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Recent article on  the need for side jobs and more... 

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Recent article on  the need for side jobs and more... 

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Walton Family Foundation-Gallup K-12 Teacher Research

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Exploring the K-12 teacher experience in America.

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Gallup/Walton Supporting Teachers for Tomorrow 

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Gallup/Walton Supporting Teachers for Tomorrow 

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The ability to engage in internal thoughts without external stimulation is a unique characteristic in humans.

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Thinking about thinking: People underestimate how enjoyable and engaging just waiting is - PubMed

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The ability to engage in internal thoughts without external stimulation is a unique characteristic in humans. The current research tested the hypothesis that people metacognitively underestimate their capability to enjoy this process of “just thinking.” Participants (university students; total N = 2 …

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Gallup's 2025 Interactive Health Care map.

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Gallup's 2025 Interactive Health Care map.

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Check out Your States grade!

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Taking the Pulse of Healthcare in America - West Health-Gallup Center

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The West Health-Gallup Center on Healthcare highlights how Americans experience care in the U.S. through data-driven insights on cost, quality and access. Explore where the healthcare system is falling short and where change is urgently needed.

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What do those you lead most need from you? 

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What do those you lead most need from you? 

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Gallups' 2025 International Survey and their findings are here.

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Hope is powerful -- and it’s what people need most consistently from the leaders in their lives. See what this means for current and future leaders.

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Understanding Employees and Informing Leaders! 

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Understanding Employees and Informing Leaders! 

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Get the workplace trends, global engagement metrics and advice on how organizations can improve the workplace in the State of the Global Workplace Report.

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The Harvard Study and Lifespan Research Foundation

The joint mission of the Harvard Study of Adult Development (HSAD) and the Lifespan Research Foundation (LRF) is to promote and use the findings of adult lifespan research to enable people to live healthier lives filled with meaning, connection, and purpose.

​

Returning to Generation 2

In the next wave of our research, the Study will take a deeper dive into Generation 2. We plan to address three core themes:

1. Purpose and meaning: How do motivation and a sense of purpose in life change as we age? How does a global crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic change our views of ourselves and what is important to us? How do experiences in the family, at work, and with peers promote passionate engagement in life in the context of rapid societal change?

2. Community engagement: In our society, powerful cultural influences glorify individual achievement and happiness. What attitudes and experiences (in the family, with peers, at work) promote investment in the well-being of the community and the nation? What conclusions can we draw to inform how institutions might promote community involvement in rising generations?

3. Attention, relationships, and the role of electronic media: How do electronic media (screens, social media) shape patterns of attention and information acquisition, and how does this influence engagement in real-time relationships and activities? What makes some adults more vulnerable to the negative effects of electronic media? What can the research tell us that would help families, media providers, and others to maximize the positive value of electronic media on relationships?

On the Horizon

In its 9th decade, the Harvard Study of Adult Development, a unique and precious resource for understanding adult psychological and physical development across generations, continues its voyage of discovery, adding new information to its treasure trove of data, and fueling the Lifespan Research Foundation with knowledge to enable people to live healthier lives filled with meaning, connection, and purpose. W.T. Grant's groundbreaking vision continues to inspire new research that benefits the world.

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The Harvard Study of Adult Development - Lifespan Research Foundation

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Our study's goal is to find answers to what makes a happy and meaningful life. The mission of the Harvard Study of Adult Development and the Lifespan Research Foundation is to promote and use the research findings to enable people to live healthier lives filled with meaning, connection and purpose.

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2025 Gallup report about Gen Z K-12 students.  

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2025 Gallup report about Gen Z K-12 students.  

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Understanding school life from the students' point of view!

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Walton Family Foundation-Gallup Gen Z Research Hub

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Explore Gen Z’s perceptions of their lives, school and their outlook for the future.

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Use this tool to take action on your current sleep habits! 

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Use this tool to take action on your current sleep habits! 

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Love the advice provided is based on age ranges!

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Sleep Better at Every Age (Published 2023)

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Sleep needs shift throughout the lifespan. Experts offer tips to get more rest —  no matter how old you are.

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Wow! The Power of Working together and your social wellness.

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Teachers Who Collaborate, Learn at Work Are More Satisfied

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Teachers with meaningful growth opportunities report higher job satisfaction and lower burnout.

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How leaders can create a thriving culture (actions) for those they lead! 

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How leaders can create a thriving culture (actions) for those they lead! 

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Noticing: the practice of seeing and hearing others

Affirming: the practice of showing people how their unique gifts make a difference

Needing: the practice of showing people they're relied on and indispensable

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Increasingly, people report feeling overlooked, ignored, and underappreciated at work. Simply put, they don't feel like they matter to their leaders or organizations--and it's taking a toll. This hidden epidemic of insignificance is fueling a mental health crisis, intensifying loneliness, and, for organizations, driving disengagement, turnover, and low performance.

The good news is that leaders can learn the skills to ensure that everyone around them feels valued and knows how they add value at work. Through a captivating exploration of the emerging science of mattering and drawing from hands-on work in hundreds of diverse industries and organizations, researcher and speaker Zach Mercurio reveals how mattering to others is a fundamental--yet often overlooked--requirement for thriving.

He introduces a simple yet effective framework for making daily interactions with your people more meaningful:

Noticing: the practice of seeing and hearing others

Affirming: the practice of showing people how their unique gifts make a difference

Needing: the practice of showing people they're relied on and indispensable

Filled with practical advice, helpful exercises, and inspiring real-world examples, The Power of Mattering equips leaders at all levels with the tools they need to revitalize their teams--and entire organizations--by showing people that they matter.

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The Power of Mattering: How Leaders Can Create a Culture of Significance ^ 10768

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Buy books, tools, case studies, and articles on leadership, strategy, innovation, and other business and management topics

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Developing Social Connections and Improved Relationships at Work!  

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Developing Social Connections and Improved Relationships at Work!  

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7 Questions That Can Instantly Boost Your Work Relationships

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In the late 1990s, two psychology researchers at UCLA were talking about how the female scientists in their lab responded differently to stress than the men did. The men would disappear into their offices; the women would bring cookies to lab meetings and bond over coffee. Forget fight-or-flight, they joked. The women were tending and befriending.

The joke stuck in the mind of one of the women, postdoctoral researcher Laura Cousino Klein. Psychology research has suggested that stress leads to aggression, but that wasn't her experience. And it didn't fit with what she observed in other women either. They were more likely to want to talk with someone about their stress, spend time with their loved ones, or channel their stress into caring for others. She wondered if it was possible that science had gotten stress wrong.

Klein decided to dig deeper into the science, and she made the surprising discovery that 90 percent of the published research on stress was conducted on males. This was true of animal studies as well as human studies. When Klein shared this observation with Shelley Taylor, the director of the lab she worked in, something clicked for her, too. Taylor challenged her lab to study the social side of stress, especially in women. Looking at both animal and human research, they found evidence that stress can increase caring, cooperation, and compassion.

While the tend-and-befriend theory began as an investigation into the female response to stress, it quickly expanded to include men-in part because male scientists said, "Hey, we tend and befriend, too!"

Taylor's team, along with other research groups, began to demonstrate that stress doesn't only motivate self-defense, as scientists had long believed. It can also unleash the instinct to protect your tribe. This instinct sometimes expresses itself differently in men than it does in women, but the two sexes share it. In times of stress, both men and women have been shown to become more trusting, generous, and willing to risk their own well-being to protect others.

Why would stress lead to caring?

From an evolutionary point of view, we have the tend-and-befriend response in our repertoire first and foremost to make sure we protect our offspring. Think of a mama grizzly protecting her cubs, or a father pulling his son from the wreckage of a burning car. The most important thing they need is the willingness to act even when their own lives are at risk.

To make sure we have the courage to protect our loved ones, the tend-and-befriend response must counter our basic survival instinct to avoid harm. We need fearlessness in those moments, along with confidence that our actions can make a difference. If we think there's nothing we can do, we might give up. And if we are frozen in fear, our loved ones will perish.

At its core, the tend-and-befriend response is a biological state engineered to reduce fear and increase hope. The best way to understand how the tend-and-befriend response does this is to look at how it affects your brain:

The social caregiving system is regulated by oxytocin. When this system is activated, you feel more empathy, connection, and trust, as well as a stronger desire to bond or be close with others. This network also inhibits the fear centers of the brain, increasing your courage.

The reward system releases the neurotransmitter dopamine. Activation of the reward system increases motivation while dampening fear. When your stress response includes a rush of dopamine, you feel optimistic about your ability to do something meaningful. Dopamine also primes the brain for physical action, making sure you don't freeze under pressure.

The attunement system is driven by the neurotransmitter serotonin. When this system is activated, it enhances your perception, intuition, and self-control. This makes it easier to understand what is needed, and helps ensure that your actions have the biggest positive impact. In other words, a tend-and-befriend response makes you social, brave, and smart. It provides both the courage and hope we need to propel us into action and the awareness to act skillfully.

Here's where things get interesting. A tend-and-befriend response may have evolved to help us protect offspring, but when you are in that state, your bravery translates to any challenge you face. And-this is the most important part-anytime you choose to help others, you activate this state. Caring for others triggers the biology of courage and creates hope.

Whether you are overwhelmed by your own stress or the suffering of others, the way to find hope is to connect, not to escape. The benefits of taking a tend-and-befriend approach go beyond helping your loved ones, although this, of course, is an important function. In any situation where you feel powerless, doing something to support others can help you sustain your motivation and optimism.

The tend-and-befriend theory doesn't say that stress always leads to caring-stress can indeed make us angry and defensive. The theory simply says that stress can, and often does, make people more caring. And when we care for others, it changes our biochemistry, activating systems of the brain that produce feelings of hope and courage.

I wrote my book The Upside of Stress with that purpose in mind: to help you discover your own strength and compassion. Seeing the upside of stress is not about deciding whether stress is either all good or all bad. It's about how choosing to see the good in stress, and in yourself, can help you meet the challenges in your life. Tending and befriend is one of the best ways to do this, and to transform your own stress into a catalyst for courage and connection.

Greater Good wants to know: Do you think this article will influence your opinions or behavior?

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How to Transform Stress into Courage and Connection

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In the late 1990s, two psychology researchers at UCLA were talking about how the female scientists in their lab responded differently to stress than the men did. The men would disappear into their offices; the women would bring cookies to lab meetings and bond over coffee. Forget fight-or-flight, they joked.

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Why working for a Mission Driven School matters! 

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Why working for a Mission Driven School matters! 

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According to a recent Gallup poll, fewer than 30 percent of Americans are engaged at work. The research asserts that it is not enough to be well-compensated at work. Instead, the happiest employees are the ones who feel a sense of purpose in what they do. These findings are an excellent reminder to consider more than just the starting salary and bonus the next time you are in the market for a new position. Whether it is a non-profit like The Art of Elysium, a Los Angeles-based organization which encourages working actors, artists and musicians to voluntarily dedicate their time and talent to children who are battling serious medical conditions, or a for-profit social enterprise, like Tom's Shoes, which donates one pair of shoes to the needy for every pair of shoes sold, there are many good work and life satisfaction-related reasons to work for an organization where you will have the chance to make a difference. Below are six of the best ones:

1. You will be a happier person. In a Deloitte survey of more than 1,300 working adults, employees at companies with a strong sense of purpose were more than four times as likely to (79% versus 19%) state that there was high employee satisfaction at their company. Many of us spend more time at work than we do with our partners, families, or friends. As a result, doing work with a good purpose can make a big difference not just to our satisfaction with our professional lives, but with our lives in general.

2. You will like your co-workers better. Not only will other like-minded individuals be driven to a company with a purpose you believe in, but also that company will seek out such individuals. Mission-driven companies tend to look beyond just how qualified a candidate is for a job, and assess for cultural fit. Furthermore, according to Alia McKee, co-author of The State of Friendship Report, companies such as Zappos or 1-800-Got Junk have "Staff with strong bonds - teams that know and care about each other beyond what's required of their tasks and roles," and that these friendships are a key driver of employee satisfaction.

Liking your co-workers doesn't have to mean bringing it in for a group hug like the gang from Community.

3. You may have access to some pretty great perks. In addition caring about the impact of the work they do, mission-driven companies also to tend to care about the well being of their employees and value work-life balance. Depending on the size and industry, socially-conscious companies can offer a wide variety of perks. For example, at BidKind, we offer employee benefits including a paid two week leave of absence each year to perform community service, group spin classes, and free healthy snacks. At the nearly 40-year-old Creative Artists Agency (CAA), the CAA Foundation is dedicated solely to giving back. The CAA Foundation harnesses the power and reach of pop culture to create positive, social change by forging strategic partnerships, encouraging volunteerism, stimulating public awareness, granting financial contributions, and providing in-kind donations. The CAA Foundation also empowers employees, companies, athletes, and artists to contribute their time, talent, and resources to make a difference, be of service, and improve conditions worldwide.

An employee enjoys going down the slide at the Googleplex.

4. You won't be so bored at work. Sixty eight percent of employees in the US today believe that businesses are not doing enough to create a sense of purpose and deliver meaningful impact. At a social enterprise, the issues you think about will likely appear in headline news, the companies and organizations that you partner with will be focused on changing the world. Beyond alleviating boredom, giving back can add meaning to your work. Supermodel Selita Ebanks learned about Shine on Sierra Leone, an organization that seeks to improve the impoverished nation's quality of life, during an ELLE Magazine fashion shoot in Sierra Leone's countryside. Now, she is the organization's spokesperson and she finds that the cause brings her a sense of purpose.

5. You will have more opportunities for growth. Many mission-driven companies engage more actively in employee development and retention. They attract managers and executives who are focused on people and are more likely to mentor and train employees for success. Company-wide policies are also more likely to include professional development. One social enterprise start up, Warby Parker, cites their mission as a key driver behind their programs for employees including quarterly 360-degree reviews, monthly informal feedback sessions, workshops, and outside speaker sessions.

6. You will have more exit opportunities. If you ever decide to leave your new mission-driven employer, your resume will now resonate more with other purpose-driven companies, regardless of sector. Similarly, working for a non-profit or social enterprise can actually help make your business school applications stand out from those of more traditional candidates.

There are many personal, professional, and of course, moral, reasons that working for a mission-driven company can improve your satisfaction with work and life. Having a sense of purpose is even enough motivation for Jay Z to give up the $2.3 million that he averages each night while on tour in order to perform for free in Central Park as part of the Global Citizen Festival, a concert encouraging individuals to make a difference. Hopefully you have found that level of satisfaction at work. If not, it may be worth considering a change. Happy job hunting!

Related

Business social enterprise career-search making a difference Social Entrepreneurship

Do you have info to share with HuffPost reporters? Here's how.

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6 Reasons Why Everyone Should Work for a Mission-Driven Company

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There are many personal, professional, and of course, moral, reasons that working for a mission-driven company can improve your satisfaction with work and life.

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Study on self reported levels of student engament during class. 

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Study on self reported levels of student engament during class. 

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Explore students’ engagement, their sense of self-efficacy, and the connection between student engagement and performance.

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I write about the power of music and Joy, in JOY! Fall:Chapter 6!

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Are You Sleeping Enough? Check the  State Where you Live! 

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Are You Sleeping Enough? Check the  State Where you Live! 

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It takes 5 new routines to improve your sleep habits!

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Americans aren’t getting enough sleep — and tech might not help

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What the experts have to say!

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Here’s what experts say about snooze buttons, sunlight and sleeping in.

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How to have productive and collegial conversations when the feedback is negative. 

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How to have productive and collegial conversations when the feedback is negative. 

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Good Advice form HBR

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5 Mistakes Managers Make When Giving Negative Feedback

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Social Mindfulness... A strategy for teachers and students

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Social Mindfulness... A strategy for teachers and students

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How to Teach Mindfulness in a More Social Way

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Relational mindfulness practices help students cultivate awareness and connect with each other to facilitate learning and belonging.

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It’s an age-old question. But a few recent studies have brought us closer to an answer.

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Movement Study Shows The Power of Daily Movement Impact on Lowered Blood Pressure ! 

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Movement Study Shows The Power of Daily Movement Impact on Lowered Blood Pressure ! 

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AHA/ASA Research Study examines 24-hour movement results with lowered blood pressure.

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But, taking a mental rest break (at lunch say) can really help!

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Afternoons aren’t just tiring—they’re risky.

⚠️ More medical mistakes

📉 Lower test scores

🚗 More car crashes

Work smart: do the tough stuff earlier, take better break, do your least important work between 2 pm and 4 pm. https://t.co/6CItdFBPqk

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Afternoons aren’t just tiring—they’re risky.

⚠️ More medical mistakes

📉 Lower test scores

🚗 More car crashes

Work smart: do the tough stuff earlier, take better break, do your least important work between 2 pm and 4 pm. https://t.co/6CItdFBPqk

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Afternoons aren’t just tiring—they’re risky.

⚠️ More medical mistakes

📉 Lower test scores

🚗 More car crashes

Work smart: do the tough stuff earlier, take better break, do your least important work between 2 pm and 4 pm. pic.twitter.com/6CItdFBPqk
— Daniel Pink (@DanielPink) April 7, 2025

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Afternoons aren’t just tiring—they’re risky.

⚠️ More medical mistakes

📉 Lower test scores

🚗 More car crashes

Work smart: do the tough stuff earlier, take better break, do your least important work between 2 pm and 4 pm. https://t.co/6CItdFBPqk

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props.original_text
Afternoons aren’t just tiring—they’re risky.

⚠️ More medical mistakes

📉 Lower test scores

🚗 More car crashes

Work smart: do the tough stuff earlier, take better break, do your least important work between 2 pm and 4 pm. https://t.co/6CItdFBPqk

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props.text
Afternoons aren’t just tiring—they’re risky.

⚠️ More medical mistakes

📉 Lower test scores

🚗 More car crashes

Work smart: do the tough stuff earlier, take better break, do your least important work between 2 pm and 4 pm. https://t.co/6CItdFBPqk

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Employee engagement in their work life recedes...

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You've downloaded this report in the past - now, see what's changed. According to the newly released State of the Global Workplace: 2025 Report, global employee engagement fell last year, costing the world economy an estimated $438 billion .

Managers, caught between executive expectations and employee needs, have been hit the hardest. It's time to rethink the role of the manager .

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You've downloaded this report in the past - now, see what's changed. According to the newly released State of the Global Workplace: 2025 Report , global employee engagement fell last year, costing the world economy an estimated $438 billion . Managers, caught between executive expectations and employee needs, have been hit the hardest.

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The Power of Music and the Brain connections to JOY! 

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The Power of Music and the Brain connections to JOY! 

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Neuroscience Says Music Is an Emotion Regulation Machine. Here’s What to Play for Happiness, Productivity, or Deep Thinking

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Neuroscience shows music has big effects on our productivity, performance, and state of mind. Use that to your advantage.

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I am so excited for the release of my newest book on February 14th, 2025. Three years in the making, my research and writing has been a joyful action designed for those that have chosen our challenging profession. It is true, you can choose joy in the journey. And the brain benefits are so worth it!

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Mental Health and Wellness- Why You  Should Sleep on Your Big Decisions! 

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Mental Health and Wellness- Why You  Should Sleep on Your Big Decisions! 

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Research that show MHW improvement in the morning!

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Feifei Bu, Jessica K Bone, Daisy Fancourt

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Will things feel better in the morning? A time-of-day analysis of mental health and wellbeing from nearly 1 million observations

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Background Mood is known to change over seasons of the year, days of the week, and even over the course of the day (diurnally). But although broader mental health and well-being also vary over months and weeks, it is unclear whether there are diurnal changes in how people experience and report their mental health.Objective To assess time-of-day association with depression, anxiety, well-being and loneliness.Methods The study analysed data from 49 218 adults drawn from the University College London COVID-19 Social Study, which gathered detailed repeated measurements from the same participants across time over a 2-year period (March 2020–March 2022, 18.5 observation per person). Data were analysed using linear mixed-effects models.Findings There is a clear time-of-day pattern in self-reported mental health and well-being, with people generally waking up feeling best and feeling worst around midnight. There is also an association with day of the week and season, with particularly strong evidence for better mental health and well-being in the summer. Time-of-day patterns are moderated by day, with more variation in mental health and individual well-being during weekends compared with weekdays. Loneliness is relatively more stable.Conclusions Generally, things do seem better in the morning. Hedonic and eudemonic well-being have the most variation, and social well-being is most stable.Clinical implications Our findings indicate the importance of considering time, day and season in research design, analyses, intervention delivery, and the planning and provision of public health services.

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What do those that follow you actually want from you?

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Thank you for downloading the Global Leadership Report: What Followers Want.

Gallup highlights what people worldwide want from their leaders and how important hope, trust, compassion and stability are to successful leadership.

The Foundation of Great Leadership

What makes a good leader? Is it bravery, compassion, innovation, inspiration? The demands of leadership are complex, but the foundation of being a good leader is rooted in meeting the needs of those who follow them.

Gallup's latest study, Global Leadership Report: What Followers Want, launched at the World Governments Summit. Based on surveys conducted in 52 countries, this report builds on decades of research into what people desire from their leaders. The data reveal that followers prioritize hope, trust, compassion and stability from their leaders, and these needs are consistent across countries and demographics. When leaders meet these needs, it can lead to less suffering and better wellbeing.

To date, no other research has examined the needs of followers across such a large or global sample of people. These findings are crucial for both current and aspiring leaders seeking to understand the expectations that influence their performance and the success of the teams they lead.

Download the report to learn about the four needs of followers and what leaders need to know to successfully face the evolving challenges of our time.

The Foundation of Great Leadership

What makes a good leader? Is it bravery, compassion, innovation, inspiration? The demands of leadership are complex, but the foundation of being a good leader is rooted in meeting the needs of those who follow them.

Gallup's latest study, Global Leadership Report: What Followers Want, launched at the World Governments Summit. Based on surveys conducted in 52 countries, this report builds on decades of research into what people desire from their leaders. The data reveal that followers prioritize hope, trust, compassion and stability from their leaders, and these needs are consistent across countries and demographics. When leaders meet these needs, it can lead to less suffering and better wellbeing.

To date, no other research has examined the needs of followers across such a large or global sample of people. These findings are crucial for both current and aspiring leaders seeking to understand the expectations that influence their performance and the success of the teams they lead.

Download the report to learn about the four needs of followers and what leaders need to know to successfully face the evolving challenges of our time.

Key Findings

of desired leadership attributes focus on hope, the primary need of followers worldwide.

of followers emphasize the need to see hope from organizational leaders.

Only 33% of followers thrive without a hopeful leader, but thriving rises by five points to 38% when the need for hope is met.

of respondents working for an employer say workplace leaders have the greatest positive impact on their lives.

The Four Leadership Needs of Followers

Download Global Leadership Report: What Followers Want

Fill out the form below to get instant access to the report.

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Global Leadership Report: What Followers Want

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Gallup discovers what people worldwide need from their leaders and explores the roles of hope, trust, compassion and stability in the follower-leader dynamic.

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An older adult patient once told me, "There are good decades and bad decades." I remember the shock at hearing this - the patient was referring to the relationship with his wife. For many of us, 10 years seems like a very long time to struggle. How do we find joy when experiencing difficulties - or how do we at least make our struggles bearable?

Loss of joy may be a sign of a mental health problem - or it may be a normal response

Life has its ups and downs, but sometimes challenging events occur all at once. When our world is turned upside down, it's normal to feel a lack of joy. Health problems, losses, breakups, housing challenges, natural disasters - the list of severe stressors and traumatic events is long. Most adults will experience multiple severe traumas and losses throughout their lives. Loss of joy in these contexts is a natural part of the human experience.

For some people, however, the lack of joy persists or appears out of the blue. This may occur in a mood disorder like depression. The inability to feel pleasure (also known as anhedonia) is even part of the diagnostic criteria for depression, and it's pretty common. Approximately 8% of US adults will experience depression in a given year, and approximately 20% will experience an episode of depression during their lifetime. A loss of joy may also accompany other mental illnesses, including psychotic illnesses and dementia. Certain medications, including (paradoxically) those that treat depression, can also cause emotional blunting and a loss of joy.

What's the difference between joy and happiness?

Joy and happiness are often used interchangeably. However, happiness technically refers to the pleasurable feelings (emotions) that result from a situation, experience, or objects, whereas joy is a state of mind that can be found even in times of grief or uncertainty. Thus, we can work on cultivating joy independent of our circumstances. Winning the lottery may trigger (short-term) happiness; spending time engaging in meaningful activities may result in long-term joy.

Joy and feel-good neurotransmitters

Although the neurobiology of joy is complex, there are a few neurotransmitters that stand out in promoting positive feelings: dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, and endorphins. The good news is that many changes to our lives can increase these neurotransmitter levels. For example, running may produce a "runner's high;" spending time with a baby releases oxytocin, the "cuddle hormone" that makes you feel connected.

The effects of neurotransmitters on the body are broad, from relaxing your muscles to speeding up your heart rate, but they may result in a final common pathway of promoting positive feelings. Whether it's finding a sense of purpose or enjoying supportive relationships, the benefits on the mind and body are far-reaching.

How do you increase joy?

During difficult times, it becomes twice as important to modify your routine, allowing yourself to experience joy. Here are some ideas, although it may take some trial and error to find what works best for you:

Perform regular aerobic physical activity. Think of physical activity as releasing a bubble bath of neurotransmitters - and their effects linger long after the exercise is over.

Dedicate yourself to others. Activities such as volunteering produce greater joy than focusing on oneself.

Connect with your spiritual side. When we join with something larger than ourselves, we develop feelings of gratitude, compassion, and peace. Meditation is a powerful way to modify brain pathways to increase joy.

Discover something new. As humans, we are hard-wired to experience joy when experiencing novelty. Developing a new pursuit can help us refocus our energy.

Give yourself permission to take a few moments of pleasure, especially when you are feeling low. You can try NPR's Joy Generator for a taste.

Pay attention to the good. A joyous mindset can be developed, but takes practice. The three good things exercise helps you keep an eye out for the positives during the day.

Conversely, limit negativity. Whether it's gossipy coworkers, a toxic relationship with a family member, or a complaining friend, spending time around a negative mindset influences us directly. It's okay to set limits.

Focus your efforts on what brings meaning to your life (and don't focus on money).

Ask your doctor about whether your medications can affect your ability to experience pleasure, especially if you are taking antidepressants.

Surprising benefits of joy

Regardless of the changes you make to your mindset or to your daily routine, increasing your ability to find joy may provide long-lasting health benefits. Your immune system can be strengthened by your mental state (immune cells even have receptors for neurotransmitters). Interventions to increase joy may also decrease stress hormones, improve pain, and relieve depression. Finally, finding joy can help you live longer.

About the Author

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How can you find joy (or at least peace) during difficult times? - Harvard Health

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When people are going through difficult times, it's normal to feel a lack of joy. But even while struggling, the ability to find moments of joy can have profound and far-reaching effects on the mind and body.

