Avoiding stress altogether may be impossible, but doesn’t need to rule your life. Many have turned to mindfulness based stress reduction (or MBSR) as a way to reduce stress and have better control over thoughts. Fundamentally, MBSR is a program that helps to bring awareness to the present moment using breathing techniques yoga, meditation, and more to achieve well being. Below are some of the benefits of mindfulness based stress reduction:

1. Anxiety management
Stress is a part of life, no matter who you are. However, when it’s uncontrolled it can become more than a short-lived response to day to day situations; it can become something more pathological like anxiety. Luckily mindfulness, especially mindfulness meditation stress reduction has been shown to help with anxiety in even severe cases such as in those with high-stress careers and even those with PTSD.

2. Helps with sleep disorders
Oftentimes, sustained high stress leads to trouble sleeping. It can be difficult letting go of the stressful thoughts, to-do lists, etc, that stick to us like glue throughout the day. Research has shown that participants in a mindfulness based stress reduction program were better able to let go of their anxieties and were able to get more hours of sleep as well as better quality hours in dreamland.

3. Alleviates depression
Depression goes hand in hand with anxiety and trouble sleeping. Both testimonials and studies have shown mindfulness training to be a promising approach towards the treatment and reduction of depressive symptoms, in both mild and severe cases. MBSR encourages self-reflection without judgment and the practice of self-compassion. For someone suffering from the self-neglect and feelings of inadequacy that so often accompany depression, these techniques are incredibly powerful.

4. Pain management
Pain, especially chronic pain, is a huge worldwide problem. Medical facilities are often overrun by people seeking pain relief. But there may be an easier, healthier, and less expensive way to find relief. Mindfulness based stress reduction training has been shown to reduce pain symptomatology in chronic pain symptoms for up to three years after completing the program. It may be that MBSR improves emotional flexibility and the ability to accept what is, thereby improving the psychological experience of pain itself. Whatever the reasons, mindfulness has made a huge difference for some of those suffering from chronic pain.

5. Mindfulness and cognitive diseases
Evidence suggests that mindfulness training may be able to improve cognition and that it may even affect the hippocampus in the brain which affects memory and learning. Chronic stress has a negative impact on this part of the brain, leading to mild cognitive impairment or even Alzheimer’s. Mindfulness training helps people with cognitive impairment decrease and control this stress. This is why MBSR is such an important tool in helping slow or maybe reverse cognitive decline.