Doing physical activity while practicing mindfulness would improve physical and mental well-being.
- Sport and mindfulness, practiced separately, are good for physical and mental health.
- According to a study, combining the two would significantly improve the level of well-being.
- This can make it easier to start physical activity, improve our tolerance for our shortcomings and help cope with any pain.
If you put “play sports” on the list of your resolutions for 2024, you can add “in full consciousness”. According to a study published in Mental Health and Physical Activitypracticing mindful physical activity would be more effective than sport alone in improving physical and mental well-being.
Also called mindfulness, the notion designates the fact of being attentive to the present moment. “Mindfulness can be practiced in a so-called formal way (sitting or walking meditation, yoga, etc.) or even informally by striving to be fully present at each moment in the usual activities of the day: drinking, eating, listening. music, looking out the window and so on”specifiesuniversity of Lavalin Canada.
Sport and mindfulness: greater improvement in physical and mental health
Numerous studies have shown that physical activity and practicing mindfulness have psychological benefits. This new research focuses on the combination of the two. It was led by psychologist Masha Remskar, from the University of Bath in the United Kingdom. This specialist and her team reviewed 35 studies carried out on the subject.
Analysis of the results shows that mindfulness during physical exercise improves well-being and mental health, “perhaps more than either approach alone”, estimate the authors. According to them, mindfulness can help break down the blocks associated with practicing physical exercise, helping people find the motivation to start, while allowing them to cope with any pain, discomfort or discomfort. feelings of failure when things become difficult.
Well-being: how to explain the benefits of sport combined with mindfulness?
“Mindfulness is an approach that can help us ‘develop’ the psychological strengths we need to exercise and be more in tune with our bodies, but also make exercise more interesting and recognize the benefits, develops Masha Remskar. This may be because being more mindful makes us think differently about our lifestyle, making us more tolerant and less critical of our own flaws, which can help us adopt healthy habits.” For this specialist and her team, this work is a first step: they intend to carry out a larger trial to analyze the optimal times to combine exercise and mindfulness in order to derive the most benefits.
