A growing body of research has shown multiple benefits of mindfulness, including helping smokers quit[1] their habit, improving sleep quality[2] , and even helping students score higher [3] on standardized tests. Now, mindfulness training has been linked with a number of positive outcomes for physicians and their patients.


Mindfulness practice -- the cultivation of a focused awareness on the present moment -- can improve physicians' performance by not only preventing burnout, but also by helping them better connect with their patients, according to two small, recent studies[4] in the September/October issue of Annals of Family Medicine.


In the first study[5] , conducted by Dr. Luke Fortney, M.D., of the Meriter Medical Group in Madison, Wisc., and his team, 30 primary care physicians underwent a short mindfulness training course. They were then assessed for job satisfaction, quality of life and compassion for up to nine months after the course.


Compared to physicians who were not trained in mindfulness, participants showed improvements at one day, two months, and nine months after they were trained in the course. The researchers found that at nine months, the physicians were significantly less burnt out and had lower levels of depression, anxiety and stress, compared with doctors who didn't undergo the training course. They also scored higher on scales measuring compassion.


Mindfulness training programs could be an effective, low-cost way to prevent physician burnout, which can have a number of negative effects on the health care system, the physicians themselves, and patients, researchers said.


"Burnout negatively affects quality of care with profound personal implications, including suicidal ideation," the study's authors noted[6] . "Furthermore, physician attrition due to burnout is both disruptive to continuity of patient care and costly to health care organizations."


A second study[7] found that patients can benefit significantly from working with mindful physicians. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University conducted observational research on 45 clinicians who completed the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale[8] -- a measure used to gauge an individual's level of mindful awareness while conducting everyday activities -- and who cared for more than 400 HIV-positive patients at four HIV specialty clinics. Clinicians who scored higher on the mindfulness scale were more like to engage in patient-centered communication, meaning that the clinician and patient built a greater rapport and spent more time discussing psychosocial issues faced by the patient. The patients of mindful clinicians also reported high overall satisfaction.



"The benefits of mindful practice extend beyond the practitioner to his or her patients," Breach and the authors of the study concluded[9] . "It is not only that mindful practitioners can listen attentively, but that their patients are empowered to make their voice heard in areas that matter to them.


Mindfulness has been associated with a number of physical and mental health benefits[10] , including lower stress levels, improved cognitive functioning, and a decreased risk of developing various chronic illnesses. Mindfulness meditation has even been shown to boost creativity[11] and empathy[12] .


Mindfulness training programs can have wide-reaching benefits not just in the doctors' office, but also in the classroom. A recent University of Wisconsin study[13] found that mindfulness programs are effective in reducing stress and burnout among teachers, and a body of research supports the learning benefits of mindfulness for both schoolchildren [14] and college students[15] .



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  • It Lowers Stress -- Literally


    Research published just last month in the journal Health Psychology shows that mindfulness is not only associated with feeling less stressed, it's also linked with <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/31/mindfulness-meditation-cortisol-stress-levels_n_2965197.html" target="_blank">decreased levels of the stress hormone cortisol</a>.




  • It Lets Us Get To Know Our True Selves


    It lets us get to know our true selves. Mindfulness can help us see beyond those rose-colored glasses when we need to really <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/19/mindfulness-understand-personalities_n_2886102.html" target="_blank">objectively analyze ourselves</a>. A study in the journal Psychological Science shows that mindfulness can help us conquer common "blind spots," which can amplify or diminish our own flaws beyond reality.




  • It Can Make Your Grades Better


    Researchers from the University of California, Santa Barbara, found that college students <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/27/mindfulness-testing-focus-reading-comprehension_n_2957146.html" target="_blank">who were trained in mindfulness</a> performed better on the verbal reasoning section of the GRE, and also experienced improvements in their working memory. "Our results suggest that cultivating mindfulness is an effective and efficient technique for improving cognitive function, with widereaching consequences," the researchers wrote in the Psychological Science study.




  • It Could Help Our Troops


    The U.S. Marine Corps is in the process of seeing how mindfulness meditation training can improve troops' performance and <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/22/marine-corps-mindfulness-meditation_n_2526244.html" target="_blank">ability to handle -- and recover from -- stress</a>.




  • It Could Help People With Arthritis


    A 2011 study in the journal Annals of Rheumatic Disease shows that even though mindfulness training may not help to lessen pain for people with rheumatoid arthritis, it <em>could</em> help to <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/28/mindfulness-meditation-rheumatoid-arthritis_n_1171685.html" target="_blank">lower their stress and fatigue</a>.




  • It Changes The Brain In A Protective Way


    University of Oregon researchers found that integrative body-mind training -- which is a meditation technique -- can actually result in brain changes that may be protective against mental illness. The meditation practice was linked with <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/15/mindfulness-meditation-brain-integrative-body-mind-training_n_1594803.html" target="_blank">increased signaling connections in the brain</a>, something called axonal density, as well as increased protective tissue (myelin) around the axons in the anterior cingulate brain region.




  • It Works As The Brain's "Volume Knob"


    Ever wondered why mindfulness meditation can make you feel more focused and zen? It's because it helps the brain to have <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/14/mindfulness-meditation-brain_n_2680087.html" target="_blank">better control over processing pain and emotions</a>, specifically through the control of cortical alpha rhythms (which play a role in what senses our minds are attentive to), according to a study in the journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience.