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Research showing the impact of our emotions on our students! 

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Research showing the impact of our emotions on our students! 

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One promising step to move beyond descriptive research which merely links teacher emotions with outcomes seems to be to explore when and why teacher emotions are detrimental or functional for classrooms.

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Positve Impact of Mindfulness routines on our overall well-being! 

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Positve Impact of Mindfulness routines on our overall well-being! 

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Abstract

Within the past few decades, there has been a surge of interest in the investigation of mindfulness as a psychological construct and as a form of clinical intervention. This article reviews the empirical literature on the effects of mindfulness on psychological health. We begin with a discussion of the construct of mindfulness, differences between Buddhist and Western psychological conceptualizations of mindfulness, and how mindfulness has been integrated into Western medicine and psychology, before reviewing three areas of empirical research: cross-sectional, correlational research on the associations between mindfulness and various indicators of psychological health; intervention research on the effects of mindfulness-oriented interventions on psychological health; and laboratory-based, experimental research on the immediate effects of mindfulness inductions on emotional and behavioral functioning. We conclude that mindfulness brings about various positive psychological effects, including increased subjective well-being, reduced psychological symptoms and emotional reactivity, and improved behavioral regulation. The review ends with a discussion on mechanisms of change of mindfulness interventions and suggested directions for future research.

Keywords: Mindfulness, Mindfulness-oriented Interventions, Mindfulness Meditation, Psychological Health, Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy, Dialectical Behavior Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy

Mindfulness is the miracle by which we master and restore ourselves. Consider, for example: a magician who cuts his body into many parts and places each part in a different region-hands in the south, arms in the east, legs in the north, and then by some miraculous power lets forth a cry which reassembles whole every part of his body. Mindfulness is like that-it is the miracle which can call back in a flash our dispersed mind and restore it to wholeness so that we can live each minute of life.

Hanh (1976, p. 14)

Mindfulness has been theoretically and empirically associated with psychological well-being. The elements of mindfulness, namely awareness and nonjudgmental acceptance of one's moment-to-moment experience, are regarded as potentially effective antidotes against common forms of psychological distress-rumination, anxiety, worry, fear, anger, and so on-many of which involve the maladaptive tendencies to avoid, suppress, or over-engage with one's distressing thoughts and emotions ( Hayes & Feldman, 2004; Kabat-Zinn, 1990). Though promoted for centuries as a part of Buddhist and other spiritual traditions, the application of mindfulness to psychological health in Western medical and mental health contexts is a more recent phenomenon, largely beginning in the 1970s (e.g., Kabat-Zinn, 1982). Along with this development, there has been much theoretical and empirical work illustrating the impact of mindfulness on psychological health. The goal of this paper is to offer a comprehensive narrative review of the effects of mindfulness on psychological health. We begin with an overview of the construct of mindfulness, differences between Buddhist and Western psychological conceptualizations of mindfulness, and how mindfulness has been integrated into Western medicine and psychology. We then review evidence from three areas of research that shed light on the relationship between mindfulness and psychological health: 1. correlational, cross-sectional research that examines the relations between individual differences in trait or dispositional mindfulness and other mental-health related traits, 2. intervention research that examines the effects of mindfulness-oriented interventions on psychological functioning, and 3. laboratory-based research that examines, experimentally, the effects of brief mindfulness inductions on emotional and behavioral processes indicative of psychological health. We conclude with an examination of mechanisms of effects of mindfulness interventions and suggestions for future research directions.

The word mindfulness may be used to describe a psychological trait, a practice of cultivating mindfulness (e.g., mindfulness meditation), a mode or state of awareness, or a psychological process ( Germer, Siegel, & Fulton, 2005). To minimize possible confusion, we clarify which meaning is intended in each context we describe ( Chambers, Gullone, & Allen, 2009). One of the most commonly cited definitions of mindfulness is the awareness that arises through "paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally" ( Kabat-Zinn, 1994, p. 4). Descriptions of mindfulness provided by most other researchers are similar. Baer (2003), for example, defines mindfulness as "the nonjudgmental observation of the ongoing stream of internal and external stimuli as they arise" (p. 125). Though some researchers focus almost exclusively on the attentional aspects of mindfulness (e.g., Brown & Ryan, 2003), most follow the model of Bishop et al. (2004), which proposed that mindfulness encompasses two components: self-regulation of attention, and adoption of a particular orientation towards one's experiences. Self-regulation of attention refers to non-elaborative observation and awareness of sensations, thoughts, or feelings from moment to moment. It requires both the ability to anchor one's attention on what is occurring, and the ability to intentionally switch attention from one aspect of the experience to another. Orientation to experience concerns the kind of attitude that one holds towards one's experience, specifically an attitude of curiosity, openness, and acceptance. It is worth noting that "acceptance" in the context of mindfulness should not be equated with passivity or resignation ( Cardaciotto, Herbert, Forman, Moitra, & Farrow, 2008). Rather, acceptance in this context refers to the ability to experience events fully, without resorting to either extreme of excessive preoccupation with, or suppression of, the experience. To sum up, current conceptualizations of mindfulness in clinical psychology point to two primary, essential elements of mindfulness: awareness of one's moment-to-moment experience nonjudgmentally and with acceptance.

As alluded to earlier, mindfulness finds its roots in ancient spiritual traditions, and is most systematically articulated and emphasized in Buddhism, a spiritual tradition that is at least 2550 years old. As the idea and practice of mindfulness has been introduced into Western psychology and medicine, it is not surprising that differences emerge with regard to how mindfulness is conceptualized within Buddhist and Western perspectives. Several researchers (e.g., Chambers, Gullone, & Allen, 2009; Rosch, 2007) have argued that in order to more fully appreciate the potential contribution of mindfulness in psychological health it is important to gain an understanding of these differences, and specifically, from a Western perspective, how mindfulness is conceptualized in Buddhism. Given the diversity of traditions and teachings within Buddhism, an in-depth exploration of this topic is beyond the scope of this review (for a more extensive discussion of this topic, see Rosch, 2007). We offer a preliminary overview of differences in conceptualization of mindfulness in Western usage versus early Buddhist teachings, specifically, those of Theravada Buddhism.

Arguably, Buddhist and Western conceptualizations of mindfulness differ in at least three levels: contextual, process, and content. At the contextual level, mindfulness in the Buddhist tradition is viewed as one factor of an interconnected system of practices that are necessary for attaining liberation from suffering, the ultimate state or end goal prescribed to spiritual practitioners in the tradition. Thus, it needs to be cultivated alongside with other spiritual practices, such as following an ethical lifestyle, in order for one to move toward the goal of liberation. Western conceptualization of mindfulness, on the other hand, is generally independent of any specific circumscribed philosophy, ethical code, or system of practices. At the process level, mindfulness, in the context of Buddhism, is to be practiced against the psychological backdrop of reflecting on and contemplating key aspects of the Buddha's teachings, such as impermanence, non-self, and suffering. As an example, in the Satipatthana Sutta (The Foundation of Mindfulness Discourse), one of the key Buddhist discourses on mindfulness, the Buddha recommended that one maintains mindfulness of one's bodily functions, sensations and feelings, consciousness, and content of consciousness while observing clearly the impermanent nature of these objects. Western practice generally places less emphasis on non-self and impermanence than traditional Buddhist teachings. Finally, at the content level and in relation to the above point, in early Buddhist teachings, mindfulness refers rather specifically to an introspective awareness with regard to one's physical and psychological processes and experiences. This is contrast to certain Western conceptualizations of mindfulness, which view mindfulness as a form of awareness that encompasses all forms of objects in one's internal and external experience, including features of external sensory objects like sights and smells. This is not to say that external sensory objects do not ultimately form part of one's internal experience; rather, in Buddhist teachings, mindfulness more fundamentally has to do with observing one's perception of and reactions toward sensory objects than focusing on features of the sensory objects themselves.

The integration of mindfulness into Western medicine and psychology can be traced back to the growth of Zen Buddhism in America in the 1950s and 1960s, partly through early writings such as Zen in the Art of Archery ( Herrigel, 1953), The World of Zen: An East-West Anthology ( Ross, 1960), and The Method of Zen ( Herrigel, Hull, & Tausend, 1960). Beginning the 1960s, interest in the use of meditative techniques in psychotherapy began to grow among clinicians, especially psychoanalysts (e.g., see Boss, 1965; Fingarette, 1963; Suzuki, Fromm, & De Martino, 1960; Watts, 1961). Through the 1960s and the 1970s, there was growing interest within experimental psychology in examining various means of heightening awareness and broadening the boundaries of consciousness, including meditation. Early electroencephalogram (EEG) studies on meditation found that individuals who meditated showed persistent alpha activity with restful reductions in metabolic rate ( Anand, Chhina, & Singh, 1961; Bagchi & Wenger, 1957; Wallace, 1970), as well as increases in theta waves, which reflect lower states of arousal associated with sleep ( Kasamatsu & Hirai, 1966). Beginning in the early 1970s, there was a surge of interest in and research on transcendental meditation, a form of concentrative meditation technique popularized by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi ( Wallace, 1970). The practice of transcendental meditation was found to be associated with reductions in indicators of physiological arousal such as oxygen consumption, carbon dioxide elimination, and respiratory rate ( Benson, Rosner, Marzetta, & Klemchuk, 1974; Wallace, 1970; Wallace, Benson, & Wilson, 1971).

Despite the fact that research on mindfulness meditation had already begun in the 1960s, it was not until the late 1970s that mindfulness meditation began to be studied as an intervention to enhance psychological well-being. Application of mindfulness meditation as a form of behavioral intervention for clinical problems began with the work of Jon Kabat-Zinn, which explored the use of mindfulness meditation in treating patients with chronic pain ( Kabat-Zinn, 1982), now known popularly as Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction. Since the establishment of MBSR, several other interventions have also been developed using mindfulness-related principles and practices, including Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT; Segal, Williams, & Teasdale, 2002), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT; Linehan, 1993a) and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT; Hayes, Strosahl, & Wilson, 1999). In this review, both meditation-oriented interventions (i.e., MBSR and MBCT), as well as interventions that teach mindfulness using less meditation-oriented techniques (i.e., DBT and ACT), are considered as a family of "mindfulness-oriented interventions", and thus are of empirical interest.

Correlational Research on Mindfulness and Psychological Health

Relationship between Trait Mindfulness and Psychological Health

Many studies of mindfulness to date have reported on correlations between self-reported mindfulness and psychological health. Such correlations have been reported for samples of undergraduate students (e.g., Baer, Smith, Hopkins, Krietemeyer, & Toney, 2006; Brown & Ryan, 2003), community adults (e.g., Brown & Ryan, 2003; Chadwick et al., 2008) and clinical populations (e.g., Baer, Smith, & Allen, 2004; Chadwick et al., 2008; Walach, Buchheld, Buttenmuller, Kleinknecht, & Schmidt, 2006). Before going over these findings, it may be helpful to review questionnaires that have been developed to measure mindfulness. Questionnaires that assess mindfulness as a general, trait-like tendency to be mindful in daily life include: Freiburg Mindfulness Inventory ( Buchheld, Grossman, & Walach, 2001), Kentucky Inventory of Mindfulness Skills (KIMS; Baer et al., 2004), Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS; Brown & Ryan, 2003), Five-Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire ( Baer et al., 2006), Cognitive Affective Mindfulness Scale-Revised ( Feldman, Hayes, Kumar, Greeson, & Laurenceau, 2007), Toronto Mindfulness Scale-Trait Version ( Davis, Lau, & Cairns, 2009), Philadelphia Mindfulness Scale ( Cardaciotto et al., 2008), and Southampton Mindfulness Questionnaire ( Chadwick et al., 2008). Some of these questionnaires measure mindfulness as a single-factor construct. For example, the MAAS ( Brown & Ryan, 2003) assesses mindfulness as the general tendency to be attentive to and aware of experiences in daily life, and has a single factor structure of open/ receptive awareness and attention. Other questionnaires measure mindfulness as a multi-faceted construct. For example, the KIMS ( Baer et al., 2004) contains subscales that correspond to four mindfulness skills conceptualized in DBT's framework: observing one's moment-to-moment experience, describing one's experiences with words, acting or participating with awareness, and nonjudgmental acceptance of one's experiences. In addition to trait measures of mindfulness, state measures of mindfulness have been developed to measure momentary mindful states. These measures include the Toronto Mindfulness Scale ( Lau et al., 2006) and Brown and Ryan (2003)'s state version of the MAAS.

Trait mindfulness has been associated with higher levels of life satisfaction ( Brown & Ryan, 2003), agreeableness ( Thompson & Waltz, 2007), conscientiousness ( Giluk, 2009; Thompson & Waltz, 2007), vitality ( Brown & Ryan, 2003), self esteem ( Brown & Ryan, 2003; Rasmussen & Pidgeon, 2010), empathy ( Dekeyser, Raes, Leijssen, Leysen, & Dewulf, 2008), sense of autonomy ( Brown & Ryan, 2003), competence ( Brown & Ryan, 2003), optimism ( Brown & Ryan, 2003), and pleasant affect ( Brown & Ryan, 2003). Studies have also demonstrated significant negative correlations between mindfulness and depression ( Brown & Ryan, 2003; Cash & Whittingham, 2010), neuroticism ( Dekeyser et al., 2008; Giluk, 2009), absent-mindedness ( Herndon, 2008), dissociation ( Baer et al., 2006; Walach et al., 2006), rumination ( Raes & Williams, 2010), cognitive reactivity ( Raes, Dewulf, Van Heeringen, & Williams, 2009), social anxiety ( Brown & Ryan, 2003; Dekeyser et al., 2008; Rasmussen & Pidgeon, 2010), difficulties in emotion regulation ( Baer et al., 2006), experiential avoidance ( Baer et al., 2004), alexithymia ( Baer et al., 2004), intensity of delusional experience in the context of psychosis ( Chadwick et al., 2008), and general psychological symptoms ( Baer et al., 2006). Research also has begun to explore the association between mindfulness and cognitive processes that may have important implications for psychological health. For example, Frewen, Evans, Maraj, Dozois, and Partridge (2008) found that, among undergraduate students, mindfulness was related both to a lower frequency of negative automatic thoughts and to an enhanced ability to let go of those thoughts. Two other studies have also demonstrated an association between mindfulness and enhanced performance on tasks assessing sustained attention ( Schmertz, Anderson, & Robins, 2009) and persistence ( Evans, Baer, & Segerstrom, 2009).

Mindfulness has been shown to be related not only to self-report measures of psychological health, but also to differences in brain activity observed using functional neuroimaging methods. Creswell, Way, Eisenberger, and Lieberman (2007) found that trait mindfulness was associated with reduced bilateral amygdala activation and greater widespread prefrontal cortical activation during an affect labeling task. There was also a strong inverse association between prefrontal cortex and right amygdala responses among those who scored high on mindfulness, but not among those who scored low on mindfulness, which suggests that individuals who are mindful may be better able to regulate emotional responses via prefrontal cortical inhibition of the amygdala. Trait mindfulness also was negatively correlated with resting activity in the amygdala and in medial prefrontal and parietal brain areas that are associated with self-referential processing, whereas levels of depressive symptoms were positively correlated with resting activity in these areas ( Way, Creswell, Eisenberger, & Lieberman, 2010). These findings are consistent with the association of mindfulness with greater self-reported ability to let go of negative thoughts about the self (e.g., Frewen et al., 2008).

Relationship between Mindfulness Meditation and Psychological Health

Research also has examined the relationship between mindfulness meditation practices and psychological well-being. Lykins and Baer (2009) compared meditators and non-meditators on several indices of psychological well-being. Meditators reported significantly higher levels of mindfulness, self-compassion and overall sense of well-being, and significantly lower levels of psychological symptoms, rumination, thought suppression, fear of emotion, and difficulties with emotion regulation, compared to non-meditators, and changes in these variables were linearly associated with extent of meditation practice. In addition, the data were consistent with a model in which trait mindfulness mediates the relationship between extent of meditation practice and several outcome variables, including fear of emotion, rumination, and behavioral self-regulation. In two other studies, facets of trait mindfulness were found to mediate the relationship between meditation experience and psychological well-being in combined samples of meditators and non-meditators ( Baer et al., 2008; Josefsson, Larsman, Broberg, & Lundh, 2011). In addition to correlations with self-report measures, research has examined behavioral and neurobiological correlates of mindfulness meditation. Ortner, Kilner and Zelazo (2007) used an emotional interference task in which participants categorized tones presented 1 or 4 seconds following the onset of affective or neutral pictures. Levels of emotional interference were indexed by differences in reaction times to tones for affective pictures versus neutral pictures. A participant's mindfulness meditation experience was significantly associated with reduced interference both from unpleasant pictures (for 1 and 4 second delays) as well as pleasant pictures (for 4 second delay only), as well as higher levels of self-reported mindfulness and psychological well-being. These findings suggest that mindfulness meditation practice may enhance psychological well-being by increasing mindfulness and attenuating reactivity to emotional stimuli by facilitating disengagement of attention from stimuli. There is also emerging evidence from studies comparing meditators and non-meditators on a variety of performance-based measures that suggest that regular meditation practice is associated with enhanced cognitive flexibility and attentional functioning ( Hodgins & Adair, 2010; Moore & Malinowski, 2009), outcomes that may have important implications for psychological well-being. Research has also identified potential neurobiological correlates of mindfulness meditation by comparing brain structure and activity in adept mindfulness meditation practitioners to those of non-practitioners. These studies found that extensive mindfulness meditation experience is associated with increased thickness in brain regions implicated in attention, interoception, and sensory processing, including the prefrontal cortex and right anterior insula ( Lazar et al., 2005); increased activation in brain areas involved in processing of distracting events and emotions, which include the rostral anterior cingulate cortex and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, respectively ( Hölzel et al., 2007); and greater gray matter concentration in brain areas that have been found to be active during meditation, including the right anterior insula, left inferior temporal gyrus, and right hippocampus ( Hölzel et al., 2008). These findings are consistent with the premise that systematic training in mindfulness meditation induces changes in attention, awareness, and emotion, which can be assessed and identified at subjective, behavioral, and neurobiological levels (cf. Treadway & Lazar, 2009).

Overall, evidence from correlational research suggests that mindfulness is positively associated with a variety of indicators of psychological health, such as higher levels of positive affect, life satisfaction, vitality, and adaptive emotion regulation, and lower levels of negative affect and psychopathological symptoms. There is also burgeoning evidence from neurobiological and laboratory behavioral research that indicates the potential roles of trait mindfulness and mindfulness meditation practices in reducing reactivity to emotional stimuli and enhancing psychological well-being. Given the correlational nature of these data, experimental studies are needed to clarify the directional links between mindfulness and psychological well-being. Does training in mindfulness practices result in improvements in psychological well-being? Does psychological well-being facilitate greater mindfulness and/or inclination towards engagement in mindfulness practice? The next section reviews empirical evidence from studies of the effects of mindfulness-oriented interventions on psychological health.

Controlled Studies of Mindfulness-Oriented Interventions

Several mindfulness-oriented interventions have been developed and received much research attention within the past two decades, including MBSR, MBCT, DBT and ACT. Some research on these interventions has been uncontrolled and some has focused primarily on physical health outcomes. In this section, we limit our review to published, peer-reviewed randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that assessed psychological health outcomes in adult populations. Some other promising interventions have also incorporated mindfulness techniques, including mindfulness-based relapse prevention ( Witkiewitz, Marlatt, & Walker, 2005) and exposure-based cognitive therapy for depression ( Hayes, Beevers, Feldman, Laurenceau, & Perlman, 2005), but no RCTs of those interventions have yet been published.

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR): Description of Intervention and Review of Controlled Studies

MBSR is a group-based intervention program originally designed as an adjunct treatment for patients with chronic pain ( Kabat-Zinn, 1982; 1990). The program offers intensive training in mindfulness meditation to help individuals relate to their physical and psychological conditions in more accepting and nonjudgmental ways. The program consists of an eight-to-ten week course, in which a group of up to thirty participants meet for two to two and a half hours per week for mindfulness meditation instruction and training ( Kabat-Zinn, 1990). In addition to in-class mindfulness exercises, participants are encouraged to engage in home mindfulness practices and attend an all-day intensive mindfulness meditation retreat. The premise of MBSR is that with repeated training in mindfulness meditation, individuals will eventually learn to be less reactive and judgmental toward their experiences, and more able to recognize, and break free from, habitual and maladaptive patterns of thinking and behavior.

A number of RCTs of MBSR have been conducted among clinical and non-clinical populations, mostly using a waiting-list control design. Early studies were reviewed by Baer (2003) and Grossman, Niemann, Schmidt, and Walach (2004), but several important studies have since been published. Table 1 summarizes RCTs that have examined the impact of MBSR on psychological functioning. Overall, these studies found that MBSR reduces self-reported levels of anxiety ( Shapiro, Schwartz, & Bonner, 1998; Anderson, Lau, Segal, & Bishop, 2007), depression ( Anderson et al., 2007; Grossman et al., 2010; Koszycki, Benger, Shlik, & Bradwejn, 2007; Sephton et al., 2007; Shapiro et al., 1998; Speca, Carlson, Goodey, & Angen, 2000), anger ( Anderson et al., 2007), rumination ( Anderson et al. 2007; Jain et al., 2007), general psychological distress, including perceived stress ( Astin, 1997; Bränström, Kvillemo, Brandberg, & Moskowitz, 2010; Nyklíček, & Kuipers, 2008; Oman, Shapiro, Thoresen, Plante, & Flinders, 2008; Shapiro, Astin, Bishop, & Cordova, 2005; Speca et al., 2000; Williams, Kolar, Reger, & Pearson, 2001), cognitive disorganization ( Speca et al., 2000), post-traumatic avoidance symptoms ( Bränström et al., 2010), and medical symptoms ( Williams et al., 2001). It has been found to improve positive affect ( Anderson et al., 2007; Bränström et al., 2010), Nyklíček, & Kuijpers, 2008), sense of spirituality ( Astin, 1997; Shapiro et al., 1998), empathy ( Shapiro et al., 1998), sense of cohesion ( Weissbecker et al., 2002), mindfulness ( Anderson et al., 2007; Shapiro, Oman, Thoresen, Plante, & Flinders, 2008; Nyklíček, & Kuijpers, 2008), forgiveness ( Oman et al., 2008), self compassion ( Shapiro et al., 2005), satisfaction with life, and quality of life ( Grossman et al., 2010; Koszycki et al., 2007; Nyklíček, & Kuijpers,2008; Shapiro et al., 2005) among both clinical and non-clinical populations.

Participation in MBSR has also been associated with brain changes reflective of positive emotional states and adaptive self representation and emotion regulatory processes, such as increases in left frontal activation, which is indicative of dispositional and state positive affect ( Davidson et al., 2003), increased activation in brain regions implicated in experiential, present-focused mode of self reference ( Farb et al., 2007), and reduced activation in brain regions implicated in conceptual processing, cognitive elaboration, and reappraisal ( Farb et al., 2010; Ochsner & Gross, 2008).

Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT): Description of Intervention and Review of Controlled Studies

MBCT is an eight-week, manualized group intervention program adapted from the MBSR model ( Segal et al., 2002). Developed as an approach to prevent relapse in remitted depression, MBCT combines mindfulness training and elements of cognitive therapy (CT) with the goal of targeting vulnerability processes that have been implicated in the maintenance of depressive episodes. Like CT, MBCT aims to help participants view thoughts as mental events rather than as facts, recognize the role of negative automatic thoughts in maintaining depressive symptoms, and disengage the occurrence of negative thoughts from their negative psychological effects ( Barnhofer, Crane, & Didonna, 2009). However, unlike the traditional CT approach that places considerable emphasis on evaluating and changing the validity of the content of thoughts and developing alternative thoughts, MBCT aims primarily to change one's awareness of and relationship to thoughts and emotions ( Teasdale et al., 2000). The theoretical rationale on which MBCT is based ( Teasdale, Segal, & Williams, 1995) is that the negative thoughts that accompany depression become associated with the depressed state, and that, as the number of depressive episodes increases, negative automatic thoughts become more easily reactivated by feelings of dysphoria, even when these do not occur in the context of a full-blown depressive episode. The negative thoughts, in turn, increase depressed mood and other symptoms of depression, leading to an increased risk for relapse to a major depressive episode. MBCT specifically targets loosening the association between negative automatic thinking and dysphoria. Because these associations are theorized to be stronger among those with a greater number of previous episodes, they may be expected to show the greatest benefit of the intervention.

Several RCTs, summarized in Table 2 , have evaluated the effects of MBCT on relapse prevention and other depression-related outcomes (for recent reviews, see Chiesa & Serreti, 2010; Coelho, Canter, & Ernst, 2007). Consistent with the theoretical model, initial studies found that MBCT reduced relapse rates among patients with three or more episodes of depression, but not among those with two or fewer past episodes ( Ma & Teasdale, 2004; Teasdale et al., 2000). Subsequent studies of MBCT and depression relapse selected only patients with three or more episodes and have replicated the effect of MBCT on reduced relapse rates ( Goldfrin & Heeringen, 2010; Kuyken et al., 2008) or prolonged time to relapse ( Bondolfi et al., 2010). Furthermore, MBCT also has been found to improve a range of symptomatic and psychosocial outcomes among remitted depressed patients, such as residual depressive symptoms and quality of life ( Goldfrin & Heeringen, 2010; Kuyken et al., 2008). There is also preliminary evidence that MBCT is more effective than treatment as usual (TAU) in reducing depressive symptoms among currently depressed patients ( Barnhofer et al., 2009; Hepburn et al., 2009). Lastly, MBCT has been adapted for treatment of bipolar disorder ( Williams et al., 2008), social phobia ( Piet, Hougaard, Hecksher, & Rosenberg, 2010), and depressive symptoms among individuals with epilepsy ( Thompson et al., 2010). The results of these studies are promising and in need of further replication.

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT): Description of Intervention and Review of Controlled Studies

DBT ( Linehan, 1993a) was first developed as a treatment for chronic suicidal and other self-injurious behaviors, which are often present in patients with severe borderline personality disorder (BPD). It conceptualizes the dysfunctional behaviors of individuals with BPD as a consequence of an underlying dysfunction of the emotion regulation system, which involves intense emotional reactivity and an inability to modulate emotions. DBT integrates elements of traditional CBT with Zen philosophy and practice, and has a simultaneous focus on acceptance and behavior change strategies to help patients improve their emotion regulation abilities ( Linehan, 1993a; Robins, 2002). There are four modes of treatment in DBT: individual therapy, group skills training, telephone consultation between therapist and patient, and consultation team meetings for therapists. Mindfulness skills are taught in the context of the skills-training group as a way of helping patients increase self acceptance, and as an exposure strategy aiming to reduce avoidance of difficult emotion and fear responses ( Linehan, 1993b). These skills consist of a set of mindfulness "what" skills (observe, describe, and participate) and a set of mindfulness "how" skills (nonjudgmentally, one-mindfully, and effectively). Specific exercises that are used to foster mindfulness include visualizing thoughts, feelings, and sensations as if they are clouds passing by in the sky, observing breath by counting or coordinating with footsteps, and bringing mindful awareness into daily activities. Mindfulness skills are also integrated within the other three skills modules, which focus on distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness.

