Like many people, I have the intention of practising self-care. I know that meditating each day will help break me out of stressful thought spirals, but it has never become a part of my regular routine. With tight deadlines and family commitments, there just doesn’t seem to be the time.
Slow breathing can calm the mind without any need for mindfulness A new book – Micropractice: a science-backed approach for calm, clarity and joy in 30 seconds or less by US psychologist Eli Susman – might just offer the solution to my problem. Drawing on a growing body of research, he argues that we can glean many of the benefits of mindfulness from extremely brief exercises, lasting just 30 seconds or less. If you’re sceptical, I can understand why.
I would have been, too, if I hadn’t previously written about some of Susman’s research for New Scientist. A few years ago, he investigated the benefits of a very short self-compassion meditation, which encouraged participants to “send kindness and warmth” to themselves “by bringing one hand to your belly and the other to your chest, with the energy of giving yourself a hug”. The aim, according to Susman and his colleagues, was for participants to treat themselves like they would treat a friend.
That was it – 20 seconds of deliberate effort to treat themselves kindly. They were then asked to practise it daily for a month. Those who followed the instructions showed considerably less stress, and better overall mental health at the follow-up compared with participants who had instead practised a short sequence of finger-tapping exercises in place of the meditation.
In his new book, Susman describes similarly optimistic results for many other lifestyle interventions. And yet, it’s rarely acknowledged.” Consider “breathwork”, which typically revolves around slowing our inhalations and exhalations, has proven benefits for our mental health. The length of the interventions varies widely, but a large meta-analysis suggests that the duration is largely unimportant.
Even a short period of bodily movement can bring enormous benefits for our mental state. As evidence, Susman points to a study of surgeons, who were asked to perform stretches for 90 seconds every 40 to 60 minutes of the working day. The minimal adjustment to their routine improved their mental focus and reduced the physical pain that normally accompanies their work.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