  • It Makes Music Sound Better


    Mindfulness meditation improves our <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/06/mindfulness-meditation-music-engagement_n_2623292.html" target="_blank">focused engagement in music</a>, helping us to truly enjoy and experience what we're listening to, according to a study in the journal Psychology of Music.




  • It Helps Us Even When We're Not Actively Practicing It


    You don't have to actually be meditating for it to still <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/15/meditation-emotional-processing-emotions-brain_n_2123753.html" target="_blank">benefit your brain's emotional processing</a>. That's the finding of a study in the journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, which shows that the amygdala brain region's response to emotional stimuli is changed by meditation, and this effect occurs even when a person isn't actively meditating.




  • It Has Four Elements That Help Us In Different Ways


    The health benefits of mindfulness can be boiled <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/02/mindfulness-meditation-health_n_1070101.html#slide=309243" target="_blank">down to four elements</a>, according to a Perspectives on Psychological Science study: body awareness, self-awareness, regulation of emotion and regulation of attention.




  • It Could Help Your Doctor Be Better At His/Her Job


    Doctors, listen up: Mindfulness meditation could help you <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/01/mindfulness-meditation-doctors_n_1456870.html" target="_blank">better care for your patients</a>. Research from the University of Rochester Medical Center shows that doctors who are trained in mindfulness meditation are less judgmental, more self-aware and better listeners when it comes to interacting with patients




  • It Makes You A Better Person


    Sure, we love all the things meditation does for us. But it could also benefit people we interact with, by <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/02/meditation-compassion-do-good_n_2993793.html?utm_hp_ref=healthy-living" target="_blank">making us more compassionate</a>, according to a study in the journal Psychological Science. Researchers from Northeastern and Harvard universities found that meditation is linked with more virtuous, "do-good" behavior.




  • It Could Make Going Through Cancer Just A Little Less Stressful


    Research from the Jefferson-Myrna Brind Center of Integrative Medicine shows that <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/02/art-mindfulness-stress-relief-breast-cancer-patients_n_2219268.html" target="_blank">mindfulness coupled with art therapy</a> can successfully decrease stress symptoms among women with breast cancer. And not only that, but imaging tests show that it is actually linked with brain changes related to stress, emotions and reward.




  • It Could Help The Elderly Feel Less Lonely


    Loneliness among seniors can be dangerous, in that it's known to raise risks for a number of health conditions. But researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles, found that mindfulness meditation helped to <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/29/mindfulness-meditation-loneliness-elderly_n_1702112.html" target="_blank">decrease these feelings of loneliness</a> among the elderly, <em>and</em> boost their health by reducing the expression of genes linked with inflammation.




  • It Could Make Your Health Care Bill A Little Lower


    Not only will your health benefit from mindfulness meditation training, but your wallet might, too. Research in the American Journal of Health Promotion shows that <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21879945" target="_blank">practicing Transcendental Meditation</a> is linked with lower yearly doctor costs, compared with people who don't practice the meditation technique.




  • It Comes In Handy During Cold Season


    Aside from <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/15/cold-flu-prevention-natural-immune-boosters_n_2474430.html" target="_blank">practicing good hygiene</a>, mindfulness meditation and exercise could l<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/14/meditation-flu-cold-symptoms-mindfulness-exercise_n_1671543.html" target="_blank">essen the nasty effects of colds</a>. Researchers from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Health found that people who engage in the practices miss fewer days of work from acute respiratory infections, and also experience a shortened duration and severity of symptoms.




  • It Lowers Depression Risk Among Pregnant Women


    As many as one in five pregnant women will experience depression, but those who are at <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/12/mindfulness-yoga-depression-pregnancy_n_1760207.html" target="_blank">especially high risk for depression</a> may benefit from some mindfulness yoga. "Research on the impact of mindfulness yoga on pregnant women is limited but encouraging," study researcher Dr. Maria Muzik, M.D., an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Michigan, said in a statement. "This study builds the foundation for further research on how yoga may lead to an empowered and positive feeling toward pregnancy."




  • It Also Lowers Depression Risk Among Teens


    Teaching teens how to <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/15/mindfulness-in-schools-re_n_2884436.html" target="_blank">practice mindfulness through school programs</a> could help them experience less stress, anxiety and depression, according to a study from the University of Leuven.




  • It Supports Your Weight-Loss Goals


    Trying to shed a few pounds to get to a healthier weight? Mindfulness could be your best friend, according to a survey of psychologists conducted by Consumer Reports and the American Psychological Association. Mindfulness training was considered an "excellent" or "good" <a href="http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine/2013/02/lose-weight-your-way/index.htm" target="_blank">strategy for weight loss</a> by seven out of 10 psychologists in the survey.




  • It Helps You Seep Better


    We saved the best for last! A University of Utah study found that mindfulness training can not only help us better control our emotions and moods, but it can <em>also</em> help us sleep better at night. “People who reported higher levels of mindfulness described better control over their emotions and behaviors during the day. In addition, higher mindfulness was <a href="http://huffingtonpost.menshealthmags.com/2013/03/11/mindfulness-emotional-stability-sleep_n_2836954.html" target="_blank">associated with lower activation at bedtime</a>, which could have benefits for sleep quality and future ability to manage stress," study researcher Holly Rau said in a statement.




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