To date, 11 randomized trials of DBT, or adaptations of it, have been conducted ( Lynch, Trost, Salsman, & Linehan, 2007; Robins & Chapman, 2004). These studies are summarized in Table 3 . Standard outpatient DBT has been found to be more effective than TAU or another active treatment in reducing frequency and severity of parasuicidal and self harm behavior among individuals with BPD, especially those with a history of parasuicidal behavior; reducing number of inpatient psychiatric days, emergency visits, and hospitalizations ( Koons et al., 2001; Linehan, Amstrong, Suarez, Allmon, & Heard, 1991; Linehan et al., 2006; Verheul et al., 2003); and in reducing substance use among individuals with co-morbid BDP and substance use disorders ( Linehan et al., 1999; Linehan et al., 2002). Among studies that included follow-up assessments, the effects of DBT were found to last for up to one year on the following outcome measures: number of parasuicidal behaviors, global functioning, social adjustment, and use of crisis services ( Linehan et al., 1991; Linehan et al., 2006; Linehan et al., 1999; Linehan, Heard, & Armstrong, 1993; Linehan, Tutek, Heard, & Armstrong, 1994). Finally, modifications of DBT have been found to be effective in binge eating disorder ( Telch, Agras, and Linehan, 2001), bulimia ( Safer, Telch, & Agras, 2001), and chronic depression in the elderly ( Lynch, Morse, Mendelson & Robins, 2003).

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT): Description of Intervention and Review of Controlled Studies

ACT ( Hayes et al., 1999) was developed based on the premise that psychological distress is often associated with attempts to control or avoid negative thoughts and emotions, which often paradoxically increase the frequency, intensity, or salience of these internal events, and result in further distress and inability to engage in behaviors that would lead to valued long-term goals. Thus, the central aim of ACT is to create greater psychological flexibility by teaching skills that increase an individual's willingness to come into fuller contact with their experiences, recognize their values, and commit to behaviors that are consistent with those values. There are six core treatment processes that are highlighted in ACT: acceptance, defusion, contact with the present moment, self as context, values, and committed action ( Hayes, Luoma, Bond, Masuda, & Lillis, 2006). Mindfulness is taught in the context of the first four processes, where a variety of exercises are used to enhance awareness of an observing self and foster the deliteralization of thoughts and beliefs. Although ACT does not incorporate mindfulness meditation exercises, its focus on helping patients cultivate present-centered awareness and acceptance is consistent with that of other mindfulness-based approaches ( Baer, 2003). ACT has been delivered in both individual and group settings, with durations varying from one day (e.g., Gregg, Callaghan, Hayes, & Glenn-Lawson, 2007) to 16 weeks (e.g., Hayes et al., 2004).

A number of studies, summarized in Table 4 , have been conducted to evaluate the efficacy of ACT in treating a range of mental health outcomes, including those associated with depression, anxiety, impulse control disorders, schizophrenia, substance abuse and addiction, and workplace stress ( Hayes et al., 2006; Powers, Zum Vorde Sive Vording, & Emmelkamp, 2009). Specifically, ACT has been found to be more effective than TAU in improving affective symptoms, social functioning, and symptom reporting, and lowering rehospitalization rates and symptom believability among psychiatric inpatients with psychotic symptoms ( Bach & Hayes, 2002; Gaudiano & Herbert, 2006). Among populations with depressive and anxiety symptoms, ACT was generally found to be superior to no intervention, and as effective as another established treatment in reducing levels of depression, anxiety, and poor mental health outcomes ( Bond & Bunce, 2000; Forman, Herbert, Moitra, Yeomans, & Geller, 2007; Lappalainen et al., 2007; Zettle, 2003; Zettle & Hayes, 1986; Zettle & Rains, 1989). In addition, ACT has been shown to be effective at reducing substance use and dependence among nicotine-dependent ( Gifford et al., 2004) and polysubstance-abusing individuals ( Hayes et al., 2004). Finally, there is preliminary evidence indicating the effectiveness of ACT in treating trichotillomania ( Woods, Wetterneck, & Flessner, 2006).

A growing research body supports the efficacy of all four major forms of mindfulness-oriented interventions, but several important research questions need to be addressed in future studies. Because these interventions all involve multiple components, future research should examine how individual treatment components, especially the mindfulness training component, contribute to overall treatment effects. Also, these interventions differ in how they teach mindful awareness, and future research could compare the efficacy of different mindfulness teaching approaches in fostering greater mindful awareness in daily life. For example, both MBSR and MBCT place considerable emphasis on engaging participants in formal meditative practices. DBT and ACT, on the other hand, incorporate a range of informal mindfulness exercises in their treatment approach. Research attention should also be devoted to possible moderators of treatment effects, such as pre-existing differences in coping style and types of cognitive processes maintaining a particular psychological problem. Finally, research needs to examine whether there is a dose-response relationship between amount of intervention exposure and amount of psychological benefits. Although MBSR in its standard form involves eight weekly 2-2.5 hour classes and an all-day retreat, it has been delivered in abbreviated forms to fit the needs of specific populations. Carmody and Baer (2009) examined class contact hours and effect sizes of psychological outcomes reported in published trials of MBSR, and did not find a systematic relationship between the two variables. Another review ( Vettese, Toneatto, Stea, Nguyen, & Wang, 2009) found no consistent relationship between amount of home mindfulness meditation practice and treatment outcomes. Taken together, these reviews do not support a dose-response relationship between level of treatment exposure and reported psychological benefits. Other factors, such as level of expertise of an instructor, may account for the psychological improvements observed following MBSR or other mindfulness-based interventions, and should be systematically measured in future studies.

Laboratory Research on Immediate Effects of Mindfulness Interventions

In addition to correlational and clinical intervention research on mindfulness, a third line of empirical research has examined the immediate effects of brief mindfulness interventions in controlled laboratory settings on a variety of emotion-related processes, including recovery from dysphoric mood, emotional reactivity to aversive or emotionally provocative stimuli, and willingness to return to or persist on an unpleasant task. Such laboratory studies have the advantage of more easily isolating mindfulness practice from other elements typically present in clinical intervention packages, thus allowing greater control over independent variables and stronger conclusions about causal effects.

Several studies have examined the immediate effects of mindfulness interventions on coping with dysphoric mood. Instructions to practice mindfulness of thoughts and feelings following negative mood induction were found to be more effective than rumination or no instruction in alleviating negative mood states in healthy university students ( Broderick, 2005), previously depressed individuals ( Singer & Dobson, 2007), and currently depressed individuals ( Huffziger & Kuehner, 2009), but not in one study of university students ( Kuehner, Huffziger, & Liebsch, 2009). As the latter authors noted, these differential findings may result in part from differences in methods used to induce mindfulness across studies (use of mindful self-focus statements on cards in Kuehner et al., 2009 versus audiotaped guided meditation instructions in Broderick, 2005), and/or differences in clinical status of study samples (e.g., beneficial effects of mindfulness may be more noticeable among clinical populations than among healthy subjects). It is unsurprising that mindfulness instructions would be more helpful in recovery from sad mood than rumination, which has been shown to be maladaptive ( Nolen-Hoeksema & Morrow, 1991). Mindfulness also has been compared with other potentially adaptive mood-regulation strategies. Evidence is mixed with regard to the relative effects of mindfulness and distraction. Whereas two studies ( Huffziger & Kuehner, 2009; Singer & Dobson, 2007) found that mindfulness and distraction had equivalent effects on recovery from dysphoric mood, one study ( Broderick, 2005) found that mindfulness was more effective than distraction and another study ( Kuehner et al., 2009) found that distraction was more effective than mindfulness. Further studies are needed to clarify the relative effects of mindfulness and distraction on mood regulation, and whether those effects may be moderated by situational or personality factors. No published studies to date have compared the effects on recovery from dysphoric mood of mindfulness and cognitive reappraisal of distressing stimuli or situations.

Studies have also examined effects of mindfulness instructions on emotional responses to aversive or emotionally provocative stimuli. In a study by Arch and Craske (2006), university students viewed a series of affectively-valenced pictures and rated their emotional responses to them, both before and after one of three sets of recorded instructions to which they were randomly assigned: focused breathing, unfocused attention, or worry. Whereas the other two groups showed a decrease in positive emotional response to neutral slides from pre-induction to post-induction, those assigned to the focused breathing condition maintained consistently positive responses to neutral slides. They also reported lower negative affect than the worry group in response to post-induction negative-valence slides and greater willingness to view negative slides than those in the unfocused attention condition, as indicated by viewing a greater number of additional optional negative slides. Findings of this study were extended by a recent study by Erisman and Roemer (2010), which found that a brief mindfulness intervention, relative to a control condition, resulted in reduced emotion regulation difficulties and negative affect in response to an affectively-mixed film clip. Campbell-Sills, Barlow, Brown, and Hofmann (2006) randomly assigned patients with mood and anxiety disorders to instructions to either accept or suppress their emotions while viewing an emotionally provocative film. The two groups reported similar levels of subjective distress while watching the film but, relative to those in the suppression condition, the acceptance group displayed lower heart rate while viewing the film and reported less negative emotion during the post-film recovery period. The findings of these studies suggest that training in two key elements of mindfulness practice (focused awareness and acceptance) may reduce emotional reactivity to negative stimuli and increase willingness to remain in contact with them. There is preliminary work investigating the effects of brief mindfulness instructions on substance-related urges and substance use behavior. Bowen and Marlatt (2009) presented college smokers either brief mindfulness instructions or no instructions before and after exposure to a cue designed to elicit urges to smoke. Although there was no immediate effect on urge to smoke, mindfulness instructions resulted in significant decreases in smoking behavior during the next 7 days. As the authors noted, mindfulness training may alter responses to urges, rather than reducing urges. These findings were extended in another study that compared the effectiveness of using suppression versus a mindfulness-based strategy in coping with cigarette craving among a community sample of smokers ( Rogojanski, Vettese, & Antony, 2011). The study found that whereas both strategies reduced self-reported amount of smoking and increased self-efficacy associated with coping with cigarette craving, only those in the mindfulness condition reported significant decreases in negative affect and depressive symptoms and marginal decreases in nicotine dependence.

Research has also examined the efficacy of mindfulness as an emotion regulation strategy in response to a biological challenge, specifically to inhalations of carbon dioxide-enriched air (CO ₂ challenge), a procedure that has frequently been used to create a laboratory analog of panic attacks ( Sanderson, Rapee, & Barlow, 1988). In a study by Feldner, Zvolensky, Eifert, and Spira (2003), individuals who scored either high or low on a measure of emotional avoidance were instructed either to mindfully observe and accept or to try to suppress feelings during CO ₂ challenge. High emotional avoidance participants reported higher anxiety than low emotional avoidance participants in the suppression condition, but not in the observation condition. Levitt, Brown, Orsillo, and Barlow (2004) randomized patients with panic disorder to one of three experimental conditions: a 10-minute audiotape describing a rationale for either suppressing or accepting one's emotions, or a neutral narrative, and then exposed them to CO ₂ challenge. The acceptance group reported significantly lower levels of anxiety during the biological challenge than the other two groups and greater willingness to participate in a second challenge. One coping strategy commonly taught to patients with anxiety disorders, particularly panic disorder, is breathing retraining, in which patients are taught to take deeper, slower breaths. Eifert and Heffner (2003) compared the effects of brief acceptance training, breathing retraining, and no training on responses to CO ₂ challenge in undergraduates who scored high on a measure of anxiety sensitivity. Acceptance instructions led to less intense fear, fewer catastrophic thoughts, and lower behavioral avoidance (indicated both by latency between trials and reported willingness to return for another experimental session) than breathing retraining instructions or no instructions. Collectively, these studies suggest that mindful observation and acceptance of emotional responses may be an effective strategy for reducing subjective anxiety and behavioral avoidance in the face of physiological arousal, among highly anxiety sensitive or emotionally avoidant individuals and patients with panic disorder.

Laboratory studies of mindfulness have helped provide further insight into the functions of mindfulness and the potential processes through which mindfulness lead to positive psychological effects. The majority of the findings suggest that brief mindfulness training, whether in the form of a short, guided meditation practice or in the form of instructions to adopt an accepting attitude toward internal experiences, can have an immediate positive effect on recovery from dysphoric mood and level of emotional reactivity to aversive stimuli, consistent with the positive psychological effects reported in research on mindfulness-oriented intervention programs. The laboratory studies also suggest that it does not take extensive prior training in mindfulness to experience some immediate benefits of mindfulness training.

From a methodological standpoint, it is important that future studies more closely examine the extent to which a state of mindfulness is actually manipulated by the study instructions. Whereas most studies did include post-experimental manipulation checks on adherence to the training instructions, they did not explicitly assess the extent to which participants were able to be mindfully aware of their emotions or thoughts during or after exposure to a mood induction or a laboratory stressor. Research also could examine which training approaches or instructions (e.g. mindful breathing or mindfulness of emotions) are most effective at helping individuals regulate emotions in response to a stressor; whether there are key moderator variables such as pre-existing differences in dispositional mindfulness or coping styles; and whether effects differ by type of stressors or across different emotions. Research is also needed to compare the effects and mechanisms of mindfulness instructions with those of other documented emotion regulation strategies, such as cognitive reappraisal and distraction.

Mechanisms of Effects of Mindfulness Interventions

The studies reviewed so far indicate that measures of mindful awareness are related to various indices of psychological health and that mindfulness interventions have a positive impact on psychological health. The next natural question, then, is how this impact comes about. Several psychological processes, some of which may overlap, have been proposed as potential mediators of the beneficial effects of mindfulness interventions, including increases in mindful awareness, reperceiving (also known as decentering, metacognitive awareness, or defusion), exposure, acceptance, attentional control, memory, values clarification, and behavioral self-regulation.

Mindfulness training would be expected to increase scores on measures of mindfulness, and changes in mindfulness would be expected, in turn, to predict clinical outcomes. Research has found that mindfulness training leads to increases in self-reported trait mindfulness, assessed by the MAAS ( Anderson et al., 2007; Brown & Ryan, 2003; Carmody, Reed, Kristeller and Merriam, 2008; Michalak, Heidenreich, Meibert, & Schulte, 2008; Shapiro, Brown & Biegel, 2007), the CAMS-R ( Greeson et al., in press) and the FFMQ ( Carmody & Baer, 2008; Robins, Keng, Ekblad, & Brantley, 2010; Shapiro et al., 2008), as well as TMS-assessed state mindfulness ( Carmody et al., 2008; Lau et al., 2006). Intervention-associated increases in trait mindfulness, assessed by the MAAS, the KIMS, the CAMS-R, and/or the FFMQ, have been shown to predict increases in sense of spirituality ( Carmody et al., 2008; Greeson et al., in press), self-compassion ( Shapiro et al., 2007), and positive states of mind ( Bränström et al., 2010), and decreases in rumination ( Shapiro et al., 2007), trait anxiety ( Shapiro et al., 2007), risk of depressive relapse ( Michalak et al., 2008), posttraumatic avoidance symptoms ( Bränström et al., 2010), perceived stress ( Bränström et al., 2010; Shapiro et al., 2007), and overall psychological distress ( Carmody et al., 2008). A number of studies have also demonstrated that increases in trait mindfulness (again, assessed by the MAAS, the KIMS, and/or the FFMQ) statistically mediated the effects of mindfulness interventions on perceived stress (Nyklíček, & Kuipers, 2008; Shapiro et al., 2008), rumination ( Shapiro et al., 2008), cognitive reactivity ( Raes et al., 2009), quality of life (Nyklíček, & Kuipers, 2008), depressive symptoms ( Kuyken et al., 2010; Shahar, Britton, Sbarra, Figueredo, & Bootzin, 2010), and behavioral regulation ( Keng, Smoski, Robins, Ekblad, & Brantley, 2010). Lastly, one study ( Carmody & Baer, 2008) demonstrated that changes in FFMQ-assessed mindfulness at least partially mediated the relationships between amount of formal mindfulness practice and changes in psychological well being, perceived stress, and psychological symptoms.

Mindfulness training also is thought to increase metacognitive awareness, which is the ability to reperceive or decenter from one's thoughts and emotions, and view them as passing mental events rather than to identify with them or believe thoughts to be accurate representations of reality ( Hayes et al., 1999; Segal et al., 2002; Shapiro, Carlson, Astin, & Freeman, 2006). Increased metacognitive awareness has been hypothesized to lead to reductions in rumination ( Teasdale, 1999), a process of repetitive negative thinking that has been considered a risk factor for a number of psychological disorders ( Ehring & Watkins, 2008). Preliminary evidence suggests that mindfulness training leads to increases in metacognitive awareness ( Hargus et al., 2010; Teasdale et al., 2002) and reductions in rumination ( Jain et al., 2007; Ramel, Goldin, Carmona, & McQuaid, 2004), and that increased metacognitive awareness, or decentering, may in turn predict better clinical outcomes such as lower rates of depressive relapses ( Fresco, Segal, Buis, & Kennedy, 2007).

Exposure is another process that several authors have suggested may occur during mindfulness practice ( Baer, 2003; Kabat-Zinn, 1982; Linehan, 1993a). By intentionally attending to experiences in a nonjudgmental and open manner, an individual may undergo a process of desensitization through which distressing sensations, thoughts and emotions that otherwise would be avoided become less distressing. One study has shown that participation in MBSR is associated with significant pre- to post-intervention increases in exposure ( Carmody, Baer, Lykins, & Olendzki, 2009). A closely-related process of change that has been highlighted in the literature is acceptance ( Hayes, 1994). Several studies reported that increases in experiential acceptance mediated the effects of ACT on a range of psychological outcomes, including workplace stress ( Bond & Bunce, 2000), smoking cessation ( Gifford et al., 2004), and functioning difficulties ( Forman et al., 2007).

Because mindfulness practices involve sustaining attention on the present-moment experience, as well as switching attention back to the present-moment experience whenever it wanders ( Bishop et al., 2004), mindfulness training may improve the ability to control attention, which may, in turn, influence other beneficial psychological outcomes. Several aspects of attention, each related to different neurobiological substrates, may be distinguished ( Posner & Petersen, 1990): orienting (the ability to direct attention towards a set of stimuli and sustain attention on it), alerting (the ability to remain vigilant or receptive towards a wide range of potential stimuli), and conflict monitoring (the ability to prioritize attention among competing cognitive demands/tasks). Using a variety of neuropsychological tasks, experimental studies have shown that mindfulness training is associated with improvements in orienting ( Jha, Krompinger, & Baime, 2007) and conflict monitoring ( Tang et al., 2007). Among experienced meditators, participation in an intensive mindfulness retreat has also been associated with improved alerting ( Jha et al., 2007). In addition, mindfulness training has been associated with improvements in sustained attention among both novice meditators ( Chambers, Lo, & Allen, 2008) and experienced meditators ( Valentine & Sweet, 1999), with one study demonstrating an association between intervention-related improvements in sustained attention and reductions in depressive symptoms ( Chambers et al., 2008). Overall, evidence suggests that mindfulness training may affect various subcomponents of attention, and that the specific subsystems affected may depend on the extent of previous meditation experience.

Another mechanism through which mindfulness training may influence psychological well-being is change in memory functioning. Two studies ( Hargus et al., 2010; Williams et al., 2000) have shown that mindfulness training reduces overgeneral autobiographical memory, a construct that has been associated with increased severity of depression and suicidality ( Kuyken & Brewin, 1995). Participation in mindfulness training has also been shown to buffer against decreases in working memory capacity (WMC) during high stress periods, with changes in WMC mediating the relationship between amount of mindfulness practice and reductions in negative affect ( Jha, Stanley, Kiyonaga, Wong, & Gelfand, 2010). In addition, brief mindfulness training has been shown to reduce memory for negative stimuli ( Alberts & Thewissen, in press), a mechanism that may partly underlie the beneficial effects of mindfulness-based interventions on emotion functioning.

Finally, values clarification and improved behavioral self-regulation may be two additional avenues through which mindfulness training improves psychological well-being ( Gratz & Roemer, 2004; Shapiro et al., 2006). Staying present with thoughts and emotions in an objective, open and nonjudgmental manner may facilitate a greater sense of clarity with regard to one's values, and behaviors that are more consistent with those values. Higher levels of self-reported mindfulness are associated with self-reports of greater engagement in valued behaviors and interests ( Brown & Ryan, 2003) and of ability to engage in goal-directed behavior when emotionally upset ( Baer et al., 2006). In addition, mindfulness training has been found to lead to self-reported improved behavioral regulation in a nonclinical sample ( Robins et al., 2010) and reduced self-discrepancy, which is associated with adaptive self-regulation, among recovered depressed patients with a history of depression and suicidality ( Crane et al., 2008). In another study, values clarification was found to mediate partially the relationship between increased mindfulness/ reperceiving and decreased psychological distress in a sample of participants who underwent MBSR ( Carmody et al., 2009).

Areas in Need of Further Research

Understanding and Quantification of Mindfulness

Because mindfulness is a construct that originates in Buddhism, and has only a brief history in Western psychological science, it is unsurprising that there is considerable challenge in defining, operationalizing, and quantifying it ( Grossman, 2008). Although a number of self-report inventories have been developed to assess mindfulness, they vary greatly in content and factor structure, reflecting a lack of agreement on the meaning and nature of mindfulness ( Brown, Ryan, & Creswell, 2007). Whereas some researchers consider mindfulness to be a one-dimensional construct referring specifically to paying attention to the present-moment experience (e.g., Brown & Ryan, 2003; Carmody, 2009), others argue that qualities such as curiosity, acceptance, and compassion are inherent to mindfulness ( Baer & Sauer, 2009; Feldman et al., 2007; Lau et al., 2006). Further collaborative inquiry is needed so that researchers can reach a general agreement on the nature and meaning of mindfulness, or at least clarify and specify which aspects of mindfulness are being addressed in a particular study.

Several issues pertaining to the assessment of mindfulness are also worth highlighting here. First, individual responses to questionnaire items may vary as a function of differential understanding of the questionnaire items ( Grossman, 2008), which may depend on the extent of an individual's exposure to the idea or practice of mindfulness. One study demonstrated that the factor structure of the Freiburg Mindfulness Inventory changed within the same group of respondents from just before to just after attending meditation retreats of 3 to 10 days ( Buchheld, Grossman, & Wallach, 2001). Further research is clearly needed to improve the construct validity of self-report mindfulness questionnaires, in part via reducing potential variability in item functioning across meditators and non-meditators. A second issue concerns limitations in the use of self-report measures of mindfulness, which rely on the assumption that mindfulness is assessable by declarative knowledge ( Brown et al., 2007). It is not known how well self-reports of mindfulness correspond with actual experiences in daily life. To make the matter more complicated, there is an inherent paradox in using frequency of attention lapses as an index of mindfulness because the ability to detect such lapses is contingent upon one's overall level of mindfulness ( Van Dam, Earlywine, & Borders, 2010; Van Dam, Earleywine, & Danoff-Burg, 2009). One way in which the validity of self-report questionnaires can be improved is by developing performance-based measures of mindfulness against which they can be calibrated, or which can be used in multi-method assessment of the construct ( Garland & Gaylord, 2009).

Specificity of Effects of Mindfulness Interventions

Little is yet known regarding for whom and under what conditions mindfulness training is most effective, but there is some preliminary evidence to suggest that its effectiveness may vary as a function of individual differences. Cordon, Brown, and Gibson (2009) found that participation in MBSR resulted in greater reduction in perceived stress for individuals with an insecure attachment style than for securely attached individuals. Another recent study ( Shapiro, Brown, Thoresen, & Plante, 2011) showed that trait mindfulness moderated the effects of MBSR. Specifically, compared to controls, participants with higher levels of baseline trait mindfulness demonstrated greater improvements in mindfulness, subjective well-being, empathy, and hope, and larger decreases in perceived stress up to one year post-intervention. MBCT is effective for reducing depressive relapses among remitted depressed patients with a history of three or more depressive episodes, but not among patients with two previous episodes (e.g., Teasdale et al., 2000; Ma & Teasdale, 2004). In light of these considerations, several researchers have cautioned against the indiscriminate application of mindfulness as a general-purpose, "cure-all" therapeutic technique, and instead advocated for a problem formulation approach in the use of mindfulness techniques for treating psychological conditions ( Kocovski, Segal, Battista, & Didonna, 2009; Teasdale, Segal, & Williams, 2003). In order to maximize the effectiveness and clinical utility of mindfulness interventions, sufficient attention needs to go into tailoring them to fit the needs of specific populations and psychological conditions. For example, treatment of disorders that primarily involve a deficit in attentional abilities, like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), may require that greater focus be placed on the attentional aspect of mindfulness training. On the other hand, treatment of disorders that tend to involve excessive shame and guilt, such as eating disorders, may benefit from greater treatment emphasis on the acceptance and self compassion aspects of mindfulness. Finally, given that mindfulness training has been increasingly integrated with a variety of psychotherapeutic techniques (e.g., Linehan, 1993a), it is important that future research examine how mindfulness works alongside these psychotherapeutic techniques.

Other Potential Applications of Mindfulness Interventions

Mindfulness-oriented interventions have been shown to improve psychological health in nonclinical populations and effectively treat a range of psychological and psychosomatic conditions. There may be additional therapeutic applications of mindfulness training. Researchers have reported promising results in pilot trials of mindfulness interventions for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder ( Zylowska et al., 2008), bipolar disorder ( Miklowitz et al., 2009; Weber et al., 2010; Williams et al., 2008), panic disorder ( Kim et al., 2010), generalized anxiety disorder ( Evans et al., 2008; Craigie, Rees, Marsh, & Nathan, 2008; Roemer, Orsillo, & Salters-Pedneault, 2008), eating disorders ( Baer, Fischer, & Huss, 2005; Kristeller & Hallett, 1999), psychosis ( Chadwick, Taylor, & Abba, 2005), and alcohol and substance use problems ( Bowen et al., 2006; Witkiewitz et al., 2005). While the data is overall preliminary and requires further validation, the results are promising. Researchers have also begun to investigate the application of mindfulness techniques within specific populations and settings, such as children ( Bogels, Hoogstad, van Dun, de Schutter, & Restifo, 2008; Lee, Semple, Rosa, & Miller, 2008; Napoli, Krech, & Holley, 2005), adolescent psychiatric outpatients ( Biegel, Brown, Shapiro, & Schubert, 2009), parents ( Altmaier & Maloney, 2007; Bögels et al., 2008; Singh et al., 2006), school teachers ( Napoli, 2004), elderly and their caregivers ( Epstein-Lubow, McBee, Darling, Armey, & Miller, in press; McBee, 2008; Smith, 2004), prison inmates ( Bowen et al., 2006; Samuelson, Carmody, Kabat-Zinn, & Bratt, 2007), and socio-economically disadvantaged individuals ( Hick & Furlotte, 2010).

