts, sensations and feelings and what is going on around them, have far better cardiovascular health than people who are unaware.
In a study of 382 people, whose ‘dispositional mindfulness’, as it’s known, was calculated according to their awareness of the present moment, 83 per cent of those who had the highest scores also had good cardiovascular health.
Heart health was assessed according to the participants’ body-mass index (BMI) score, physical activity, fasting glucose and smoking. Other standard measures, such as cholesterol levels and blood pressure, weren’t used as these don’t have a direct impact on our feelings, said researchers from Brown University.
(Source: International Journal of Behavioural Medicine, 2014; doi: 10.1007/s12529-014-9448-9)
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