Can mindfulness help you improve your own mental health? Elizabeth Tracey reports

Play

Two plus years of pandemic and all the other global worries have brought many to increased anxiety and depression. Neda Gould, a mindfulness expert at Johns Hopkins, says bringing a practice of mindfulness meditation to your life may prove very helpful.

Gould: The regular practice of meditating and bringing mindfulness to daily life actually results in decreased stress, anxiety, and depression. We see these findings repeatedly in both clinical and nonclinical populations. In some studies mindfulness can help the immune system, cardiovascular health, can help pain significantly. There’s decreased pain disability, pain severity, and increased pain acceptance.  :33

Gould notes that any mindfulness practice begins with the notion that it is a practice, so patience and persistence are key. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.