With regard to applications of mindfulness training that have received empirical support, research now needs to examine practical issues surrounding their implementation, delivery, and dissemination. Little is known about their cost effectiveness, nor about the amount and type(s) of training that is required for an individual to be a competent provider of mindfulness training ( Allen, Blashki, & Gullone, 2006). Future research should examine these issues as they are critical to the successful implementation and dissemination of mindfulness-oriented interventions.

Conclusion

Based on an examination of empirical literature across multiple methodologies, this review concludes that mindfulness and its cultivation facilitates adaptive psychological functioning. Despite existing methodological limitations within each body of literature, there is a clear convergence of findings from correlational studies, clinical intervention studies, and laboratory-based, experimental studies of mindfulness-all of which suggest that mindfulness is positively associated with psychological health, and that training in mindfulness may bring about positive psychological effects. These effects ranged from increased subjective well-being, reduced psychological symptoms and emotional reactivity, to improved regulation of behavior. There is also an increasingly substantial research body pointing to a number of psychological processes that may serve as key mechanisms of effects of mindfulness interventions. As research on mindfulness is in its early stages of development, further collaborative research is needed to develop a more solid understanding concerning the nature of mindfulness, how mindfulness can best be measured, fostered, and cultivated, and the mechanisms and specificity of effects of mindfulness-oriented interventions. Future research should also continue to explore other potential applications of mindfulness, and examine practical issues concerning the delivery, implementation, and dissemination of mindfulness-oriented interventions. Given the advances that have been made thus far, it is likely that new paradigms for the understanding and application of mindfulness will continue to appear, which would move us further toward the goals of alleviating human psychological suffering and helping others live a life that is happier and more fulfilling.

Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge M. Zachary Rosenthal, Mark Leary, Jeffrey Brantley, and Kathleen Sikkema for their helpful comments on an earlier version of this manuscript.

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Effects of Mindfulness on Psychological Health: A Review of Empirical Studies

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Within the past few decades, there has been a surge of interest in the investigation of mindfulness as a psychological construct and as a form of clinical intervention. This article reviews the empirical literature on the effects of mindfulness on psychological ...

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Impact of Movement Routines on Our Brains! 

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Impact of Movement Routines on Our Brains! 

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We've all heard that exercise is good for us-how it strengthens our hearts and lungs, and helps us prevent diseases like diabetes. That's why so many of us like to make New Year's resolutions to move more, knowing it will make us healthier and live longer.

But many people don't know about the other important benefits of exercise-how it can help us find happiness, hope, connection, and courage.

Around the world, people who are physically active are happier and more satisfied with their lives. They have a stronger sense of purpose and experience more gratitude, love, and hope. They feel more connected to their communities, and are less likely to suffer from loneliness or become depressed.

These benefits are seen throughout the lifespan, including among those living with serious mental and physical health challenges. That's true whether their preferred activity is walking, running, swimming, dancing, biking, playing sports, lifting weights, or practicing yoga.

Why is movement linked to such a wide range of psychological benefits? One reason is its powerful and profound effects on the brain. Here are five surprising ways that being active is good for your brain-and how you can harness these benefits yourself.

1. The exercise "high" primes you to connect with others

Although typically described as a runner's high, an exercise-induced mood boost is not exclusive to running. A similar bliss can be found in any sustained physical activity.

Scientists have long speculated that endorphins are behind the high, but research shows the high is linked to another class of brain chemicals: endocannabinoids (the same chemicals mimicked by cannabis)-what neuroscientists describe as "don't worry, be happy" chemicals.

Areas of the brain that regulate the stress response, including the amygdala and prefrontal cortex, are rich in receptors for endocannabinoids. When endocannabinoid molecules lock into these receptors, they reduce anxiety and induce a state of contentment. Endocannabinoids also increase dopamine in the brain's reward system, which further fuels feelings of optimism.

This exercise high also primes us to connect with others, by increasing the pleasure we derive from being around other people, which can strengthen relationships. Many people use exercise as an opportunity to connect with friends or loved ones. Among married couples, when spouses exercise together, both partners report more closeness later that day, including feeling loved and supported.

Another study found that on days when people exercise, they report more positive interactions with friends and family. As one runner said to me, "My family will sometimes send me out running, as they know that I will come back a much better person."

2. Exercise can make your brain more sensitive to joy

When you exercise, you provide a low-dose jolt to the brain's reward centers-the system of the brain that helps you anticipate pleasure, feel motivated, and maintain hope. Over time, regular exercise remodels the reward system, leading to higher circulating levels of dopamine and more available dopamine receptors. In this way, exercise can both relieve depression and expand your capacity for joy.

These changes can also repair the neurological havoc wreaked by substance abuse. Substance abuse lowers the level of dopamine in your brain and reduces the availability of dopamine receptors in the reward system. As result, people struggling with addiction can feel unmotivated, depressed, antisocial, and unable to enjoy ordinary pleasures. Exercise can reverse this.

In one randomized trial, adults in treatment for methamphetamine abuse participated in an hour of walking, jogging, and strength training three times a week. After eight weeks, their brains showed an increase in dopamine receptor availability in the reward system.

Jump-starting the brain's reward system benefits not just those who struggle with depression or addiction. Our brains change as we age, and adults lose up to 13 percent of the dopamine receptors in the reward system with each passing decade. This loss leads to less enjoyment of everyday pleasures, but physical activity can prevent the decline. Compared to their inactive peers, active older adults have reward systems that more closely resemble those of individuals who are decades younger.

3. Exercise makes you brave

Courage is another side effect of physical activity on the brain. At the very same time that a new exercise habit is enhancing the reward system, it also increases neural connections among areas of the brain that calm anxiety. Regular physical activity can also modify the default state of the nervous system so that it becomes more balanced and less prone to fight, flight, or fright.

The latest research even suggests that lactate-the metabolic by-product of exercise that is commonly, but erroneously, blamed for muscle soreness- has positive effects on mental health. After lactate is released by muscles, it travels through the bloodstream to the brain, where it alters your neurochemistry in a way that can reduce anxiety and protect against depression.

Sometimes, the movement itself allows us to experience ourselves as brave, as the language we use to describe courage relies on metaphors of the body. We overcome obstacles, break through barriers, and walk through fire. We carry burdens, reach out for help, and lift one another up. This is how we as humans talk about bravery and resilience.

When we are faced with adversity or doubting our own strength, it can help to feel these actions in our bodies. The mind instinctively makes sense out of physical actions. Sometimes we need to climb an actual hill, pull ourselves up, or work together to shoulder a heavy load to know that these traits are a part of us.

4. Moving with others builds trust and belonging

In 1912, French sociologist Émile Durkheim coined the term collective effervescence to describe the euphoric self-transcendence individuals feel when they move together in ritual, prayer, or work. Moving with others-for example, in group exercise, yoga, or dance classes-is one of the most powerful ways to experience joy.

Psychologists believe the key to producing collective joy is synchrony-moving in the same way, and at the same time, as others-because it triggers a release of endorphins. This is why dancers and rowers who move in synch show an increase in pain tolerance.

But endorphins don't just make us feel good; they help us bond, too. People sharing an endorphin rush through a collective activity like, trust, and feel closer to one another afterward. It's a powerful neurobiological mechanism for forming friendships, even with people we don't know.

Group exercise has managed to capitalize on the social benefits of synchronized movement. For example, the more you get your heart rate up, the closer you feel to the people you move in unison with, and adding music enhances the effect. Breathing in unison can also amplify the feeling of collective joy, as may happen in a yoga class.

We were born with brains able to craft a sense of connection to others that is as visceral as the feedback coming from our own heart, lungs, and muscles. That is an astonishing thing! We humans can go about most of our lives, sensing and feeling ourselves as separate, but through one small action-coming together in movement-we dissolve the boundaries that divide us.

5. Trying a new activity can transform your self-image

Every time you move your body, sensory receptors in your muscles, tendons, and joints send information to your brain about what is happening. This is why if you close your eyes and raise one arm, you can feel the shift in position and know where your arm is in space. You don't have to watch what's happening; you can sense yourself.

The ability to perceive your body's movements is called proprioception, and is sometimes referred to as the "sixth sense." It helps us move through space with ease and skill and plays a surprisingly important role in self-concept-how you think about who you are and how you imagine others see you.

When you participate in any physical activity, your moment-to-moment sense of self is shaped by the qualities of your movement. If you move with grace, your brain perceives the elongation of your limbs and the fluidity of your steps, and realizes, "I am graceful." When you move with power, your brain encodes the explosive contraction of muscles, senses the speed of the action, and understands, "I am powerful." If there is a voice in your head saying, "You're too old, too awkward, too big, too broken, too weak," sensations from movement can provide a compelling counterargument.

Physical accomplishments change how you think about yourself and what you are capable of, and the effect should not be underestimated. One woman I spoke with shared a story about when she was in her early 20s and found herself severely depressed, with a plan to take her own life. The day she intended to go through with it, she went to the gym for one last workout. She deadlifted 185 pounds, a personal best. When she put the bar down, she realized that she didn't want to die. Instead, she remembers, "I wanted to see how strong I could become." Five years later, she can now deadlift 300 pounds.

Clearly, we were born to move, and the effects of exercise on our psychological and social well-being are many. So, why not start the new year right and add more movement to your life? No doubt you'll feel better, be happier, and have better social relationships because of it.

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Five Surprising Ways Exercise Changes Your Brain

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We've all heard that exercise is good for us-how it strengthens our hearts and lungs, and helps us prevent diseases like diabetes. That's why so many of us like to make New Year's resolutions to move more, knowing it will make us healthier and live longer.

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Short Sleepers? What we can learn from them! 

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Short Sleepers? What we can learn from them! 

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YOU most likely are not a short sleeper! Only about 2% of the population needs < 7 hours!

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The Transcriptional Repressor DEC2 Regulates Sleep Length in Mammals

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Sleep deprivation can impair human health and performance. Habitual total sleep time and homeostatic sleep response to sleep deprivation are quantitative traits in humans. Genetic loci for these traits have been identified in model organisms, but none…

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As we get down to work, our mind is flooded with thoughts - should I respond to that email I got last night or a message from my boss, how about a cup of coffee, why not start the project I have been avoiding this entire week or maybe just a quick catch up on the meeting I missed yesterday...

A series of these small decisions scattered throughout our day may seem harmless in the moment as they seem to demand only a small fraction of our mental energy, but as the day goes on and we continue to expend from this seemingly reserved pool of energy, our mental capacity to make decisions starts depleting.

Unlike physical fatigue which we can feel and instantly express, the mental fatigue that comes after making multiple decisions is not visible to us.

Decision fatigue as psychologists like to call it leads to poor quality of decision making - we show reluctance to make trade-offs, fall back to easy choices and may even find it difficult to exercise self-control after making a series of decisions.

"If your work requires you to make hard decisions all day long, at some point you're going to be depleted and start looking for ways to conserve energy. You'll look for excuses to avoid or postpone decisions. You'll look for the easiest and safest option, which often is to stick with the status quo", says Roy Baumeister in Willpower.

Ordering a pizza as opposed to a healthy meal in the evening after a long session of decision making at work is a sign that our self-control against impulses decreases in the face of decision fatigue. Social psychologist Roy Baumeister describes this inability to exercise self-control as ego depletion in his study on decision fatigue.

Decision fatigue also explains why we are more reluctant to approve new ideas, find it difficult to choose from a number of presented options and end up making poor choices in the evening as opposed to making these decisions in the morning when our reserved bank of mental energy is at its best.

Before we get down to reduce and maybe even avoid decision fatigue, it's important to recognise its symptoms. Knowing when we are running on a low mental battery will enable us to avoid making bad decisions and find creative ways to save the battery for important decisions.

How to identify when you are experiencing decision fatigue

Recognise if you are experiencing decision fatigue by watching out for these symptoms -

Become reckless

Decision fatigue will cause you to act impulsively instead of taking the time to think through the consequences of your decisions.

It shows up when you fall back to your instincts or choose an option just because its first order consequence is positive without analysing the second order effects of your decision.

Taking the time to think through the impact of your decision requires putting multiple options on your mental stage and comparing them. A tired mind isn't equipped to provide the resources for weighing in on different options, challenging your assumptions and navigating the potential obstacles required to make a thoughtful decision.

"Effort is required to maintain simultaneously in memory several ideas that require separate actions, or that need to be combined according to a rule. System 2 is the only one that can follow rules, compare objects on several attributes, and make deliberate choices between options. The automatic System 1 does not have these capabilities", says Daniel Kahneman in Thinking, Fast And Slow.

With your system2 deliberate thinking mode refusing to cooperate, your system1 automatic thinking springs to action and system1 is known to act on impulse or as Daniel Kahneman calls it "The law of least effort is operating here. He will think as least as possible"

Choose the status quo

It's easy to stick to what you know while exploring the unknown requires crossing the mental boundary from comfort to discomfort.

David Rock explains this in Your Brain At Work "Picturing something you have not yet seen is going to take a lot of energy and effort. This partly explains why people spend more time thinking about problems (things they have seen) than solutions (things they have never seen). It explains why setting goals feels so hard (it's hard to envision the future)"

After making multiple decisions throughout the day, decision fatigue can cause you to stay inside your comfort bubble and resist the idea of a change since it's uncomfortable and demands a lot of effort and energy.

Decisions made under the effect of decision fatigue with a mentally tired state can have a huge impact on your future. Sticking with the status quo can cause you to -

Invest in sunk costs while ignoring the multiple opportunities that lie ahead

Ignore technological advancements and shift in market trends that require you to reevaluate your strategies

Reject proposal for a new product that could be a game changer for the company

Fail to see value in making small changes that could yield significant rewards

Stuck with analysis paralysis

Making a good decision requires bringing knowledge from several domains, stitching distinct ideas together, maintaining the right balance of exploring breadth and depth across these ideas, making new connections and then zeroing in on a few candidates that look promising.

When your mental machinery is tired, you will find it hard to process information to separate noise from the goodness of an idea. This may lead to overthinking, the tendency to think too much and move back and forth on ideas without the ability to give them a specific direction.

Decision fatigue may cause you to obsess about the problems that don't even exist, draw biased conclusions and be stuck with analysis paralysis with the possibility that there might be something better. It can cause you to chase a perfect solution instead of making the best decision under the given circumstances.

Too many options

Decision fatigue is not necessarily caused by making too many decisions, it could also be a result of too many choices. We prefer having choices even when they don't necessarily add value to our decision.

At work, too many choices can cause designers to waste hours in finalising the right shade of blue, marketers may find it difficult to choose the channel that will give them the maximum return for their investment, hiring manager may be burdened with the task of finalising a recruiting agency amongst the many possibilities and engineers may argue over minor details in the strategic planning phase to lock down on the specific tactics to be employed.

Choices can be overwhelming and too many choices can tax your mind by consuming resources in a short frame of time leaving less energy for making further decisions.

Barry Schwartz advises in The Paradox of Choice "Learning to choose is hard. Learning to choose well is harder. And learning to choose well in a world of unlimited possibilities is harder still, perhaps too hard."

React aggressively

Under the effect of decision fatigue, your brain's regulatory power weakens causing you to lose control over your emotions. This makes everything around you feel more intense than normal.

Small mistakes can make you furious, disagreements may cause irritation and you may react aggressively to things that are not in line with your expectation.

Without your realisation, the switch in your brain may flip after many rounds of decision making causing you to react to people and things in your environment instead of taking the time to analyse and act appropriately.

How to overcome decision fatigue

Decision fatigue is a real thing, but it's also something completely under your control.

Only you can design a personal system that maximises your chances of making the best decision as opposed to trying to squeeze out every bit of your attention.

Employ these 5 practices to avoid decision fatigue -

1. Be an essentialist

We make a large number of decisions from the time we wake up - some consciously, others unconsciously, some trivial, others significant, some reversible, others irreversible.

Without controlling the number of decisions we make by choice and dedicating our peak mental energy to those significant decisions that impact our lives in a huge way, we may end up with poor judgment.

Inspired by Greg McKeown from Essentialism, we need to be essentialists when it comes to decision-making

The way of the Essentialist means living by design, not by default. Instead of making choices reactively, the Essentialist deliberately distinguishes the vital few from the trivial many, eliminates the nonessentials, and then removes obstacles so the essential things have clear, smooth passage. In other words, Essentialism is a disciplined, systematic approach for determining where our highest point of contribution lies, then making execution of those things almost effortless

The first step to combat decision fatigue is to organise your life in a way that you prioritise what needs prioritising and put all your energy into getting it right.

So let's jump to this step in the process, which is to make your commitments visible by planning upfront.

2. Get things out of your head

Identify activities that align with your goals and values and say no to all inconsequential activities. Then spend dedicated time daily to plan what you wish to achieve each day. Planning upfront has two major advantages -

1. You don't have to think about what demands your attention as you start your day

2. It serves as a commitment and point of reference when you find yourself distracted

By not spending mental cycles in deciding every instant on what to do next, you can avoid decision fatigue and free up more resources to do the real work. It will also help you attend to those urgent situations which are not under your control with the right state of mind.

Putting this practice into action requires what David Rock suggests "Creating visuals for complex ideas is one way to maximize limited energy resources. Another way involves reducing the load on the prefrontal cortex whenever possible. The idea is to get the concepts out of your mind and into the world and to save the stage for the most important functions. Minimize energy usage to maximize performance."

A good way to get the plan out of your head is to utilise Eisenhower's productivity matrix to divide your work in 4 quadrants based on their urgency and importance.

The next step is to order these priorities for optimal resource usage - eat that frog first.

3. Eat that frog

Tackle your most challenging task first, one that demands your mental capacity to process information at its best.

"The stage uses up power quickly, and as the lights dim, it gets harder to hold actors in the right place and stop others from getting on the stage. This tendency means scheduling the most attention-rich tasks when you have a fresh and alert mind. This could be early in the morning, or perhaps after a break or exercise. Making a tough decision might take thirty seconds when you are fresh and be impossible when you're not", says David Rock in Your Brain At Work.

By prioritising work that will have the greatest positive impact on your life and matching the mental demands of the work with your energy levels, you will be able to make the best decisions when you are not under the effect of decision fatigue.

What do you do when things don't pan out the way you wanted?

4. Believe you have more willpower

As much as we crave an organised world and like to be in control, things don't always go according to a plan.

You may be forced to make a decision when you are tired. What should you do then - say no to making a decision? Well, sometimes that may not be a possibility.

Stanford University Professor of Psychology Carol Dweck found "that while decision fatigue does occur, it primarily affects those who believe that willpower runs out quickly." She states that "people get fatigued or depleted after a taxing task only when they believe that willpower is a limited resource, but not when they believe it's not so limited". She notes that "in some cases, the people who believe that willpower is not so limited actually perform better after a taxing task

This does not mean that you will never feel decision fatigue if you keep making one decision after another. Rather, it guides you to believe in a growth mindset and exercise your willpower when put under tough situations, when you have to make a decision even though your mental resources have depleted.

By exercising your willpower in such moments, you may not make the best decision, but it will be much better than the one without it.

5. Know when it's time to stop

Roy Baumeister, a social psychologist, known for his work on willpower, self-control and self-esteem says "The best decision makers are the ones who know when not to trust themselves. Even the wisest people won't make good choices when they're not rested and their glucose is low. That's why the truly wise don't restructure the company at 4 p.m. They don't make major commitments during the cocktail hour. And if a decision must be made late in the day, they know not to do it on an empty stomach"

Know when it's time for you to stop - take feedback from your past decisions, identify patterns based on your best and worst decisions and incorporate it into your planning.

By knowing when you operate well and when you are physically present but mentally absent, you can make a choice to opt-out of the decision process and push those decisions to a later stage.

Be the master of your own life. Don't let it run on autopilot by learning to make a few decisions and make them well by being an essentialist, getting things out of your head, eating that frog, exercising your willpower and opting out when you aren't adding value.

How do you manage decision fatigue? Write to me or share your thoughts in the comments below.

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Decision Fatigue: Don't Squeeze Out Every Bit Of Your Attention - TechTello

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Do you control the number of decisions you make by choice and dedicate your peak mental energy to those significant decisions that impact your life in a huge way?

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Staying hydrated - when drinking enough water is a challenge. 

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Staying hydrated - when drinking enough water is a challenge. 

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8 Ways to Stay Hydrated If You Hate Drinking Water

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Add one glass per week, schedule nudges throughout the day, and add herbs to your water or ice cubes.

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With the rise of managed health care, which emphasizes cost-efficiency and brevity, mental health professionals have had to confront this burning question: How can they help clients derive the greatest possible benefit from treatment in the shortest amount of time?

Recent evidence suggests that a promising approach is to complement psychological counseling with additional activities that are not too taxing for clients but yield high results. In our own research, we have zeroed in on one such activity: the practice of gratitude. Indeed, many studies over the past decade have found that people who consciously count their blessings tend to be happier and less depressed.

The problem is that most research studies on gratitude have been conducted with well-functioning people. Is gratitude beneficial for people who struggle with mental health concerns? And, if so, how?

We set out to address these questions in a recent research study involving nearly 300 adults, mostly college students who were seeking mental health counseling at a university. We recruited these participants just before they began their first session of counseling, and, on average, they reported clinically low levels of mental health at the time. The majority of people seeking counseling services at this university in general struggled with issues related to depression and anxiety.

We randomly assigned our study participants into three groups. Although all three groups received counseling services, the first group was also instructed to write one letter of gratitude to another person each week for three weeks, whereas the second group was asked to write about their deepest thoughts and feelings about negative experiences. The third group did not do any writing activity.

What did we find? Compared with the participants who wrote about negative experiences or only received counseling, those who wrote gratitude letters reported significantly better mental health four weeks and 12 weeks after their writing exercise ended. This suggests that gratitude writing can be beneficial not just for healthy, well-adjusted individuals, but also for those who struggle with mental health concerns. In fact, it seems, practicing gratitude on top of receiving psychological counseling carries greater benefits than counseling alone, even when that gratitude practice is brief.

And that's not all. When we dug deeper into our results, we found indications of how gratitude might actually work on our minds and bodies. While not definitive, here are four insights from our research suggesting what might be behind gratitude's psychological benefits.

1. Gratitude unshackles us from toxic emotions

First, by analyzing the words used by participants in each of the two writing groups, we were able to understand the mechanisms behind the mental health benefits of gratitude letter writing. We compared the percentage of positive emotion words, negative emotion words, and "we" words (first-person plural words) that participants used in their writing. Not surprisingly, those in the gratitude writing group used a higher percentage of positive emotion words and "we" words, and a lower proportion of negative emotion words, than those in the other writing group.

However, people who used more positive emotion words and more "we" words in their gratitude letters didn't necessarily have better mental health later. It was only when people used fewer negative emotion words in their letters that they were significantly more likely to report better mental health. In fact, it was the lack of negative emotion words-not the abundance of positive words-that explained the mental health gap between the gratitude writing group and the other writing group.

Perhaps this suggests that gratitude letter writing produces better mental health by shifting one's attention away from toxic emotions, such as resentment and envy. When you write about how grateful you are to others and how much other people have blessed your life, it might become considerably harder for you to ruminate on your negative experiences.

2. Gratitude helps even if you don't share it

We told participants who were assigned to write gratitude letters that they weren't required to send their letters to their intended recipient. In fact, only 23 percent of participants who wrote gratitude letters sent them. But those who didn't send their letters enjoyed the benefits of experiencing gratitude nonetheless. (Because the number of people who sent their letters was so small, it was hard for us to determine whether this group's mental health was better than those who didn't send their letter.)

This suggests that the mental health benefits of writing gratitude letters are not entirely dependent on actually communicating that gratitude to another person.

So if you're thinking of writing a letter of gratitude to someone, but you're unsure whether you want that person to read the letter, we encourage you to write it anyway. You can decide later whether to send it (and we think it's often a good idea to do so). But the mere act of writing the letter can help you appreciate the people in your life and shift your focus away from negative feelings and thoughts.

3. Gratitude's benefits take time

It's important to note that the mental health benefits of gratitude writing in our study did not emerge immediately, but gradually accrued over time. Although the different groups in our study did not differ in mental health levels one week after the end of the writing activities, individuals in the gratitude group reported better mental health than the others four weeks after the writing activities, and this difference in mental health became even larger 12 weeks after the writing activities.

These results are encouraging because many other studies suggest that the mental health benefits of positive activities often decrease rather than increase over time afterward. We don't really know why this positive snowball effect occurred in our study. Perhaps the gratitude letter writers discussed what they wrote in their letters with their counselors or with others. These conversations may have reinforced the psychological benefits derived from the gratitude writing itself.

For now, the bottom line is this: If you participate in a gratitude writing activity, don't be too surprised if you don't feel dramatically better immediately after the writing. Be patient and remember that the benefits of gratitude might take time to kick in.

4. Gratitude has lasting effects on the brain

About three months after the psychotherapy sessions began, we took some of the people who wrote gratitude letters and compared them with those who didn't do any writing. We wanted to know if their brains were processing information differently.

We used an fMRI scanner to measure brain activity while people from each group did a "pay it forward" task. In that task, the individuals were regularly given a small amount of money by a nice person, called the "benefactor." This benefactor only asked that they pass the money on to someone if they felt grateful. Our participants then decided how much of the money, if any, to pass on to a worthy cause (and we did in fact donate that money to a local charity).

We wanted to distinguish donations motivated by gratitude from donations driven by other motivations, like feelings of guilt or obligation. So we asked the participants to rate how grateful they felt toward the benefactor, and how much they wanted to help each charitable cause, as well as how guilty they would feel if they didn't help. We also gave them questionnaires to measure how grateful they are in their lives in general.

We found that across the participants, when people felt more grateful, their brain activity was distinct from brain activity related to guilt and the desire to help a cause. More specifically, we found that when people who are generally more grateful gave more money to a cause, they showed greater neural sensitivity in the medial prefrontal cortex, a brain area associated with learning and decision making. This suggests that people who are more grateful are also more attentive to how they express gratitude.

Most interestingly, when we compared those who wrote the gratitude letters with those who didn't, the gratitude letter writers showed greater activation in the medial prefrontal cortex when they experienced gratitude in the fMRI scanner. This is striking as this effect was found three months after the letter writing began. This indicates that simply expressing gratitude may have lasting effects on the brain. While not conclusive, this finding suggests that practicing gratitude may help train the brain to be more sensitive to the experience of gratitude down the line, and this could contribute to improved mental health over time.

Though these are just the first steps in what should be a longer research journey, our research so far not only suggests that writing gratitude letters may be helpful for people seeking counseling services but also explains what's behind gratitude's psychological benefits. At a time when many mental health professionals are feeling crunched, we hope that this research can point them-and their clients-toward an effective and beneficial tool.

Regardless of whether you're facing serious psychological challenges, if you have never written a gratitude letter before, we encourage you to try it. Much of our time and energy is spent pursuing things we currently don't have. Gratitude reverses our priorities to help us appreciate the people and things we do.

Greater Good wants to know: Do you think this article will influence your opinions or behavior?

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How Gratitude Changes You and Your Brain

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New research is starting to explore how gratitude works to improve our mental health.

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According to the World Health Organization (WHO), mental health is "a state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community" ( 1).

This definition, while representing a substantial progress with respect to moving away from the conceptualization of mental health as a state of absence of mental illness, raises several concerns and lends itself to potential misunderstandings when it identifies positive feelings and positive functioning as key factors for mental health.

In fact, regarding well-being as a key aspect of mental health is difficult to reconcile with the many challenging life situations in which well-being may even be unhealthy: most people would consider as mentally unhealthy an individual experiencing a state of well-being while killing several persons during a war action, and would regard as healthy a person feeling desperate after being fired from his/her job in a situation in which occupational opportunities are scarce.

People in good mental health are often sad, unwell, angry or unhappy, and this is part of a fully lived life for a human being. In spite of this, mental health has been often conceptualized as a purely positive affect, marked by feelings of happiness and sense of mastery over the environment ( 2- 4).

Concepts used in several papers on mental health include both key aspects of the WHO definition, i.e. positive emotions and positive functioning. Keyes ( 5, 6) identifies three components of mental health: emotional well-being, psychological well-being and social well-being. Emotional well-being includes happiness, interest in life, and satisfaction; psychological well-being includes liking most parts of one's own personality, being good at managing the responsibilities of daily life, having good relationships with others, and being satisfied with one's own life; social well-being refers to positive functioning and involves having something to contribute to society (social contribution), feeling part of a community (social integration), believing that society is becoming a better place for all people (social actualization), and that the way society works makes sense to them (social coherence).

However, such a perspective of mental health, influenced by hedonic and eudaimonic traditions, which champion positive emotions and excellence in functioning, respectively ( 7), risks excluding most adolescents, many of whom are somewhat shy, those who fight against perceived injustice and inequalities or are discouraged from doing so after years of useless efforts, as well as migrants and minorities experiencing rejection and discrimination.

The concept of positive functioning is also translated by several definitions and theories about mental health into the ability to work productively ( 1, 8), and may lead to the wrong conclusion that an individual at an age or in a physical condition preventing her/him from working productively is not by definition in good mental health. Working productively and fruitfully is often not possible for contextual reasons (e.g., for migrants or for discriminated people), which may prevent people from contributing to their community.

Jahoda ( 9) subdivided mental health into three domains: self-realization, in that individuals are able to fully exploit their potential; sense of mastery over the environment; and sense of autonomy, i.e. ability to identify, confront, and solve problems. Murphy ( 10) argued that these ideas were laden with cultural values considered important by North Americans. However, even for a North American person, it is hard to imagine, for example, that a mentally healthy human being in the hands of terrorists, under the threat of beheading, can experience a sense of happiness and mastery over the environment.

The definition of mental health is clearly influenced by the culture that defines it. However, as also advocated by Vaillant ( 11), common sense should prevail and certain elements that have a universal importance for mental health might be identified. For example, in spite of cultural differences in eating habits, the acknowledgement of the importance of vitamins and the four basic food groups is universal.

Toward a new definition of mental health

Aware of the fact that differences across countries in values, cultures and social background may hinder the achievement of a general consensus on the concept of mental health, we aimed at elaborating an inclusive definition, avoiding as much as possible restrictive and culture-bound statements.

The concept that mental health is not merely the absence of mental illness ( 1, 8) was unanimously endorsed, while the equivalence between mental health and well-being/functioning was not, and a definition leaving room for a variety of emotional states and for "imperfect functioning" was drafted.

The proposed definition is reported herewith:

Mental health is a dynamic state of internal equilibrium which enables individuals to use their abilities in harmony with universal values of society. Basic cognitive and social skills; ability to recognize, express and modulate one's own emotions, as well as empathize with others; flexibility and ability to cope with adverse life events and function in social roles; and harmonious relationship between body and mind represent important components of mental health which contribute, to varying degrees, to the state of internal equilibrium.

The addition of a note explaining what is meant in the definition by the expression "universal values" is deemed necessary, in the light of the misleading use of this expression in certain political and social circumstances. The values we are referring to are: respect and care for oneself and other living beings; recognition of connectedness between people; respect for the environment; respect for one's own and others' freedom.

The concept of " dynamic state of internal equilibrium" is meant to reflect the fact that different life epochs require changes in the achieved equilibrium: adolescent crises, marriage, becoming a parent or retirement are good examples of life epochs requiring an active search for a new mental equilibrium. This concept also incorporates and acknowledges the reality that mentally healthy people may experience appropriate human emotions - including for example fear, anger, sadness and grief - whilst at the same time possessing sufficient resilience to timeously restore the dynamic state of internal equilibrium.

All components proposed in the definition represent important but not mandatory aspects of mental health; as a matter of fact, they may contribute to a varying degree to the state of equilibrium, so that fully developed functions may offset an impairment in another aspect of mental functioning. For instance, a very empathetic person, highly interested in mutual sharing, may compensate for a moderate degree of cognitive impairment, and still find a satisfactory equilibrium and pursue her/his life goals.

The main reasons underlying the choice of the components included in the definition are provided hereafter.

Basic cognitive and social skills are regarded as an important component of mental health in the light of their impact on all aspects of everyday life ( 12- 15). Cognitive skills include the ability to pay attention, remember and organize information, solve problems, and make decisions; social skills involve the ability to use one's own repertoire of verbal/non-verbal abilities to communicate and interact with others. All these abilities are interdependent and allow people to function in their environment. Reference to the "basic" level of these abilities is meant to clarify that mild degrees of impairment are compatible with mental health, while moderate to severe degrees of impairment, especially if not balanced by other aspects, may require support by other members of the society and a number of social incentives, such as facilitated job opportunities, financial benefits or ad hoc training programs.

Emotional regulation, i.e. the ability to recognize, express and modulate one's own emotions, is also regarded as an important component of mental health ( 16). It has been proposed as a mediator of stress adjustment ( 17, 18), and a link between inappropriate or ineffective emotional regulation and depression has been found in clinical and neuroimaging studies ( 19- 22). A variety of modulated emotional response options, that can be flexibly employed, contribute to an individual's mental health, and alexithymia (i.e., an inability to identify and express one's own emotions) is a risk factor for mental and physical disorders ( 23, 24).

Empathy, i.e., the ability to experience and understand what others feel without confusion between oneself and others, enables individuals to communicate and interact in effective ways and to predict actions, intentions, and feelings of others ( 25). The absence of empathy is not only a risk factor for violence and a feature of antisocial personality disorder, but also impairs social interactions at all levels.

Flexibility and ability to cope with adverse events are also deemed important to mental health maintenance. Flexibility refers to the ability to revise a course of action in the face of unpredicted difficulties or obstacles, change one's own ideas in the light of new evidence, and adapt to changes that different life epochs or contingent situations may require. Lack of flexibility may result in great distress for a person undergoing sudden and/or important life changes, and is an important aspect of several psychiatric disorders, such as obsessive personality or delusional disorder ( 26).

The basic ability to function in social roles and to participate in meaningful social interactions is an important aspect of mental health and particularly contributes to resilience against distress; however, social exclusion and stigmatization often impair social participation, so any definition of mental health alluding to this aspect has to avoid "blaming the victim" and to carefully analyze social patterns of stigmatization, discrimination and exclusion that impair participation ( 27).

The inclusion of a harmonious relationship between body and mind is based on the concept that mind, brain, organism and environment are heavily interconnected, and the overall experience of being in the world cannot be separated from the way in which one's body feels in its environment ( 28). Disturbances of this interaction may result in psychotic experiences, eating disorders, self-harm, body dysmorphic disorder or poor physical health.

CONCLUSIONS

The definition of mental health drafted in this paper is aimed to overcome perspectives based on ideal norms or hedonic and eudaimonic theoretical traditions, in favor of an inclusive approach, as free as possible of restrictive and culture-bound statements, and as close as possible to human life experience, which is sometimes joyful, and at other times sad or disgusting or frightening; sometimes satisfactory, and at other times challenging or unsatisfactory.

The proposed definition is also compatible with the recovery movement perspective, in which recovery after an illness is seen as a process aimed to attain a fulfilled and valued life by building on the functions spared by the illness, in spite of the fact that other functions have been impaired ( 29).

Acknowledgments

This paper was drafted as part of the activities of the Committee on Ethical Issues of the European Psychiatric Association.

References

1. World Health Organization. Promoting mental health: concepts, emerging evidence, practice (Summary Report) Geneva: World Health Organization; 2004. [ Google Scholar]

6. Keyes CLM. Mental health as a complete state: how the salutogenic perspective completes the picture. In: Bauer GF, Hämmig O, editors. Bridging occupational, organizational and public health. Dordrecht: Springer; 2014. pp. 179-92. [ Google Scholar]

8. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Mental health: a report of the Surgeon General. Rockville: U.S. Public Health Service; 1999. [ Google Scholar]

9. Jahoda M. Current concepts of positive mental health. New York: Basic Books; 1958. [ Google Scholar]

Articles from World Psychiatry are provided here courtesy of The World Psychiatric Association

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Toward a new definition of mental health

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According to the World Health Organization (WHO), mental health is "a state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community" ( 1).

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Luisa Rivera for Yale Environment 360

A growing body of research points to the beneficial effects that exposure to the natural world has on health, reducing stress and promoting healing. Now, policymakers, employers, and healthcare providers are increasingly considering the human need for nature in how they plan and operate.

How long does it take to get a dose of nature high enough to make people say they feel healthy and have a strong sense of well-being?

Precisely 120 minutes.

In a study of 20,000 people, a team led by Mathew White of the European Centre for Environment & Human Health at the University of Exeter, found that people who spent two hours a week in green spaces - local parks or other natural environments, either all at once or spaced over several visits - were substantially more likely to report good health and psychological well-being than those who don't. Two hours was a hard boundary: The study, published last June, showed there were no benefits for people who didn't meet that threshold.

The effects were robust, cutting across different occupations, ethnic groups, people from rich and poor areas, and people with chronic illnesses and disabilities.

"It's well-known that getting outdoors in nature can be good for people's health and well-being, but until now we've not been able to say how much is enough," White said. "Two hours a week is hopefully a realistic target for many people, especially given that it can be spread over an entire week to get the benefit."

The study by White and his colleagues is only the latest in a rapidly expanding area of research that finds nature has robust effects on people's health - physically, mentally, and emotionally.

The studies "point in one direction: Nature is not only nice to have, but it's a have-to-have for physical health and cognitive function."

"When I wrote Last Child in the Woods in 2005, this wasn't a hot topic," said Richard Louv, a journalist in San Diego whose book is largely credited with triggering this movement and who coined the term Nature Deficit Disorder. "This subject was virtually ignored by the academic world. I could find 60 studies that were good studies. Now it's approaching and about to pass 1,000 studies, and they point in one direction: Nature is not only nice to have, but it's a have-to-have for physical health and cognitive functioning."

These studies have shown that time in nature - as long as people feel safe - is an antidote for stress: It can lower blood pressure and stress hormone levels, reduce nervous system arousal, enhance immune system function, increase self-esteem, reduce anxiety, and improve mood. Attention Deficit Disorder and aggression lessen in natural environments, which also help speed the rate of healing. In a recent study, psychiatric unit researchers found that being in nature reduced feelings of isolation, promoted calm, and lifted mood among patients.

The growing body of research - combined with an intuitive understanding that nature is vital and increased concerns about the exploding use of smart phones and other forms of technology - has led to tipping point at which health experts, researchers, and government officials are now proposing widespread changes aimed at bringing nature into people's everyday lives.

For example, researchers and policymakers now talk about "park deserts" in urban areas. Cities are adding or enhancing parks, and schools and other institutions are being designed with large windows and access to trees and green space - or blue space, as in aquatic environments. Businesses are increasingly aware of the desire among employees for access to green spaces. "It's needed to attract a skilled work force," said Florence Williams, author of The Nature Fix. "Young people are demanding high-quality outdoor experiences."

The number of "forest schools" - which have long been a tradition in Scandinavia and where much of the learning takes place in natural settings in the outdoors - has mushroomed in the United States, up by 500 percent since 2012, according to Louv. Oregon recently passed a ballot measure to raise money for outdoor schools, and the state of Washington just became the first state to license outdoor preschools, where much of the play and learning occurs outside.

The organization Children & Nature Network, founded by Louv and others, advocates for more time in nature for children, tracks the research, and has a long list of abstracts that summarize studies on the subject on its website.

Hard-pressed Rust Belt cities go green to aid in urban revival. Read more.

And The Trust for Public Lands (TPL) has just finished a seven-year project to map the parks of the U.S., with the aim of identifying places in need of parkland. "We've mapped 14,000 communities, 86 percent of the nation, and looked at who does and doesn't live within a 10-minute walk of a park," said Adrian Benepe, a senior vice president of TPL. The organization has a Ten Minute Walk campaign to work with mayors across the U.S. to make sure all people have that kind of access.

An increasing number of healthcare providers are also embracing the back-to-nature paradigm. One organization, Park RX America, founded by Robert Zarr of Unity Healthcare in Washington, D.C., declares its mission "to decrease the burden of chronic disease, increase health and happiness, and foster environmental stewardship, by virtue of prescribing Nature during the routine delivery of healthcare by a diverse group of health care professionals." The organization has 10,000 parks in its "prescribing platform."

One expert says he's concerned that the growing interest in more contact with nature relies too much on only experiencing it visually.

The global Association of Nature and Forest Therapy Guides shows clients how to use immersion in nature for healing. "The forest is the therapist," the group's slogan reads. "The guides open the door."

Studies show that the effects of nature may go deeper than providing a sense of well-being, helping to reduce crime and aggression. A 2015 study of 2,000 people in the United Kingdom found that more exposure to nature translated into more community cohesion and substantially lower crime rates.

And while more vegetation is thought to encourage crime by providing security for criminals, another study found the opposite - vegetation abundance is associated with a reduction in assault, robbery, and burglary, although not theft.

Still, many of these studies are correlational rather than causal. That means it's hard to show that natural landscapes cause these effects, though these things happen when people are in a natural environment.

Sara L. Warber, professor of family medicine at the University of Michigan, noted that there are no "randomized, controlled studies" on the effects of nature on human health. Nonetheless, she said, there are epidemiological studies and measurements of before and after exposure to nature, and the results from this research are robust.

Peter H. Kahn, a professor of psychology at the University of Washington who has worked on these issues for decades, is encouraged by the new focus on the subject but concerned that the growing interest in more contact with nature relies too much on only experiencing it visually. "That's important, but an impoverished view of what it means to interact with the natural world," he said. "We need to deepen the forms of interaction with nature and make it more immersive."

Reconnecting with nature through green architecture: an interview with Stephen Kellert. Read more.

What are the active ingredients in a dose of nature? Pioneers in this work, Rachel and Stephen Kaplan, who began studying the subject in the 1970s, devised Attention Restoration Theory, which holds that paying attention in bustling cities, at work, or in other stressful environments requires a good deal of effortful attention. In a natural environment, however, the Kaplans found that people paid attention more broadly and in a less effortful way, which leads to far more relaxed body and mind.

Japanese researchers have studied "forest bathing" - a poetic name for walking in the woods. They suspect aerosols from the forests, inhaled during a walk, are behind elevated levels of Natural Killer or NK cells in the immune system, which fight tumors and infections. A subsequent study, in which essential oils from cedars were emitted in a hotel room where people slept, also caused a significant spike in NK cells.

However this growing field might be defined, it is gaining momentum. In a recent paper, 26 authors laid out a framework to create a formal role for the positive impacts nature has on mental health and to formulate a model for conserving nature in cities and integrating it into planning for these health effects.

"There is an awakening underway today to many of the values of nature and the risks and costs of its loss," says one researcher.

"We have entered the urban century, with two-thirds of humanity projected to be living in cities by 2050," said Gretchen Daily, director of the Natural Capital Project at Stanford University and a senior author of a recent paper arguing that the cognitive and emotional benefits of nature should be factored into economic ecosystem service models. "There is an awakening underway today to many of the values of nature and the risks and costs of its loss. This new work can help inform investments in livability and sustainability of the world's cities."

While the research has grown leaps and bounds, Kahn and others argue in a recent review paper that research into the topic is still lacking in many ways, and they lay out a research agenda they say would help formalize the role of nature in public health policy.

Habitat on the Edges: Making room for wildlife in an urbanized world. Read more.

Understanding nature's therapeutic effects may be arriving at a propitious moment. Some studies have found that anxiety over climate change is a growing phenomenon. Ironically, one of the best antidotes for that might be a dose of green space.

"If I am feeling depressed and anxious and worried about the environment," Warber said, "then one of the best things I can do is go out in nature."

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Ecopsychology: How Immersion in Nature Benefits Your Health

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A growing body of research points to the beneficial effects that exposure to the natural world has on health, reducing stress and promoting healing. Now, policymakers, employers, and healthcare providers are increasingly considering the human need for nature in how they plan and operate.

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To all the educators out there, congratulations on finishing another school year! After a year dedicated to nurturing the development of your students or staff, you finally have some time to focus on your own well-being.

Happiness Breaks, the newest podcast at the Greater Good Science Center, are one of our favorite ways that educators can decompress, revitalize, and renew their "teacher's heart."

Each brief recording offers a research-based practice for cultivating self-compassion, resilience to stress, and moments of joy and inspiration. While you'll probably think about how these practices can benefit your students or staff next fall, we hope you take the time this summer to nurture your own well-being first. Remember the oxygen mask!

Here are five of our favorite Happiness Breaks for educators.

Things in the classroom don't always go as planned. Lessons don't land, students are disengaged, parents make unrealistic demands, and we make mistakes. Try this guided contemplation with Alex Elle to let go of self-judgment and approach your struggles with more compassion. These types of mindful experiences have been found to regulate the heart rate, reduce inflammation caused by stress, and improve sleep. What better way to start the summer?

Teaching requires a lot of immediate, often intense, decision making. We rarely have the luxury of time during our workdays to weigh things thoughtfully. This can keep our nervous systems in a constant state of high arousal. Over time, this flurry of activity and engagement can wear us down and lead to burnout. Try this beautiful meditation guided by Prentice Hemphill to turn down the volume and enter into a state of resilience.

As teachers, we spend a lot of time in our heads: planning, evaluating, and pondering how best to meet our students' needs. We write lesson plans, fill out report cards, and communicate with parents and guardians, to name a few. Try this guided drawing practice with Chris Murchison to activate different areas of your brain and possibly enter into a state of flow, found to increase emotional regulation, happiness, and creativity. No artistic talent required!

Schools and classrooms can be quite noisy. While this hum of student engagement is necessary and worthwhile, our minds and bodies also need moments of silence for our well-being. Even two minutes of silence can lower our blood pressure and restore our equilibrium. Try this evocative practice with Tricia Hersey, founder of the Nap Ministry, to experience an appreciation of silence and its restorative powers. Let us rest.

School's out! No need to spend most of our waking hours inside. During the summer, we have more opportunities to slow down and immerse ourselves in nature. Even spending little bursts of time in whatever natural environment is accessible has numerous benefits for our well-being. Find a favorite place in the natural world and try this immersive practice with Dacher Keltner to help you pay attention to nature and experience positive emotions like awe and inspiration, a sense of interconnectedness, and reduced feelings of isolation and loneliness.

Hopefully, when your summer break ends, these practices will have nurtured your well-being, recharged your batteries, and inspired you to bring your best self to your students, your colleagues, and the communities you serve for another year.

When you are ready to turn your attention back to planning for the new year, you'll find a treasure trove of school-based practices for you and your students at Greater Good in Education. If you try any of the practices, please feel free to contact us -we would love your feedback.

Best wishes for a happy, restful, and rejuvenating summer!

Greater Good wants to know: Do you think this article will influence your opinions or behavior?

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Five Ways for Educators to Reset and Renew This Summer

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The school year is almost over! These practices can help you recharge your batteries and get the most out of your summer break.

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Happiness breaks series from UC Berkeley

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Happiness breaks series from UC Berkeley

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On our new series, Happiness Break, psychologist Dacher Keltner and guests guide you through research-based practices to develop more compassion, resilience to stress, and moments of joy and inspiration. And we explain the science behind why these practices work--all in under 10 minutes. A happiness break in your day.

December 29, 2022 | 8:41

This New Year, affirm the wonderful qualities you already possess with this meditative writing practice called "I Am."

Other Episodes

February 11, 2014
A new study finds a biological mechanism behind "thank you"-and reveals one way that it bonds couples together.

October 25, 2017
A new series of studies finds gratitude helps people with cardiovascular disease get healthier.

May 24, 2018
New research suggests that thanking our partners for supporting us through hardship may increase their joy and satisfaction in giving.

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On our new series, Happiness Break, psychologist Dacher Keltner and guests guide you through research-based practices to develop more compassion, resilience to stress, and moments of joy and inspiration. And we explain the science behind why these practices work--all in under 10 minutes. A happiness break in your day.

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Test How Self-compassionate you are!

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Welcome to the Self-Compassion Test!
Please read each statement carefully before answering. To the left of each item, indicate how often you behave in the stated manner, using the following scale:

Self-Compassion Test Score interpretations:

Average overall self-compassion scores tend to be around 3.0 on the 1-5 scale, so you can interpret your overall score accordingly.
As a rough guide:1-2.5 for your overall self-compassion score indicates you are low in self-compassion.
2.5-3.5 indicates you are moderate.
3.5-5.0 means you are high.

Remember that higher scores for the Self-Judgment, Isolation, and Over-Identification subscales indicate less self-compassion, while lower scores on these dimensions are indicative of more self-compassion (these subscales are automatically reverse-coded when your overall self-compassion score is calculated.)
Here are some self-compassion practices you can try now.

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Welcome to the Self-Compassion Test! Please read each statement carefully before answering. To the left of each item, indicate how often you behave in the stated manner, using the following scale: ...

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This is a sample Chapter from the journal book SOUL! Enjoy!

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Gallup Poll results are interesting and informative!

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Almost a Quarter of the World Feels Lonely

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A Meta-Gallup survey of more than 140 countries shows 24% of people worldwide feel very or fairly lonely -- but about half do not feel lonely at all.

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Three factors determine 80%+ of our longevity — diet, exercise and sleep. Of those, sleep is by far the easiest to get right!

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Three factors determine 80%+ of our longevity - diet, exercise and sleep. Of those, sleep is by far the easiest to get right.

Why it matters: We aren't. 1 in 3 American adults don't get enough sleep - defined as 7 or more hours a night - per a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study.

The average American adult slept 7.9 hours a night in the 1940s. That has dropped to 6.8 hours a night.

The stakes: Over time, operating without enough sleep can dramatically increase your risk of heart disease, stroke and cancer, Francesco Cappuccio, a heart health and sleep expert at the University of Warwick tells us.

Medical research has linked insufficient sleep to obesity, depression, anxiety, and even heart failure and dementia.

Lack of sleep also drives up individuals' costs of health care and companies' loss of productivity, studies have shown. Employees who aren't getting enough rest are far likelier to be unfocused, miss days of work or get injured on the job.

"Sleep is not a dead state," says Cappuccio. "It's like pressing the 'save' button on a computer."

Your body is repairing tissue, organizing thoughts and consolidating memory.

We asked the experts to break down good sleep for us.

1. Not all bedtimes are created equal. One of the best ways you can improve your life is to figure out your best hours - are you a night owl, an early bird or somewhere in the middle? Tailor your sleep schedule around that - and keep it consistent.

2. Think about "sleep hygiene." The environment you sleep in affects the health of your sleep. Neat rooms, little light, low noise and set bedtime routines all matter.

3. Soak up the sun. Getting enough Vitamin D and moving around throughout the day will tire you out.

4. Beware sleep's enemies. Alcohol and caffeine can lower sleep quality when consumed at night. Long naps can cause insomnia (the best power naps are 20 minutes or shorter, experts say).

5. Power down. The light emitted from your devices can roil your circadian rhythm. The National Sleep Foundation recommends ditching screens 30 minutes before bed.

And it's not just about individuals, Cappuccio says. If you're a manager, check in with employees to make sure they have enough time to rest. There's a business case for workers getting sufficient sleep.

The bottom line: We're better parents, friends, neighbors and colleagues when we catch enough zzz.
Editor's note: This story originally published on May 23.

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One in three U.S. adults don't get enough sleep

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A population will only experience high levels of overall life satisfaction if its people are also pro-social, healthy, and prosperous. In other words, its people must have high levels of what Aristotle called ‘eudaimonia’.

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Editors

John Helliwell, Richard Layard, Jeffrey D. Sachs, Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, Lara B. Aknin, Shun Wang; and Sharon Paculor, Production Editor

Citation

Helliwell, J. F., Layard, R., Sachs, J. D., Aknin, L. B., De Neve, J.-E., & Wang, S. (Eds.). (2023). World Happiness Report 2023 (11th ed.). Sustainable Development Solutions Network.

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The World Happiness Report is a publication of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network, powered by the Gallup World Poll data.

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Over 4 million views! Great advice.

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Arianna Huffington: How to succeed? Get more sleep

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In this short talk, Arianna Huffington shares a small idea that can awaken much bigger ones: the power of a good night's sleep. Instead of bragging about our sleep deficits, she urges us to shut our eyes and see the big picture: We can sleep our way to increased productivity and happiness -- and smarter decision-making.

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Use this tool with your Guiding Coalition!

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Walking is a simple way to improve health and lengthen life. But it's not just the number of steps you take that helps, it's also how quickly you take them.

The big picture: In a pair of new studies, published in JAMA Internal Medicine and JAMA Neurology, researchers compared brisk walkers' risk of disease and premature death with that of slow or average walkers and found that walking fast made a difference.

Why it matters: This new research draws a clear line between intense walks and leisurely strolls.

Researchers compared the 30 most intense minutes of activity in study participants' days and found that, even when the overall step counts were similar, those whose peak speeds were brisk - about 90 steps per minute - had lower health risks than those whose paces were average.

Fast walkers had a 30% lower risk of developing dementia, a 25% lower risk of developing cancer or heart disease and a 35% overall lower risk of premature death.

Worth noting: The brisk walking doesn't have to be in one 30-minute chunk, study author Matthew Ahmadi, a research fellow at the University of Sydney, told the New York Times.

It can be in small bursts throughout your day. Picking up the pace from time to time makes the difference.

If you like to go for walks, try going at a faster clip for one or two minute intervals. Or even speed up your pacing around the office.

The bottom line: Walking is something most of us incorporate into our days to live longer, healthier lives.

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It's not just the number of steps you take, it's also how quickly you take them.

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WHO's noise guidelines and the impact on our daily well-being and health! 

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WHO's noise guidelines and the impact on our daily well-being and health! 

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Overview

Noise is an important public health issue. It has negative impacts on human health and well-being and is a growing concern. The WHO Regional Office for Europe has developed these guidelines, based on the growing understanding of these health impacts of exposure to environmental noise. The main purpose of these guidelines is to provide recommendations for protecting human health from exposure to environmental noise originating from various sources: transportation (‎road traffic, railway and aircraft)‎ noise, wind turbine noise and leisure noise. They provide robust public health advice underpinned by evidence, which is essential to drive policy action that will protect communities from the adverse effects of noise. The guidelines are published by the WHO Regional Office for Europe. In terms of their health implications, the recommended exposure levels can be considered applicable in other regions and suitable for a global audience.

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Environmental noise guidelines for the European Region

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Noise is an important public health issue. It has negative impacts on human health and well-being and is a growing concern. The WHO Regional Office for Europe has developed these guidelines, based on the growing understanding of these health impacts of exposure to environmental noise.

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Dehydration Impairs Cognitive Performance: A Meta-analysis : Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise

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with DEH ranging from 1% to 6% BML. Outcome variables (accuracy, reaction time), cognitive domains, and methods to induce DEH varied. Effect sizes were calculated using standardized mean differences and multivariate meta-analysis. Results Impairment of cognitive performance (all domains/outcomes…

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how the gut is an integral part of how we feel!

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Advertisement

As Olympians go for the gold in Vancouver, even the steeliest are likely to experience that familiar feeling of "butterflies" in the stomach. Underlying this sensation is an often-overlooked network of neurons lining our guts that is so extensive some scientists have nicknamed it our "second brain".

A deeper understanding of this mass of neural tissue, filled with important neurotransmitters, is revealing that it does much more than merely handle digestion or inflict the occasional nervous pang. The little brain in our innards, in connection with the big one in our skulls, partly determines our mental state and plays key roles in certain diseases throughout the body.

Although its influence is far-reaching, the second brain is not the seat of any conscious thoughts or decision-making.

"The second brain doesn't help with the great thought processes...religion, philosophy and poetry is left to the brain in the head," says Michael Gershon, chairman of the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center, an expert in the nascent field of neurogastroenterology and author of the 1998 book The Second Brain (HarperCollins).

Technically known as the enteric nervous system, the second brain consists of sheaths of neurons embedded in the walls of the long tube of our gut, or alimentary canal, which measures about nine meters end to end from the esophagus to the anus. The second brain contains some 100 million neurons, more than in either the spinal cord or the peripheral nervous system, Gershon says.

This multitude of neurons in the enteric nervous system enables us to "feel" the inner world of our gut and its contents. Much of this neural firepower comes to bear in the elaborate daily grind of digestion. Breaking down food, absorbing nutrients, and expelling of waste requires chemical processing, mechanical mixing and rhythmic muscle contractions that move everything on down the line.

Thus equipped with its own reflexes and senses, the second brain can control gut behavior independently of the brain, Gershon says. We likely evolved this intricate web of nerves to perform digestion and excretion "on site," rather than remotely from our brains through the middleman of the spinal cord. "The brain in the head doesn't need to get its hands dirty with the messy business of digestion, which is delegated to the brain in the gut," Gershon says. He and other researchers explain, however, that the second brain's complexity likely cannot be interpreted through this process alone.

"The system is way too complicated to have evolved only to make sure things move out of your colon," says Emeran Mayer, professor of physiology, psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles (U.C.L.A.). For example, scientists were shocked to learn that about 90 percent of the fibers in the primary visceral nerve, the vagus, carry information from the gut to the brain and not the other way around. "Some of that info is decidedly unpleasant," Gershon says.

The second brain informs our state of mind in other more obscure ways, as well. "A big part of our emotions are probably influenced by the nerves in our gut," Mayer says. Butterflies in the stomach-signaling in the gut as part of our physiological stress response, Gershon says-is but one example. Although gastrointestinal (GI) turmoil can sour one's moods, everyday emotional well-being may rely on messages from the brain below to the brain above. For example, electrical stimulation of the vagus nerve-a useful treatment for depression-may mimic these signals, Gershon says.

Given the two brains' commonalities, other depression treatments that target the mind can unintentionally impact the gut. The enteric nervous system uses more than 30 neurotransmitters, just like the brain, and in fact 95 percent of the body's serotonin is found in the bowels. Because antidepressant medications called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) increase serotonin levels, it's little wonder that meds meant to cause chemical changes in the mind often provoke GI issues as a side effect. Irritable bowel syndrome-which afflicts more than two million Americans-also arises in part from too much serotonin in our entrails, and could perhaps be regarded as a "mental illness" of the second brain.

Scientists are learning that the serotonin made by the enteric nervous system might also play a role in more surprising diseases: In a new Nature Medicine study published online February 7, a drug that inhibited the release of serotonin from the gut counteracted the bone-deteriorating disease osteoporosis in postmenopausal rodents. ( Scientific American is part of Nature Publishing Group.) "It was totally unexpected that the gut would regulate bone mass to the extent that one could use this regulation to cure-at least in rodents-osteoporosis," says Gerard Karsenty, lead author of the study and chair of the Department of Genetics and Development at Columbia University Medical Center.

Serotonin seeping from the second brain might even play some part in autism, the developmental disorder often first noticed in early childhood. Gershon has discovered that the same genes involved in synapse formation between neurons in the brain are involved in the alimentary synapse formation. "If these genes are affected in autism," he says, "it could explain why so many kids with autism have GI motor abnormalities" in addition to elevated levels of gut-produced serotonin in their blood.

Down the road, the blossoming field of neurogastroenterology will likely offer some new insight into the workings of the second brain-and its impact on the body and mind. "We have never systematically looked at [the enteric nervous system] in relating lesions in it to diseases like they have for the" central nervous system, Gershon says. One day, perhaps there will be well-known connections between diseases and lesions in the gut's nervous system as some in the brain and spinal cord today indicate multiple sclerosis.

Cutting-edge research is currently investigating how the second brain mediates the body's immune response; after all, at least 70 percent of our immune system is aimed at the gut to expel and kill foreign invaders.

U.C.L.A.'s Mayer is doing work on how the trillions of bacteria in the gut "communicate" with enteric nervous system cells (which they greatly outnumber). His work with the gut's nervous system has led him to think that in coming years psychiatry will need to expand to treat the second brain in addition to the one atop the shoulders.

So for those physically skilled and mentally strong enough to compete in the Olympic Games-as well as those watching at home-it may well behoove us all to pay more heed to our so-called " gut feelings" in the future.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR(S)

Recent Articles by Adam Hadhazy

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Think Twice: How the Gut's "Second Brain" Influences Mood and Well-Being

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As Olympians go for the gold in Vancouver, even the steeliest are likely to experience that familiar feeling of "butterflies" in the stomach. Underlying this sensation is an often-overlooked network of neurons lining our guts that is so extensive some scientists have nicknamed it our "second brain".

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2023 World Happiness Report Executive summary 

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2023 World Happiness Report Executive summary 

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It has been over ten years since the first World Happiness Report was published. And it is exactly ten years since the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 66/281, proclaiming 20 March to be observed annually as International Day of Happiness. Since then, more and more people have come to believe that our success as countries should be judged by the happiness of our people. There is also a growing consensus about how happiness should be measured. This consensus means that national happiness can now become an operational objective for governments.

So in this year's report, we ask the following questions:

1. What is the consensus view about measuring national happiness, and what kinds of behaviour does it require of individuals and institutions? (Chapter 1)

2. How have trust and benevolence saved lives and supported happiness over the past three years of COVID-19 and other crises? (Chapter 2)

3. What is state effectiveness and how does it affect human happiness? (Chapter 3)

4. How does altruistic behaviour by individuals affect their own happiness, that of the recipient, and the overall happiness of society? (Chapter 4)

5. How well does social media data enable us to measure the prevailing levels of happiness and distress? (Chapter 5)

In short, our answers are these.

Chapter 1. The happiness agenda. The next 10 years

The natural way to measure a nation's happiness is to ask a nationally-representative sample of people how satisfied they are with their lives these days.

A population will only experience high levels of overall life satisfaction if its people are also pro-social, healthy, and prosperous. In other words, its people must have high levels of what Aristotle called 'eudaimonia'. So at the level of society, life satisfaction and eudaimonia go hand-in-hand.

At the individual level, however, they can diverge. As the evidence shows, virtuous behaviour generally raises the happiness of the virtuous actor (as well as the beneficiary). But there are substantial numbers of virtuous people, including some carers, who are not that satisfied with their lives.

When we assess a society, a situation, or a policy, we should not look only at the average happiness it brings (including for future generations). We should look especially at the scale of misery (i.e., low life satisfaction) that results. To prevent misery, governments and international organisations should establish rights such as those in the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). They should also broaden the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to consider well-being and environmental policy dimensions jointly in order to ensure the happiness of future generations. These rights and goals are essential tools for increasing human happiness and reducing misery now and into the future.

Once happiness is accepted as the goal of government, this has other profound effects on institutional practices. Health, especially mental health, assumes even more priority, as does the quality of work, family life, and community.

For researchers, too, there are major challenges. All government policies should be evaluated against the touchstone of well-being (per dollar spent). And how to promote virtue needs to become a major subject of study.

Chapter 2. World Happiness, Benevolence, and Trust during COVID-19 and Beyond

Life evaluations have continued to be remarkably resilient, with global averages in the COVID-19 years 2020-2022 just as high as those in the pre-pandemic years 2017-2019. Finland remains in the top position for the sixth year in a row. War-torn Afghanistan and Lebanon remain the two unhappiest countries in the survey, with average life evaluations more than five points lower (on a scale running from 0 to 10) than in the ten happiest countries.

To study the inequality of happiness, we first focus on the happiness gap between the top and the bottom halves of the population. This gap is small in countries where most people are happy but also in those countries where almost no one is happy. However, more generally, people are happier living in countries where the happiness gap is smaller. Happiness gaps globally have been fairly stable over time, although there are growing gaps in many African countries.

We also track two measures of misery - the share of the population having life evaluations of 4 and below and the share rating the lives at 3 and below. Globally, both of these measures of misery fell slightly during the three COVID-19 years.

To help to explain this continuing resilience, we document four cases that suggest how trust and social support can support happiness during crises.

COVID-19 deaths. In 2020 and 2021, countries attempting to suppress community transmission had lower death rates and better well-being overall. Not enough countries followed suit, thus enabling new variants to emerge, such that in 2022, Omicron made elimination infeasible. Although trust continues to be correlated with lower death rates in 2022, policy strategies, infections, and death rates are now very similar in all countries, but with total deaths over all three years being much lower in the eliminator countries.

Benevolence. There was a globe-spanning surge of benevolence in 2020 and especially in 2021. Data for 2022 show that prosocial acts remain about one-quarter more common than before the pandemic.

Ukraine and Russia. Both countries shared the global increases in benevolence during 2020 and 2021. During 2022, benevolence grew sharply in Ukraine but fell in Russia. Despite the magnitude of suffering and damage in Ukraine, life evaluations in September 2022 remained higher than in the aftermath of the 2014 annexation, supported now by a stronger sense of common purpose, benevolence, and trust in Ukrainian leadership. Confidence in their national governments grew in 2022 in both countries, but much more in Ukraine than in Russia. Ukrainian support for Russian leadership fell to zero in all parts of Ukraine in 2022.

Social support. New data show that positive social connections and support in 2022 were twice as prevalent as loneliness in seven key countries spanning six global regions. They were also strongly tied to overall ratings of how satisfied people are with their relationships with other people. The importance of these positive social relations helps further to explain the resilience of life evaluations during times of crisis.

Chapter 3. Well-being and State Effectiveness

The effectiveness of the government has a major influence on human happiness of the people.

The capacity of a state can be well-measured by

its fiscal capacity (ability to raise money)

its collective capacity (ability to deliver services)

its legal capacity (rule of law)

Also crucial are

the avoidance of civil war, and

the avoidance of repression.

Across countries, all these five measures are well correlated with the average life satisfaction of the people.

Using the five characteristics (and income), it is possible to classify states into 3 clusters: common-interest states, special-interest states and weak states. In common-interest states, average life satisfaction is 2 points (out of 10) higher than in weak states and in special-interest states it is 1 point higher than in weak states.

In those countries where average life satisfaction is highest, it is also more equally distributed - with fewer citizens having relatively low life satisfaction.

Chapter 4. Doing Good and Feeling Good: Relationships between Altruism and Well-being for Altruists, Beneficiaries, and Observers

A person is being altruistic when they help another person without expecting anything in return. Altruistic behaviours like helping strangers, donating money, giving blood, and volunteering are common, while others (like donating a kidney) are less so.

There is a positive relationship between happiness and all of these altruistic behaviours. This is true when we compare across countries, and when we compare across individuals. But why?

Normally, people who receive altruistic help will experience improved well-being, which helps explain the correlation across countries. But in addition, there is much evidence (experimental and others) that helping behaviour increases the well-being of the individual helper. This is especially true when the helping behaviour is voluntary and mainly motivated by concern for the person being helped.

The causal arrow also runs in the opposite direction. Experimental and other evidence shows that when people's well-being increases, they can become more altruistic. In particular, when people's well-being rises through experiencing altruistic help, they become more likely to help others, creating a virtuous spiral.

Assessments using social media can provide timely and spatially detailed well-being measurement to track changes, evaluate policy, and provide accountability.

Since 2010, the methods using social media data for assessing well-being have increased in sophistication. The two main sources of development have been data collection/aggregation strategies and better natural language processing (i.e., sentiment models).

Data collection/aggregation strategies have evolved from the analysis of random feeds ( Generation 1) to the analyses of demographically-characterized samples of users ( Generation 2) to an emerging new generation of digital cohort design studies in which users are followed over time ( Generation 3).

Natural Language Processing models have improved mapping language use to well-being estimates - progressing from counting dictionaries of keywords (Level 1) to relying on robust machine-learning estimates (Level 2) to using large language models that consider words within contexts (Level 3).

The improvement in methods addresses various biases that affect social media data, including selection, sampling, and presentation biases, as well as the impact of bots.

The current generation of digital cohort designs gives social media-based well-being assessment the potential for unparalleled measurement in space and time (e.g., monthly subregional estimation). Such estimates can be used to test scientific hypotheses about well-being, policy, and population health using quasi-experimental designs (e.g., by comparing trajectories across matched counties).

Acknowledgements

We have had a remarkable range of expert contributing authors and expert reviewers to whom we are deeply grateful for their willingness to share their knowledge with our readers. Although the editors and authors of the World Happiness Report are volunteers, there are administrative and research support costs covered by our partners: Fondazione Ernesto Illy; illycaffè; Davines Group; Unilever's largest ice cream brand Wall's; The Blue Chip Foundation; The William, Jeff, and Jennifer Gross Family Foundation; The Happier Way Foundation; and The Regeneration Society Foundation. We value our data partnership with Gallup, providing World Poll data. We appreciate the continued work by Ryan Swaney, Kyu Lee, and Stilow Design for their skills in design and web development, and media engagement. New this year, we thank Marwan Hazem Mostafa Badr Saleh for his assistance with reference preparation. Whether in terms of research, data, or grants, we are enormously grateful for all of these contributions.

John Helliwell, Richard Layard, Jeffrey D. Sachs, Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, Lara B. Aknin, Shun Wang; and Sharon Paculor, Production Editor
Back to the 2023 report

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The World Happiness Report is a partnership of Gallup, the Oxford Wellbeing Research Centre, the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, and the WHR's Editorial Board. The report is produced under the editorial control of the WHR Editorial Board. From 2024, the World Happiness Report is a publication of the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford, UK.

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Become intentional and add movement to your daily life routine!

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It might feel like a walk in the park, but trainers say you *can* turn your stroll into a super-effective workout. Here's how.

If you think sprinting, spinning, strength training and other forms of high-intensity workouts are the only "real" forms of exercise, we have some news that might help you breathe easier.

"Walking is very effective at beginning to build a baseline cardiovascular fitness level, and is a great form of exercise-especially for those who have not previously been active or those who are interested in starting a running routine," says Austin Johnson, a San Antonio, Texas-based NCSF certified personal trainer and the national personal training manager for Gold's Gym. "For those two types of exercisers, it's important to start their routines at easier intensities to prevent injuries, and walking is the perfect way to do that!"

We're not talking about a slow, meandering stroll, though. (Although that can be a marvelous version of meditation if that's the goal!) Lace up those walking shoes, then read on to discover how to step right up and make your next walk a workout.

Why Walking Is Such a Great Form of Exercise

"Walking is a great form of exercise for preventing diseases that affect our mental health and some heart-related conditions," says Ben Walker, a certified personal trainer with Anywhere Fitness in Dublin, Ireland. "It stimulates blood flow to the brain and the rest of the body, boosting our metabolism, reducing feelings of anxiety and stress, and improving our overall mood. It also lowers blood pressure."

Regarding chronic disease risk, as long as you're expending the same amount of energy with either form of cardio-walking or running-you lower your risk for diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol at about the same rate, according to research published in the journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology.

Walking and Weight Loss

While walking is fantastic for your brain and body, and can certainly increase longevity and improve mood, walking is not the most efficient type of workout if you're aiming to lose weight, Walker says. (Still, it *is* possible to walk off 10 pounds -if you're willing to be patient enough to space them out across a few months.)

"To lose weight effectively in a day, we need to be at a caloric deficit. This means we need to burn more calories than we are consuming. Women and men are recommended to eat an average of 2,000 and 2,500 calories per day respectively, and walking simply can't be effective enough to create a deficit," Walker says.

Brisk walking at a rate of 4 to 5 miles per hour (a pace that's been scientifically proven to help you live longer, BTW) can burn just about as many calories per mile as running at a slow speed, Walker adds. And since it involves less pounding, your body is less prone to injuries so you may be able to stick to your healthy habit longer and stronger. But since runners cover more distance in the same amount of time, and running is more demanding on the cardiovascular system-meaning it spikes your heart rate more, you burn more calories if we're comparing minute by minute.

For example, a 160-pound person walking at 3½ miles per hour for 1 hour will burn about 302 calories. The same individual running at 6 miles per hour for 20 minutes will burn about 356 calories; half the time, about the same distance, but a few more calories.

How Much to Walk Each Day

The World Health Organization, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the American College of Sports Medicine all recommend that adults aim for 150 minutes of moderate- intensity exercise per week for health, and 300 minutes per week for weight loss.

"Moderate-intensity walking would be a brisk pace, which for most individuals who have no underlying injuries or disease would probably fall between 3 to 4 miles per hour. This would equate to a 15- to 20-minute-per-mile walking pace," Johnson says.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that if you don't want to track your pace, simply try the talk test. Moderate-intensity exercise should have you breathing heavily enough that you can talk, but not sing.

If 150 minutes sounds like a lot, keep in mind that "you don't have to jump feet-first into the 150-minute goal. Start where you are and gradually increase your activity week by week," says Steve Stonehouse, NASM-CPT, a certified personal trainer and the director of education at Stride in Orange County, California. "The 150 minutes per week can be divided in many different ways. Some people aim for 30 minutes of walking 5 days a week. Others fit in 10 minutes of walking several times a day."

If you're new to walking, the most important thing to remember is that it's not all or nothing, Johnson advises. Ease into it.

"As easy as walking sounds, you can certainly overdo it [depending on how] sedentary you were before starting. Starting off with two or three days a week and building up to five days a week over a month-long period is great! Once you become a seasoned walker, if you are interested in moving into jogging, take the same approach of gradually increasing," Johnson says.

How to Step Up Your Walking Workout

So with that in mind, here's how to get started, how to step things up and how to eventually progress from walking to running (if that's your goal).

Step 1: Walk at a steady, comfortable pace for 10 minutes at a time, working up to being able to walk for 30 minutes straight per day at your desired pace.

Step 2: Walk for 30 minutes per day at a moderate to brisk pace that allows you to talk but not sing.

Step 3: Mix up the terrain. Walking on steep ground causes the heart rate to constantly increase-and, as a result, the metabolic rate and calorie burn increase as well. This also challenges the lower body muscles to act as a resistance-training workout of sorts, Walker adds. "When walking rocky or angled slopes, different muscle groups (mainly core and lower body) are activated to complete these movements. The supporting muscles assist each other, improving our strength and mobility, and make lower body movements easier to perform in everyday life," Walker says. So adjust the treadmill or find a hiking trail or some hills in your neighborhood.

Step 4: Take the stairs. Find a park, stadium or gym staircase that has several flights of stairs. Try to climb them every 10 minutes during your 30-minute walking workout, then progress to climbing them every 5 minutes for 6 total rounds. "This will increase the level of leg strength you build through walking," Johnson says, and also raise your heart rate to increase your calorie burn.

Step 5: Try intervals. Pick up the pace for 1 minute, then recover at a moderate walking pace for 4 minutes. Repeat this for 6 rounds to complete your walking workout for the day, Stonehouse suggests. Once that gets easy, try walking fast for 2 minutes, then recover at a moderate pace for 3 minutes; repeating 6 times. Scale up to 6 sets of 3 minutes fast, 2 minutes moderate, then to 6 sets of 4 minutes fast, 1 minute moderate, and finally, to a fast walk for all 30 minutes.

Step 6: Pick up the pace. If you'd like to try jogging, follow the same minute-by-minute breakdown in Step 5, just with jogging for the faster interval. Recover at a moderate to brisk walking pace.

The Bottom Line

As you can see, walking can be a legit workout and can spark a seriously healthy habit, whether you stick with walking or speed things up. If you want to challenge your upper body, too, consider nordic walking. Science proves that walking with poles activates 90% of your body's muscle groups. Before you start or step up your walking routine, study up on mistakes you're making when walking and how to fix them to stay safe and injury free so you can comfortably lace up again tomorrow.

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Is Walking a Good Enough Form of Exercise?

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It might feel like a walk in the park, but trainers say you *can* turn your stroll into a super-effective workout. Here's how. If you think sprinting, spinning, strength training and other forms of high-intensity workouts are the only "real" forms of exercise, we have some news that might help you breathe easier.

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Postive Effects of Mindfulness Routines! 

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Postive Effects of Mindfulness Routines! 

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Abstract

Within the past few decades, there has been a surge of interest in the investigation of mindfulness as a psychological construct and as a form of clinical intervention. This article reviews the empirical literature on the effects of mindfulness on psychological health. We begin with a discussion of the construct of mindfulness, differences between Buddhist and Western psychological conceptualizations of mindfulness, and how mindfulness has been integrated into Western medicine and psychology, before reviewing three areas of empirical research: cross-sectional, correlational research on the associations between mindfulness and various indicators of psychological health; intervention research on the effects of mindfulness-oriented interventions on psychological health; and laboratory-based, experimental research on the immediate effects of mindfulness inductions on emotional and behavioral functioning. We conclude that mindfulness brings about various positive psychological effects, including increased subjective well-being, reduced psychological symptoms and emotional reactivity, and improved behavioral regulation. The review ends with a discussion on mechanisms of change of mindfulness interventions and suggested directions for future research.

Keywords: Mindfulness, Mindfulness-oriented Interventions, Mindfulness Meditation, Psychological Health, Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy, Dialectical Behavior Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy

Mindfulness is the miracle by which we master and restore ourselves. Consider, for example: a magician who cuts his body into many parts and places each part in a different region-hands in the south, arms in the east, legs in the north, and then by some miraculous power lets forth a cry which reassembles whole every part of his body. Mindfulness is like that-it is the miracle which can call back in a flash our dispersed mind and restore it to wholeness so that we can live each minute of life.

Hanh (1976, p. 14)

Mindfulness has been theoretically and empirically associated with psychological well-being. The elements of mindfulness, namely awareness and nonjudgmental acceptance of one's moment-to-moment experience, are regarded as potentially effective antidotes against common forms of psychological distress-rumination, anxiety, worry, fear, anger, and so on-many of which involve the maladaptive tendencies to avoid, suppress, or over-engage with one's distressing thoughts and emotions ( Hayes & Feldman, 2004; Kabat-Zinn, 1990). Though promoted for centuries as a part of Buddhist and other spiritual traditions, the application of mindfulness to psychological health in Western medical and mental health contexts is a more recent phenomenon, largely beginning in the 1970s (e.g., Kabat-Zinn, 1982). Along with this development, there has been much theoretical and empirical work illustrating the impact of mindfulness on psychological health. The goal of this paper is to offer a comprehensive narrative review of the effects of mindfulness on psychological health. We begin with an overview of the construct of mindfulness, differences between Buddhist and Western psychological conceptualizations of mindfulness, and how mindfulness has been integrated into Western medicine and psychology. We then review evidence from three areas of research that shed light on the relationship between mindfulness and psychological health: 1. correlational, cross-sectional research that examines the relations between individual differences in trait or dispositional mindfulness and other mental-health related traits, 2. intervention research that examines the effects of mindfulness-oriented interventions on psychological functioning, and 3. laboratory-based research that examines, experimentally, the effects of brief mindfulness inductions on emotional and behavioral processes indicative of psychological health. We conclude with an examination of mechanisms of effects of mindfulness interventions and suggestions for future research directions.

The word mindfulness may be used to describe a psychological trait, a practice of cultivating mindfulness (e.g., mindfulness meditation), a mode or state of awareness, or a psychological process ( Germer, Siegel, & Fulton, 2005). To minimize possible confusion, we clarify which meaning is intended in each context we describe ( Chambers, Gullone, & Allen, 2009). One of the most commonly cited definitions of mindfulness is the awareness that arises through "paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally" ( Kabat-Zinn, 1994, p. 4). Descriptions of mindfulness provided by most other researchers are similar. Baer (2003), for example, defines mindfulness as "the nonjudgmental observation of the ongoing stream of internal and external stimuli as they arise" (p. 125). Though some researchers focus almost exclusively on the attentional aspects of mindfulness (e.g., Brown & Ryan, 2003), most follow the model of Bishop et al. (2004), which proposed that mindfulness encompasses two components: self-regulation of attention, and adoption of a particular orientation towards one's experiences. Self-regulation of attention refers to non-elaborative observation and awareness of sensations, thoughts, or feelings from moment to moment. It requires both the ability to anchor one's attention on what is occurring, and the ability to intentionally switch attention from one aspect of the experience to another. Orientation to experience concerns the kind of attitude that one holds towards one's experience, specifically an attitude of curiosity, openness, and acceptance. It is worth noting that "acceptance" in the context of mindfulness should not be equated with passivity or resignation ( Cardaciotto, Herbert, Forman, Moitra, & Farrow, 2008). Rather, acceptance in this context refers to the ability to experience events fully, without resorting to either extreme of excessive preoccupation with, or suppression of, the experience. To sum up, current conceptualizations of mindfulness in clinical psychology point to two primary, essential elements of mindfulness: awareness of one's moment-to-moment experience nonjudgmentally and with acceptance.

As alluded to earlier, mindfulness finds its roots in ancient spiritual traditions, and is most systematically articulated and emphasized in Buddhism, a spiritual tradition that is at least 2550 years old. As the idea and practice of mindfulness has been introduced into Western psychology and medicine, it is not surprising that differences emerge with regard to how mindfulness is conceptualized within Buddhist and Western perspectives. Several researchers (e.g., Chambers, Gullone, & Allen, 2009; Rosch, 2007) have argued that in order to more fully appreciate the potential contribution of mindfulness in psychological health it is important to gain an understanding of these differences, and specifically, from a Western perspective, how mindfulness is conceptualized in Buddhism. Given the diversity of traditions and teachings within Buddhism, an in-depth exploration of this topic is beyond the scope of this review (for a more extensive discussion of this topic, see Rosch, 2007). We offer a preliminary overview of differences in conceptualization of mindfulness in Western usage versus early Buddhist teachings, specifically, those of Theravada Buddhism.

Arguably, Buddhist and Western conceptualizations of mindfulness differ in at least three levels: contextual, process, and content. At the contextual level, mindfulness in the Buddhist tradition is viewed as one factor of an interconnected system of practices that are necessary for attaining liberation from suffering, the ultimate state or end goal prescribed to spiritual practitioners in the tradition. Thus, it needs to be cultivated alongside with other spiritual practices, such as following an ethical lifestyle, in order for one to move toward the goal of liberation. Western conceptualization of mindfulness, on the other hand, is generally independent of any specific circumscribed philosophy, ethical code, or system of practices. At the process level, mindfulness, in the context of Buddhism, is to be practiced against the psychological backdrop of reflecting on and contemplating key aspects of the Buddha's teachings, such as impermanence, non-self, and suffering. As an example, in the Satipatthana Sutta (The Foundation of Mindfulness Discourse), one of the key Buddhist discourses on mindfulness, the Buddha recommended that one maintains mindfulness of one's bodily functions, sensations and feelings, consciousness, and content of consciousness while observing clearly the impermanent nature of these objects. Western practice generally places less emphasis on non-self and impermanence than traditional Buddhist teachings. Finally, at the content level and in relation to the above point, in early Buddhist teachings, mindfulness refers rather specifically to an introspective awareness with regard to one's physical and psychological processes and experiences. This is contrast to certain Western conceptualizations of mindfulness, which view mindfulness as a form of awareness that encompasses all forms of objects in one's internal and external experience, including features of external sensory objects like sights and smells. This is not to say that external sensory objects do not ultimately form part of one's internal experience; rather, in Buddhist teachings, mindfulness more fundamentally has to do with observing one's perception of and reactions toward sensory objects than focusing on features of the sensory objects themselves.

The integration of mindfulness into Western medicine and psychology can be traced back to the growth of Zen Buddhism in America in the 1950s and 1960s, partly through early writings such as Zen in the Art of Archery ( Herrigel, 1953), The World of Zen: An East-West Anthology ( Ross, 1960), and The Method of Zen ( Herrigel, Hull, & Tausend, 1960). Beginning the 1960s, interest in the use of meditative techniques in psychotherapy began to grow among clinicians, especially psychoanalysts (e.g., see Boss, 1965; Fingarette, 1963; Suzuki, Fromm, & De Martino, 1960; Watts, 1961). Through the 1960s and the 1970s, there was growing interest within experimental psychology in examining various means of heightening awareness and broadening the boundaries of consciousness, including meditation. Early electroencephalogram (EEG) studies on meditation found that individuals who meditated showed persistent alpha activity with restful reductions in metabolic rate ( Anand, Chhina, & Singh, 1961; Bagchi & Wenger, 1957; Wallace, 1970), as well as increases in theta waves, which reflect lower states of arousal associated with sleep ( Kasamatsu & Hirai, 1966). Beginning in the early 1970s, there was a surge of interest in and research on transcendental meditation, a form of concentrative meditation technique popularized by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi ( Wallace, 1970). The practice of transcendental meditation was found to be associated with reductions in indicators of physiological arousal such as oxygen consumption, carbon dioxide elimination, and respiratory rate ( Benson, Rosner, Marzetta, & Klemchuk, 1974; Wallace, 1970; Wallace, Benson, & Wilson, 1971).

Despite the fact that research on mindfulness meditation had already begun in the 1960s, it was not until the late 1970s that mindfulness meditation began to be studied as an intervention to enhance psychological well-being. Application of mindfulness meditation as a form of behavioral intervention for clinical problems began with the work of Jon Kabat-Zinn, which explored the use of mindfulness meditation in treating patients with chronic pain ( Kabat-Zinn, 1982), now known popularly as Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction. Since the establishment of MBSR, several other interventions have also been developed using mindfulness-related principles and practices, including Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT; Segal, Williams, & Teasdale, 2002), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT; Linehan, 1993a) and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT; Hayes, Strosahl, & Wilson, 1999). In this review, both meditation-oriented interventions (i.e., MBSR and MBCT), as well as interventions that teach mindfulness using less meditation-oriented techniques (i.e., DBT and ACT), are considered as a family of "mindfulness-oriented interventions", and thus are of empirical interest.

Correlational Research on Mindfulness and Psychological Health

Relationship between Trait Mindfulness and Psychological Health

Many studies of mindfulness to date have reported on correlations between self-reported mindfulness and psychological health. Such correlations have been reported for samples of undergraduate students (e.g., Baer, Smith, Hopkins, Krietemeyer, & Toney, 2006; Brown & Ryan, 2003), community adults (e.g., Brown & Ryan, 2003; Chadwick et al., 2008) and clinical populations (e.g., Baer, Smith, & Allen, 2004; Chadwick et al., 2008; Walach, Buchheld, Buttenmuller, Kleinknecht, & Schmidt, 2006). Before going over these findings, it may be helpful to review questionnaires that have been developed to measure mindfulness. Questionnaires that assess mindfulness as a general, trait-like tendency to be mindful in daily life include: Freiburg Mindfulness Inventory ( Buchheld, Grossman, & Walach, 2001), Kentucky Inventory of Mindfulness Skills (KIMS; Baer et al., 2004), Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS; Brown & Ryan, 2003), Five-Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire ( Baer et al., 2006), Cognitive Affective Mindfulness Scale-Revised ( Feldman, Hayes, Kumar, Greeson, & Laurenceau, 2007), Toronto Mindfulness Scale-Trait Version ( Davis, Lau, & Cairns, 2009), Philadelphia Mindfulness Scale ( Cardaciotto et al., 2008), and Southampton Mindfulness Questionnaire ( Chadwick et al., 2008). Some of these questionnaires measure mindfulness as a single-factor construct. For example, the MAAS ( Brown & Ryan, 2003) assesses mindfulness as the general tendency to be attentive to and aware of experiences in daily life, and has a single factor structure of open/ receptive awareness and attention. Other questionnaires measure mindfulness as a multi-faceted construct. For example, the KIMS ( Baer et al., 2004) contains subscales that correspond to four mindfulness skills conceptualized in DBT's framework: observing one's moment-to-moment experience, describing one's experiences with words, acting or participating with awareness, and nonjudgmental acceptance of one's experiences. In addition to trait measures of mindfulness, state measures of mindfulness have been developed to measure momentary mindful states. These measures include the Toronto Mindfulness Scale ( Lau et al., 2006) and Brown and Ryan (2003)'s state version of the MAAS.

Trait mindfulness has been associated with higher levels of life satisfaction ( Brown & Ryan, 2003), agreeableness ( Thompson & Waltz, 2007), conscientiousness ( Giluk, 2009; Thompson & Waltz, 2007), vitality ( Brown & Ryan, 2003), self esteem ( Brown & Ryan, 2003; Rasmussen & Pidgeon, 2010), empathy ( Dekeyser, Raes, Leijssen, Leysen, & Dewulf, 2008), sense of autonomy ( Brown & Ryan, 2003), competence ( Brown & Ryan, 2003), optimism ( Brown & Ryan, 2003), and pleasant affect ( Brown & Ryan, 2003). Studies have also demonstrated significant negative correlations between mindfulness and depression ( Brown & Ryan, 2003; Cash & Whittingham, 2010), neuroticism ( Dekeyser et al., 2008; Giluk, 2009), absent-mindedness ( Herndon, 2008), dissociation ( Baer et al., 2006; Walach et al., 2006), rumination ( Raes & Williams, 2010), cognitive reactivity ( Raes, Dewulf, Van Heeringen, & Williams, 2009), social anxiety ( Brown & Ryan, 2003; Dekeyser et al., 2008; Rasmussen & Pidgeon, 2010), difficulties in emotion regulation ( Baer et al., 2006), experiential avoidance ( Baer et al., 2004), alexithymia ( Baer et al., 2004), intensity of delusional experience in the context of psychosis ( Chadwick et al., 2008), and general psychological symptoms ( Baer et al., 2006). Research also has begun to explore the association between mindfulness and cognitive processes that may have important implications for psychological health. For example, Frewen, Evans, Maraj, Dozois, and Partridge (2008) found that, among undergraduate students, mindfulness was related both to a lower frequency of negative automatic thoughts and to an enhanced ability to let go of those thoughts. Two other studies have also demonstrated an association between mindfulness and enhanced performance on tasks assessing sustained attention ( Schmertz, Anderson, & Robins, 2009) and persistence ( Evans, Baer, & Segerstrom, 2009).

Mindfulness has been shown to be related not only to self-report measures of psychological health, but also to differences in brain activity observed using functional neuroimaging methods. Creswell, Way, Eisenberger, and Lieberman (2007) found that trait mindfulness was associated with reduced bilateral amygdala activation and greater widespread prefrontal cortical activation during an affect labeling task. There was also a strong inverse association between prefrontal cortex and right amygdala responses among those who scored high on mindfulness, but not among those who scored low on mindfulness, which suggests that individuals who are mindful may be better able to regulate emotional responses via prefrontal cortical inhibition of the amygdala. Trait mindfulness also was negatively correlated with resting activity in the amygdala and in medial prefrontal and parietal brain areas that are associated with self-referential processing, whereas levels of depressive symptoms were positively correlated with resting activity in these areas ( Way, Creswell, Eisenberger, & Lieberman, 2010). These findings are consistent with the association of mindfulness with greater self-reported ability to let go of negative thoughts about the self (e.g., Frewen et al., 2008).

Relationship between Mindfulness Meditation and Psychological Health

Research also has examined the relationship between mindfulness meditation practices and psychological well-being. Lykins and Baer (2009) compared meditators and non-meditators on several indices of psychological well-being. Meditators reported significantly higher levels of mindfulness, self-compassion and overall sense of well-being, and significantly lower levels of psychological symptoms, rumination, thought suppression, fear of emotion, and difficulties with emotion regulation, compared to non-meditators, and changes in these variables were linearly associated with extent of meditation practice. In addition, the data were consistent with a model in which trait mindfulness mediates the relationship between extent of meditation practice and several outcome variables, including fear of emotion, rumination, and behavioral self-regulation. In two other studies, facets of trait mindfulness were found to mediate the relationship between meditation experience and psychological well-being in combined samples of meditators and non-meditators ( Baer et al., 2008; Josefsson, Larsman, Broberg, & Lundh, 2011). In addition to correlations with self-report measures, research has examined behavioral and neurobiological correlates of mindfulness meditation. Ortner, Kilner and Zelazo (2007) used an emotional interference task in which participants categorized tones presented 1 or 4 seconds following the onset of affective or neutral pictures. Levels of emotional interference were indexed by differences in reaction times to tones for affective pictures versus neutral pictures. A participant's mindfulness meditation experience was significantly associated with reduced interference both from unpleasant pictures (for 1 and 4 second delays) as well as pleasant pictures (for 4 second delay only), as well as higher levels of self-reported mindfulness and psychological well-being. These findings suggest that mindfulness meditation practice may enhance psychological well-being by increasing mindfulness and attenuating reactivity to emotional stimuli by facilitating disengagement of attention from stimuli. There is also emerging evidence from studies comparing meditators and non-meditators on a variety of performance-based measures that suggest that regular meditation practice is associated with enhanced cognitive flexibility and attentional functioning ( Hodgins & Adair, 2010; Moore & Malinowski, 2009), outcomes that may have important implications for psychological well-being. Research has also identified potential neurobiological correlates of mindfulness meditation by comparing brain structure and activity in adept mindfulness meditation practitioners to those of non-practitioners. These studies found that extensive mindfulness meditation experience is associated with increased thickness in brain regions implicated in attention, interoception, and sensory processing, including the prefrontal cortex and right anterior insula ( Lazar et al., 2005); increased activation in brain areas involved in processing of distracting events and emotions, which include the rostral anterior cingulate cortex and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, respectively ( Hölzel et al., 2007); and greater gray matter concentration in brain areas that have been found to be active during meditation, including the right anterior insula, left inferior temporal gyrus, and right hippocampus ( Hölzel et al., 2008). These findings are consistent with the premise that systematic training in mindfulness meditation induces changes in attention, awareness, and emotion, which can be assessed and identified at subjective, behavioral, and neurobiological levels (cf. Treadway & Lazar, 2009).

Overall, evidence from correlational research suggests that mindfulness is positively associated with a variety of indicators of psychological health, such as higher levels of positive affect, life satisfaction, vitality, and adaptive emotion regulation, and lower levels of negative affect and psychopathological symptoms. There is also burgeoning evidence from neurobiological and laboratory behavioral research that indicates the potential roles of trait mindfulness and mindfulness meditation practices in reducing reactivity to emotional stimuli and enhancing psychological well-being. Given the correlational nature of these data, experimental studies are needed to clarify the directional links between mindfulness and psychological well-being. Does training in mindfulness practices result in improvements in psychological well-being? Does psychological well-being facilitate greater mindfulness and/or inclination towards engagement in mindfulness practice? The next section reviews empirical evidence from studies of the effects of mindfulness-oriented interventions on psychological health.

Controlled Studies of Mindfulness-Oriented Interventions

Several mindfulness-oriented interventions have been developed and received much research attention within the past two decades, including MBSR, MBCT, DBT and ACT. Some research on these interventions has been uncontrolled and some has focused primarily on physical health outcomes. In this section, we limit our review to published, peer-reviewed randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that assessed psychological health outcomes in adult populations. Some other promising interventions have also incorporated mindfulness techniques, including mindfulness-based relapse prevention ( Witkiewitz, Marlatt, & Walker, 2005) and exposure-based cognitive therapy for depression ( Hayes, Beevers, Feldman, Laurenceau, & Perlman, 2005), but no RCTs of those interventions have yet been published.

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR): Description of Intervention and Review of Controlled Studies

MBSR is a group-based intervention program originally designed as an adjunct treatment for patients with chronic pain ( Kabat-Zinn, 1982; 1990). The program offers intensive training in mindfulness meditation to help individuals relate to their physical and psychological conditions in more accepting and nonjudgmental ways. The program consists of an eight-to-ten week course, in which a group of up to thirty participants meet for two to two and a half hours per week for mindfulness meditation instruction and training ( Kabat-Zinn, 1990). In addition to in-class mindfulness exercises, participants are encouraged to engage in home mindfulness practices and attend an all-day intensive mindfulness meditation retreat. The premise of MBSR is that with repeated training in mindfulness meditation, individuals will eventually learn to be less reactive and judgmental toward their experiences, and more able to recognize, and break free from, habitual and maladaptive patterns of thinking and behavior.

A number of RCTs of MBSR have been conducted among clinical and non-clinical populations, mostly using a waiting-list control design. Early studies were reviewed by Baer (2003) and Grossman, Niemann, Schmidt, and Walach (2004), but several important studies have since been published. Table 1 summarizes RCTs that have examined the impact of MBSR on psychological functioning. Overall, these studies found that MBSR reduces self-reported levels of anxiety ( Shapiro, Schwartz, & Bonner, 1998; Anderson, Lau, Segal, & Bishop, 2007), depression ( Anderson et al., 2007; Grossman et al., 2010; Koszycki, Benger, Shlik, & Bradwejn, 2007; Sephton et al., 2007; Shapiro et al., 1998; Speca, Carlson, Goodey, & Angen, 2000), anger ( Anderson et al., 2007), rumination ( Anderson et al. 2007; Jain et al., 2007), general psychological distress, including perceived stress ( Astin, 1997; Bränström, Kvillemo, Brandberg, & Moskowitz, 2010; Nyklíček, & Kuipers, 2008; Oman, Shapiro, Thoresen, Plante, & Flinders, 2008; Shapiro, Astin, Bishop, & Cordova, 2005; Speca et al., 2000; Williams, Kolar, Reger, & Pearson, 2001), cognitive disorganization ( Speca et al., 2000), post-traumatic avoidance symptoms ( Bränström et al., 2010), and medical symptoms ( Williams et al., 2001). It has been found to improve positive affect ( Anderson et al., 2007; Bränström et al., 2010), Nyklíček, & Kuijpers, 2008), sense of spirituality ( Astin, 1997; Shapiro et al., 1998), empathy ( Shapiro et al., 1998), sense of cohesion ( Weissbecker et al., 2002), mindfulness ( Anderson et al., 2007; Shapiro, Oman, Thoresen, Plante, & Flinders, 2008; Nyklíček, & Kuijpers, 2008), forgiveness ( Oman et al., 2008), self compassion ( Shapiro et al., 2005), satisfaction with life, and quality of life ( Grossman et al., 2010; Koszycki et al., 2007; Nyklíček, & Kuijpers,2008; Shapiro et al., 2005) among both clinical and non-clinical populations.

Participation in MBSR has also been associated with brain changes reflective of positive emotional states and adaptive self representation and emotion regulatory processes, such as increases in left frontal activation, which is indicative of dispositional and state positive affect ( Davidson et al., 2003), increased activation in brain regions implicated in experiential, present-focused mode of self reference ( Farb et al., 2007), and reduced activation in brain regions implicated in conceptual processing, cognitive elaboration, and reappraisal ( Farb et al., 2010; Ochsner & Gross, 2008).

Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT): Description of Intervention and Review of Controlled Studies

MBCT is an eight-week, manualized group intervention program adapted from the MBSR model ( Segal et al., 2002). Developed as an approach to prevent relapse in remitted depression, MBCT combines mindfulness training and elements of cognitive therapy (CT) with the goal of targeting vulnerability processes that have been implicated in the maintenance of depressive episodes. Like CT, MBCT aims to help participants view thoughts as mental events rather than as facts, recognize the role of negative automatic thoughts in maintaining depressive symptoms, and disengage the occurrence of negative thoughts from their negative psychological effects ( Barnhofer, Crane, & Didonna, 2009). However, unlike the traditional CT approach that places considerable emphasis on evaluating and changing the validity of the content of thoughts and developing alternative thoughts, MBCT aims primarily to change one's awareness of and relationship to thoughts and emotions ( Teasdale et al., 2000). The theoretical rationale on which MBCT is based ( Teasdale, Segal, & Williams, 1995) is that the negative thoughts that accompany depression become associated with the depressed state, and that, as the number of depressive episodes increases, negative automatic thoughts become more easily reactivated by feelings of dysphoria, even when these do not occur in the context of a full-blown depressive episode. The negative thoughts, in turn, increase depressed mood and other symptoms of depression, leading to an increased risk for relapse to a major depressive episode. MBCT specifically targets loosening the association between negative automatic thinking and dysphoria. Because these associations are theorized to be stronger among those with a greater number of previous episodes, they may be expected to show the greatest benefit of the intervention.

Several RCTs, summarized in Table 2 , have evaluated the effects of MBCT on relapse prevention and other depression-related outcomes (for recent reviews, see Chiesa & Serreti, 2010; Coelho, Canter, & Ernst, 2007). Consistent with the theoretical model, initial studies found that MBCT reduced relapse rates among patients with three or more episodes of depression, but not among those with two or fewer past episodes ( Ma & Teasdale, 2004; Teasdale et al., 2000). Subsequent studies of MBCT and depression relapse selected only patients with three or more episodes and have replicated the effect of MBCT on reduced relapse rates ( Goldfrin & Heeringen, 2010; Kuyken et al., 2008) or prolonged time to relapse ( Bondolfi et al., 2010). Furthermore, MBCT also has been found to improve a range of symptomatic and psychosocial outcomes among remitted depressed patients, such as residual depressive symptoms and quality of life ( Goldfrin & Heeringen, 2010; Kuyken et al., 2008). There is also preliminary evidence that MBCT is more effective than treatment as usual (TAU) in reducing depressive symptoms among currently depressed patients ( Barnhofer et al., 2009; Hepburn et al., 2009). Lastly, MBCT has been adapted for treatment of bipolar disorder ( Williams et al., 2008), social phobia ( Piet, Hougaard, Hecksher, & Rosenberg, 2010), and depressive symptoms among individuals with epilepsy ( Thompson et al., 2010). The results of these studies are promising and in need of further replication.

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT): Description of Intervention and Review of Controlled Studies

DBT ( Linehan, 1993a) was first developed as a treatment for chronic suicidal and other self-injurious behaviors, which are often present in patients with severe borderline personality disorder (BPD). It conceptualizes the dysfunctional behaviors of individuals with BPD as a consequence of an underlying dysfunction of the emotion regulation system, which involves intense emotional reactivity and an inability to modulate emotions. DBT integrates elements of traditional CBT with Zen philosophy and practice, and has a simultaneous focus on acceptance and behavior change strategies to help patients improve their emotion regulation abilities ( Linehan, 1993a; Robins, 2002). There are four modes of treatment in DBT: individual therapy, group skills training, telephone consultation between therapist and patient, and consultation team meetings for therapists. Mindfulness skills are taught in the context of the skills-training group as a way of helping patients increase self acceptance, and as an exposure strategy aiming to reduce avoidance of difficult emotion and fear responses ( Linehan, 1993b). These skills consist of a set of mindfulness "what" skills (observe, describe, and participate) and a set of mindfulness "how" skills (nonjudgmentally, one-mindfully, and effectively). Specific exercises that are used to foster mindfulness include visualizing thoughts, feelings, and sensations as if they are clouds passing by in the sky, observing breath by counting or coordinating with footsteps, and bringing mindful awareness into daily activities. Mindfulness skills are also integrated within the other three skills modules, which focus on distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness.

To date, 11 randomized trials of DBT, or adaptations of it, have been conducted ( Lynch, Trost, Salsman, & Linehan, 2007; Robins & Chapman, 2004). These studies are summarized in Table 3 . Standard outpatient DBT has been found to be more effective than TAU or another active treatment in reducing frequency and severity of parasuicidal and self harm behavior among individuals with BPD, especially those with a history of parasuicidal behavior; reducing number of inpatient psychiatric days, emergency visits, and hospitalizations ( Koons et al., 2001; Linehan, Amstrong, Suarez, Allmon, & Heard, 1991; Linehan et al., 2006; Verheul et al., 2003); and in reducing substance use among individuals with co-morbid BDP and substance use disorders ( Linehan et al., 1999; Linehan et al., 2002). Among studies that included follow-up assessments, the effects of DBT were found to last for up to one year on the following outcome measures: number of parasuicidal behaviors, global functioning, social adjustment, and use of crisis services ( Linehan et al., 1991; Linehan et al., 2006; Linehan et al., 1999; Linehan, Heard, & Armstrong, 1993; Linehan, Tutek, Heard, & Armstrong, 1994). Finally, modifications of DBT have been found to be effective in binge eating disorder ( Telch, Agras, and Linehan, 2001), bulimia ( Safer, Telch, & Agras, 2001), and chronic depression in the elderly ( Lynch, Morse, Mendelson & Robins, 2003).

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT): Description of Intervention and Review of Controlled Studies

ACT ( Hayes et al., 1999) was developed based on the premise that psychological distress is often associated with attempts to control or avoid negative thoughts and emotions, which often paradoxically increase the frequency, intensity, or salience of these internal events, and result in further distress and inability to engage in behaviors that would lead to valued long-term goals. Thus, the central aim of ACT is to create greater psychological flexibility by teaching skills that increase an individual's willingness to come into fuller contact with their experiences, recognize their values, and commit to behaviors that are consistent with those values. There are six core treatment processes that are highlighted in ACT: acceptance, defusion, contact with the present moment, self as context, values, and committed action ( Hayes, Luoma, Bond, Masuda, & Lillis, 2006). Mindfulness is taught in the context of the first four processes, where a variety of exercises are used to enhance awareness of an observing self and foster the deliteralization of thoughts and beliefs. Although ACT does not incorporate mindfulness meditation exercises, its focus on helping patients cultivate present-centered awareness and acceptance is consistent with that of other mindfulness-based approaches ( Baer, 2003). ACT has been delivered in both individual and group settings, with durations varying from one day (e.g., Gregg, Callaghan, Hayes, & Glenn-Lawson, 2007) to 16 weeks (e.g., Hayes et al., 2004).

A number of studies, summarized in Table 4 , have been conducted to evaluate the efficacy of ACT in treating a range of mental health outcomes, including those associated with depression, anxiety, impulse control disorders, schizophrenia, substance abuse and addiction, and workplace stress ( Hayes et al., 2006; Powers, Zum Vorde Sive Vording, & Emmelkamp, 2009). Specifically, ACT has been found to be more effective than TAU in improving affective symptoms, social functioning, and symptom reporting, and lowering rehospitalization rates and symptom believability among psychiatric inpatients with psychotic symptoms ( Bach & Hayes, 2002; Gaudiano & Herbert, 2006). Among populations with depressive and anxiety symptoms, ACT was generally found to be superior to no intervention, and as effective as another established treatment in reducing levels of depression, anxiety, and poor mental health outcomes ( Bond & Bunce, 2000; Forman, Herbert, Moitra, Yeomans, & Geller, 2007; Lappalainen et al., 2007; Zettle, 2003; Zettle & Hayes, 1986; Zettle & Rains, 1989). In addition, ACT has been shown to be effective at reducing substance use and dependence among nicotine-dependent ( Gifford et al., 2004) and polysubstance-abusing individuals ( Hayes et al., 2004). Finally, there is preliminary evidence indicating the effectiveness of ACT in treating trichotillomania ( Woods, Wetterneck, & Flessner, 2006).

A growing research body supports the efficacy of all four major forms of mindfulness-oriented interventions, but several important research questions need to be addressed in future studies. Because these interventions all involve multiple components, future research should examine how individual treatment components, especially the mindfulness training component, contribute to overall treatment effects. Also, these interventions differ in how they teach mindful awareness, and future research could compare the efficacy of different mindfulness teaching approaches in fostering greater mindful awareness in daily life. For example, both MBSR and MBCT place considerable emphasis on engaging participants in formal meditative practices. DBT and ACT, on the other hand, incorporate a range of informal mindfulness exercises in their treatment approach. Research attention should also be devoted to possible moderators of treatment effects, such as pre-existing differences in coping style and types of cognitive processes maintaining a particular psychological problem. Finally, research needs to examine whether there is a dose-response relationship between amount of intervention exposure and amount of psychological benefits. Although MBSR in its standard form involves eight weekly 2-2.5 hour classes and an all-day retreat, it has been delivered in abbreviated forms to fit the needs of specific populations. Carmody and Baer (2009) examined class contact hours and effect sizes of psychological outcomes reported in published trials of MBSR, and did not find a systematic relationship between the two variables. Another review ( Vettese, Toneatto, Stea, Nguyen, & Wang, 2009) found no consistent relationship between amount of home mindfulness meditation practice and treatment outcomes. Taken together, these reviews do not support a dose-response relationship between level of treatment exposure and reported psychological benefits. Other factors, such as level of expertise of an instructor, may account for the psychological improvements observed following MBSR or other mindfulness-based interventions, and should be systematically measured in future studies.

Laboratory Research on Immediate Effects of Mindfulness Interventions

In addition to correlational and clinical intervention research on mindfulness, a third line of empirical research has examined the immediate effects of brief mindfulness interventions in controlled laboratory settings on a variety of emotion-related processes, including recovery from dysphoric mood, emotional reactivity to aversive or emotionally provocative stimuli, and willingness to return to or persist on an unpleasant task. Such laboratory studies have the advantage of more easily isolating mindfulness practice from other elements typically present in clinical intervention packages, thus allowing greater control over independent variables and stronger conclusions about causal effects.

Several studies have examined the immediate effects of mindfulness interventions on coping with dysphoric mood. Instructions to practice mindfulness of thoughts and feelings following negative mood induction were found to be more effective than rumination or no instruction in alleviating negative mood states in healthy university students ( Broderick, 2005), previously depressed individuals ( Singer & Dobson, 2007), and currently depressed individuals ( Huffziger & Kuehner, 2009), but not in one study of university students ( Kuehner, Huffziger, & Liebsch, 2009). As the latter authors noted, these differential findings may result in part from differences in methods used to induce mindfulness across studies (use of mindful self-focus statements on cards in Kuehner et al., 2009 versus audiotaped guided meditation instructions in Broderick, 2005), and/or differences in clinical status of study samples (e.g., beneficial effects of mindfulness may be more noticeable among clinical populations than among healthy subjects). It is unsurprising that mindfulness instructions would be more helpful in recovery from sad mood than rumination, which has been shown to be maladaptive ( Nolen-Hoeksema & Morrow, 1991). Mindfulness also has been compared with other potentially adaptive mood-regulation strategies. Evidence is mixed with regard to the relative effects of mindfulness and distraction. Whereas two studies ( Huffziger & Kuehner, 2009; Singer & Dobson, 2007) found that mindfulness and distraction had equivalent effects on recovery from dysphoric mood, one study ( Broderick, 2005) found that mindfulness was more effective than distraction and another study ( Kuehner et al., 2009) found that distraction was more effective than mindfulness. Further studies are needed to clarify the relative effects of mindfulness and distraction on mood regulation, and whether those effects may be moderated by situational or personality factors. No published studies to date have compared the effects on recovery from dysphoric mood of mindfulness and cognitive reappraisal of distressing stimuli or situations.

Studies have also examined effects of mindfulness instructions on emotional responses to aversive or emotionally provocative stimuli. In a study by Arch and Craske (2006), university students viewed a series of affectively-valenced pictures and rated their emotional responses to them, both before and after one of three sets of recorded instructions to which they were randomly assigned: focused breathing, unfocused attention, or worry. Whereas the other two groups showed a decrease in positive emotional response to neutral slides from pre-induction to post-induction, those assigned to the focused breathing condition maintained consistently positive responses to neutral slides. They also reported lower negative affect than the worry group in response to post-induction negative-valence slides and greater willingness to view negative slides than those in the unfocused attention condition, as indicated by viewing a greater number of additional optional negative slides. Findings of this study were extended by a recent study by Erisman and Roemer (2010), which found that a brief mindfulness intervention, relative to a control condition, resulted in reduced emotion regulation difficulties and negative affect in response to an affectively-mixed film clip. Campbell-Sills, Barlow, Brown, and Hofmann (2006) randomly assigned patients with mood and anxiety disorders to instructions to either accept or suppress their emotions while viewing an emotionally provocative film. The two groups reported similar levels of subjective distress while watching the film but, relative to those in the suppression condition, the acceptance group displayed lower heart rate while viewing the film and reported less negative emotion during the post-film recovery period. The findings of these studies suggest that training in two key elements of mindfulness practice (focused awareness and acceptance) may reduce emotional reactivity to negative stimuli and increase willingness to remain in contact with them. There is preliminary work investigating the effects of brief mindfulness instructions on substance-related urges and substance use behavior. Bowen and Marlatt (2009) presented college smokers either brief mindfulness instructions or no instructions before and after exposure to a cue designed to elicit urges to smoke. Although there was no immediate effect on urge to smoke, mindfulness instructions resulted in significant decreases in smoking behavior during the next 7 days. As the authors noted, mindfulness training may alter responses to urges, rather than reducing urges. These findings were extended in another study that compared the effectiveness of using suppression versus a mindfulness-based strategy in coping with cigarette craving among a community sample of smokers ( Rogojanski, Vettese, & Antony, 2011). The study found that whereas both strategies reduced self-reported amount of smoking and increased self-efficacy associated with coping with cigarette craving, only those in the mindfulness condition reported significant decreases in negative affect and depressive symptoms and marginal decreases in nicotine dependence.

Research has also examined the efficacy of mindfulness as an emotion regulation strategy in response to a biological challenge, specifically to inhalations of carbon dioxide-enriched air (CO ₂ challenge), a procedure that has frequently been used to create a laboratory analog of panic attacks ( Sanderson, Rapee, & Barlow, 1988). In a study by Feldner, Zvolensky, Eifert, and Spira (2003), individuals who scored either high or low on a measure of emotional avoidance were instructed either to mindfully observe and accept or to try to suppress feelings during CO ₂ challenge. High emotional avoidance participants reported higher anxiety than low emotional avoidance participants in the suppression condition, but not in the observation condition. Levitt, Brown, Orsillo, and Barlow (2004) randomized patients with panic disorder to one of three experimental conditions: a 10-minute audiotape describing a rationale for either suppressing or accepting one's emotions, or a neutral narrative, and then exposed them to CO ₂ challenge. The acceptance group reported significantly lower levels of anxiety during the biological challenge than the other two groups and greater willingness to participate in a second challenge. One coping strategy commonly taught to patients with anxiety disorders, particularly panic disorder, is breathing retraining, in which patients are taught to take deeper, slower breaths. Eifert and Heffner (2003) compared the effects of brief acceptance training, breathing retraining, and no training on responses to CO ₂ challenge in undergraduates who scored high on a measure of anxiety sensitivity. Acceptance instructions led to less intense fear, fewer catastrophic thoughts, and lower behavioral avoidance (indicated both by latency between trials and reported willingness to return for another experimental session) than breathing retraining instructions or no instructions. Collectively, these studies suggest that mindful observation and acceptance of emotional responses may be an effective strategy for reducing subjective anxiety and behavioral avoidance in the face of physiological arousal, among highly anxiety sensitive or emotionally avoidant individuals and patients with panic disorder.

Laboratory studies of mindfulness have helped provide further insight into the functions of mindfulness and the potential processes through which mindfulness lead to positive psychological effects. The majority of the findings suggest that brief mindfulness training, whether in the form of a short, guided meditation practice or in the form of instructions to adopt an accepting attitude toward internal experiences, can have an immediate positive effect on recovery from dysphoric mood and level of emotional reactivity to aversive stimuli, consistent with the positive psychological effects reported in research on mindfulness-oriented intervention programs. The laboratory studies also suggest that it does not take extensive prior training in mindfulness to experience some immediate benefits of mindfulness training.

From a methodological standpoint, it is important that future studies more closely examine the extent to which a state of mindfulness is actually manipulated by the study instructions. Whereas most studies did include post-experimental manipulation checks on adherence to the training instructions, they did not explicitly assess the extent to which participants were able to be mindfully aware of their emotions or thoughts during or after exposure to a mood induction or a laboratory stressor. Research also could examine which training approaches or instructions (e.g. mindful breathing or mindfulness of emotions) are most effective at helping individuals regulate emotions in response to a stressor; whether there are key moderator variables such as pre-existing differences in dispositional mindfulness or coping styles; and whether effects differ by type of stressors or across different emotions. Research is also needed to compare the effects and mechanisms of mindfulness instructions with those of other documented emotion regulation strategies, such as cognitive reappraisal and distraction.

Mechanisms of Effects of Mindfulness Interventions

The studies reviewed so far indicate that measures of mindful awareness are related to various indices of psychological health and that mindfulness interventions have a positive impact on psychological health. The next natural question, then, is how this impact comes about. Several psychological processes, some of which may overlap, have been proposed as potential mediators of the beneficial effects of mindfulness interventions, including increases in mindful awareness, reperceiving (also known as decentering, metacognitive awareness, or defusion), exposure, acceptance, attentional control, memory, values clarification, and behavioral self-regulation.

Mindfulness training would be expected to increase scores on measures of mindfulness, and changes in mindfulness would be expected, in turn, to predict clinical outcomes. Research has found that mindfulness training leads to increases in self-reported trait mindfulness, assessed by the MAAS ( Anderson et al., 2007; Brown & Ryan, 2003; Carmody, Reed, Kristeller and Merriam, 2008; Michalak, Heidenreich, Meibert, & Schulte, 2008; Shapiro, Brown & Biegel, 2007), the CAMS-R ( Greeson et al., in press) and the FFMQ ( Carmody & Baer, 2008; Robins, Keng, Ekblad, & Brantley, 2010; Shapiro et al., 2008), as well as TMS-assessed state mindfulness ( Carmody et al., 2008; Lau et al., 2006). Intervention-associated increases in trait mindfulness, assessed by the MAAS, the KIMS, the CAMS-R, and/or the FFMQ, have been shown to predict increases in sense of spirituality ( Carmody et al., 2008; Greeson et al., in press), self-compassion ( Shapiro et al., 2007), and positive states of mind ( Bränström et al., 2010), and decreases in rumination ( Shapiro et al., 2007), trait anxiety ( Shapiro et al., 2007), risk of depressive relapse ( Michalak et al., 2008), posttraumatic avoidance symptoms ( Bränström et al., 2010), perceived stress ( Bränström et al., 2010; Shapiro et al., 2007), and overall psychological distress ( Carmody et al., 2008). A number of studies have also demonstrated that increases in trait mindfulness (again, assessed by the MAAS, the KIMS, and/or the FFMQ) statistically mediated the effects of mindfulness interventions on perceived stress (Nyklíček, & Kuipers, 2008; Shapiro et al., 2008), rumination ( Shapiro et al., 2008), cognitive reactivity ( Raes et al., 2009), quality of life (Nyklíček, & Kuipers, 2008), depressive symptoms ( Kuyken et al., 2010; Shahar, Britton, Sbarra, Figueredo, & Bootzin, 2010), and behavioral regulation ( Keng, Smoski, Robins, Ekblad, & Brantley, 2010). Lastly, one study ( Carmody & Baer, 2008) demonstrated that changes in FFMQ-assessed mindfulness at least partially mediated the relationships between amount of formal mindfulness practice and changes in psychological well being, perceived stress, and psychological symptoms.

Mindfulness training also is thought to increase metacognitive awareness, which is the ability to reperceive or decenter from one's thoughts and emotions, and view them as passing mental events rather than to identify with them or believe thoughts to be accurate representations of reality ( Hayes et al., 1999; Segal et al., 2002; Shapiro, Carlson, Astin, & Freeman, 2006). Increased metacognitive awareness has been hypothesized to lead to reductions in rumination ( Teasdale, 1999), a process of repetitive negative thinking that has been considered a risk factor for a number of psychological disorders ( Ehring & Watkins, 2008). Preliminary evidence suggests that mindfulness training leads to increases in metacognitive awareness ( Hargus et al., 2010; Teasdale et al., 2002) and reductions in rumination ( Jain et al., 2007; Ramel, Goldin, Carmona, & McQuaid, 2004), and that increased metacognitive awareness, or decentering, may in turn predict better clinical outcomes such as lower rates of depressive relapses ( Fresco, Segal, Buis, & Kennedy, 2007).

Exposure is another process that several authors have suggested may occur during mindfulness practice ( Baer, 2003; Kabat-Zinn, 1982; Linehan, 1993a). By intentionally attending to experiences in a nonjudgmental and open manner, an individual may undergo a process of desensitization through which distressing sensations, thoughts and emotions that otherwise would be avoided become less distressing. One study has shown that participation in MBSR is associated with significant pre- to post-intervention increases in exposure ( Carmody, Baer, Lykins, & Olendzki, 2009). A closely-related process of change that has been highlighted in the literature is acceptance ( Hayes, 1994). Several studies reported that increases in experiential acceptance mediated the effects of ACT on a range of psychological outcomes, including workplace stress ( Bond & Bunce, 2000), smoking cessation ( Gifford et al., 2004), and functioning difficulties ( Forman et al., 2007).

Because mindfulness practices involve sustaining attention on the present-moment experience, as well as switching attention back to the present-moment experience whenever it wanders ( Bishop et al., 2004), mindfulness training may improve the ability to control attention, which may, in turn, influence other beneficial psychological outcomes. Several aspects of attention, each related to different neurobiological substrates, may be distinguished ( Posner & Petersen, 1990): orienting (the ability to direct attention towards a set of stimuli and sustain attention on it), alerting (the ability to remain vigilant or receptive towards a wide range of potential stimuli), and conflict monitoring (the ability to prioritize attention among competing cognitive demands/tasks). Using a variety of neuropsychological tasks, experimental studies have shown that mindfulness training is associated with improvements in orienting ( Jha, Krompinger, & Baime, 2007) and conflict monitoring ( Tang et al., 2007). Among experienced meditators, participation in an intensive mindfulness retreat has also been associated with improved alerting ( Jha et al., 2007). In addition, mindfulness training has been associated with improvements in sustained attention among both novice meditators ( Chambers, Lo, & Allen, 2008) and experienced meditators ( Valentine & Sweet, 1999), with one study demonstrating an association between intervention-related improvements in sustained attention and reductions in depressive symptoms ( Chambers et al., 2008). Overall, evidence suggests that mindfulness training may affect various subcomponents of attention, and that the specific subsystems affected may depend on the extent of previous meditation experience.

Another mechanism through which mindfulness training may influence psychological well-being is change in memory functioning. Two studies ( Hargus et al., 2010; Williams et al., 2000) have shown that mindfulness training reduces overgeneral autobiographical memory, a construct that has been associated with increased severity of depression and suicidality ( Kuyken & Brewin, 1995). Participation in mindfulness training has also been shown to buffer against decreases in working memory capacity (WMC) during high stress periods, with changes in WMC mediating the relationship between amount of mindfulness practice and reductions in negative affect ( Jha, Stanley, Kiyonaga, Wong, & Gelfand, 2010). In addition, brief mindfulness training has been shown to reduce memory for negative stimuli ( Alberts & Thewissen, in press), a mechanism that may partly underlie the beneficial effects of mindfulness-based interventions on emotion functioning.

Finally, values clarification and improved behavioral self-regulation may be two additional avenues through which mindfulness training improves psychological well-being ( Gratz & Roemer, 2004; Shapiro et al., 2006). Staying present with thoughts and emotions in an objective, open and nonjudgmental manner may facilitate a greater sense of clarity with regard to one's values, and behaviors that are more consistent with those values. Higher levels of self-reported mindfulness are associated with self-reports of greater engagement in valued behaviors and interests ( Brown & Ryan, 2003) and of ability to engage in goal-directed behavior when emotionally upset ( Baer et al., 2006). In addition, mindfulness training has been found to lead to self-reported improved behavioral regulation in a nonclinical sample ( Robins et al., 2010) and reduced self-discrepancy, which is associated with adaptive self-regulation, among recovered depressed patients with a history of depression and suicidality ( Crane et al., 2008). In another study, values clarification was found to mediate partially the relationship between increased mindfulness/ reperceiving and decreased psychological distress in a sample of participants who underwent MBSR ( Carmody et al., 2009).

Areas in Need of Further Research

Understanding and Quantification of Mindfulness

Because mindfulness is a construct that originates in Buddhism, and has only a brief history in Western psychological science, it is unsurprising that there is considerable challenge in defining, operationalizing, and quantifying it ( Grossman, 2008). Although a number of self-report inventories have been developed to assess mindfulness, they vary greatly in content and factor structure, reflecting a lack of agreement on the meaning and nature of mindfulness ( Brown, Ryan, & Creswell, 2007). Whereas some researchers consider mindfulness to be a one-dimensional construct referring specifically to paying attention to the present-moment experience (e.g., Brown & Ryan, 2003; Carmody, 2009), others argue that qualities such as curiosity, acceptance, and compassion are inherent to mindfulness ( Baer & Sauer, 2009; Feldman et al., 2007; Lau et al., 2006). Further collaborative inquiry is needed so that researchers can reach a general agreement on the nature and meaning of mindfulness, or at least clarify and specify which aspects of mindfulness are being addressed in a particular study.

Several issues pertaining to the assessment of mindfulness are also worth highlighting here. First, individual responses to questionnaire items may vary as a function of differential understanding of the questionnaire items ( Grossman, 2008), which may depend on the extent of an individual's exposure to the idea or practice of mindfulness. One study demonstrated that the factor structure of the Freiburg Mindfulness Inventory changed within the same group of respondents from just before to just after attending meditation retreats of 3 to 10 days ( Buchheld, Grossman, & Wallach, 2001). Further research is clearly needed to improve the construct validity of self-report mindfulness questionnaires, in part via reducing potential variability in item functioning across meditators and non-meditators. A second issue concerns limitations in the use of self-report measures of mindfulness, which rely on the assumption that mindfulness is assessable by declarative knowledge ( Brown et al., 2007). It is not known how well self-reports of mindfulness correspond with actual experiences in daily life. To make the matter more complicated, there is an inherent paradox in using frequency of attention lapses as an index of mindfulness because the ability to detect such lapses is contingent upon one's overall level of mindfulness ( Van Dam, Earlywine, & Borders, 2010; Van Dam, Earleywine, & Danoff-Burg, 2009). One way in which the validity of self-report questionnaires can be improved is by developing performance-based measures of mindfulness against which they can be calibrated, or which can be used in multi-method assessment of the construct ( Garland & Gaylord, 2009).

Specificity of Effects of Mindfulness Interventions

Little is yet known regarding for whom and under what conditions mindfulness training is most effective, but there is some preliminary evidence to suggest that its effectiveness may vary as a function of individual differences. Cordon, Brown, and Gibson (2009) found that participation in MBSR resulted in greater reduction in perceived stress for individuals with an insecure attachment style than for securely attached individuals. Another recent study ( Shapiro, Brown, Thoresen, & Plante, 2011) showed that trait mindfulness moderated the effects of MBSR. Specifically, compared to controls, participants with higher levels of baseline trait mindfulness demonstrated greater improvements in mindfulness, subjective well-being, empathy, and hope, and larger decreases in perceived stress up to one year post-intervention. MBCT is effective for reducing depressive relapses among remitted depressed patients with a history of three or more depressive episodes, but not among patients with two previous episodes (e.g., Teasdale et al., 2000; Ma & Teasdale, 2004). In light of these considerations, several researchers have cautioned against the indiscriminate application of mindfulness as a general-purpose, "cure-all" therapeutic technique, and instead advocated for a problem formulation approach in the use of mindfulness techniques for treating psychological conditions ( Kocovski, Segal, Battista, & Didonna, 2009; Teasdale, Segal, & Williams, 2003). In order to maximize the effectiveness and clinical utility of mindfulness interventions, sufficient attention needs to go into tailoring them to fit the needs of specific populations and psychological conditions. For example, treatment of disorders that primarily involve a deficit in attentional abilities, like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), may require that greater focus be placed on the attentional aspect of mindfulness training. On the other hand, treatment of disorders that tend to involve excessive shame and guilt, such as eating disorders, may benefit from greater treatment emphasis on the acceptance and self compassion aspects of mindfulness. Finally, given that mindfulness training has been increasingly integrated with a variety of psychotherapeutic techniques (e.g., Linehan, 1993a), it is important that future research examine how mindfulness works alongside these psychotherapeutic techniques.

Other Potential Applications of Mindfulness Interventions

Mindfulness-oriented interventions have been shown to improve psychological health in nonclinical populations and effectively treat a range of psychological and psychosomatic conditions. There may be additional therapeutic applications of mindfulness training. Researchers have reported promising results in pilot trials of mindfulness interventions for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder ( Zylowska et al., 2008), bipolar disorder ( Miklowitz et al., 2009; Weber et al., 2010; Williams et al., 2008), panic disorder ( Kim et al., 2010), generalized anxiety disorder ( Evans et al., 2008; Craigie, Rees, Marsh, & Nathan, 2008; Roemer, Orsillo, & Salters-Pedneault, 2008), eating disorders ( Baer, Fischer, & Huss, 2005; Kristeller & Hallett, 1999), psychosis ( Chadwick, Taylor, & Abba, 2005), and alcohol and substance use problems ( Bowen et al., 2006; Witkiewitz et al., 2005). While the data is overall preliminary and requires further validation, the results are promising. Researchers have also begun to investigate the application of mindfulness techniques within specific populations and settings, such as children ( Bogels, Hoogstad, van Dun, de Schutter, & Restifo, 2008; Lee, Semple, Rosa, & Miller, 2008; Napoli, Krech, & Holley, 2005), adolescent psychiatric outpatients ( Biegel, Brown, Shapiro, & Schubert, 2009), parents ( Altmaier & Maloney, 2007; Bögels et al., 2008; Singh et al., 2006), school teachers ( Napoli, 2004), elderly and their caregivers ( Epstein-Lubow, McBee, Darling, Armey, & Miller, in press; McBee, 2008; Smith, 2004), prison inmates ( Bowen et al., 2006; Samuelson, Carmody, Kabat-Zinn, & Bratt, 2007), and socio-economically disadvantaged individuals ( Hick & Furlotte, 2010).

With regard to applications of mindfulness training that have received empirical support, research now needs to examine practical issues surrounding their implementation, delivery, and dissemination. Little is known about their cost effectiveness, nor about the amount and type(s) of training that is required for an individual to be a competent provider of mindfulness training ( Allen, Blashki, & Gullone, 2006). Future research should examine these issues as they are critical to the successful implementation and dissemination of mindfulness-oriented interventions.

Conclusion

Based on an examination of empirical literature across multiple methodologies, this review concludes that mindfulness and its cultivation facilitates adaptive psychological functioning. Despite existing methodological limitations within each body of literature, there is a clear convergence of findings from correlational studies, clinical intervention studies, and laboratory-based, experimental studies of mindfulness-all of which suggest that mindfulness is positively associated with psychological health, and that training in mindfulness may bring about positive psychological effects. These effects ranged from increased subjective well-being, reduced psychological symptoms and emotional reactivity, to improved regulation of behavior. There is also an increasingly substantial research body pointing to a number of psychological processes that may serve as key mechanisms of effects of mindfulness interventions. As research on mindfulness is in its early stages of development, further collaborative research is needed to develop a more solid understanding concerning the nature of mindfulness, how mindfulness can best be measured, fostered, and cultivated, and the mechanisms and specificity of effects of mindfulness-oriented interventions. Future research should also continue to explore other potential applications of mindfulness, and examine practical issues concerning the delivery, implementation, and dissemination of mindfulness-oriented interventions. Given the advances that have been made thus far, it is likely that new paradigms for the understanding and application of mindfulness will continue to appear, which would move us further toward the goals of alleviating human psychological suffering and helping others live a life that is happier and more fulfilling.

Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge M. Zachary Rosenthal, Mark Leary, Jeffrey Brantley, and Kathleen Sikkema for their helpful comments on an earlier version of this manuscript.

References

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Bagchi BK, Wenger MA. Electrophysiological correlates of some yogi exercises. Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology. 1957;(Suppl. 7):132-149. [Google Scholar]

Epstein-Lubow G, McBee L, Darling E, Armey M, Miller I. A pilot investigation of mindfulness-based stress reduction for caregivers of frail elderly. Mindfulness in press. [Google Scholar]

Greeson J, Webber D, Brantley J, Smoski M, Ekblad A, Suarez E, Wolever R. Changes in spirituality partly explain health-related quality of life outcomes after Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction. Journal of Behavioral Medicine in press. [[PMC free article] [PubMed] Google Scholar]

Keng SL, Smoski MJ, Robins CJ, Ekblad A, Brantley J. Mechanisms of change in MBSR: Self compassion and mindful attention as mediators of intervention outcome; Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies; San Francisco, CA. Nov 19, 2010. [Google Scholar]

Raes F, Williams MG. The relationship between mindfulness and uncontrollability of ruminative thinking. Mindfulness 2010 in press. [Google Scholar]

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Effects of Mindfulness on Psychological Health: A Review of Empirical Studies

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Within the past few decades, there has been a surge of interest in the investigation of mindfulness as a psychological construct and as a form of clinical intervention. This article reviews the empirical literature on the effects of mindfulness on psychological ...

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Interesting research on the power of optimism

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A sample from the journal book HEART!

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Message: be a non-body shaper!

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Why You Shouldn't Exercise to Lose Weight

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If you're aiming to lose weight, exercise isn't really going to help you. But it's still the most important thing you can do for your health

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Use this pdf to discover your personal wellness journey!

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Susan David -Author of Emotional Agility 

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Susan David -Author of Emotional Agility 

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Good advice for retaining teachers!

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Idea in Brief

The Problem

Resignations are at an all-time high, and companies desperate to fill vacancies are trying everything from pay raises to trendy perks. But these interventions are falling short-because the real problem is that jobs are often stressful, meaningless, and unlovable.

The Solution

Companies need to take advantage of each person's unique skills and passions. That means making employees the key stakeholders in the organization, minimizing standardization in performance management tools, and trusting people to accomplish their goals in the way they see fit.

The Benefit

Employees don't need to love everything about their jobs, but research shows that a little goes a long way toward reducing burnout and helping with engagement. Companies that have begun to embrace some of the tenets in this article have seen improvements in both retention and overall performance.

As record numbers of people have quit their jobs, all sectors of the economy are struggling to fill vacancies. To get people back to work, organizations are changing long-standing policies and offering unprecedented incentives. Transportation companies, for example, have upped their wages to lure long-haul drivers back into truck cabs. California public schools are allowing retired teachers to return to work without recertification. CEOs and CHROs are falling all over themselves to offer flex-time work arrangements more attractive than those of their competitors. But such attempts miss the fundamental problem.

Simply put, work isn't working for us. It wasn't before the pandemic, and it isn't now. According to surveys my colleagues and I have conducted at ADP Research Institute (ADPRI), before the pandemic only 18% of respondents were fully engaged at work, 17% felt highly resilient at work, and 14% trusted their senior leaders and team leader. The Centers for Disease Control reported in 2018 that 71% of adults had at least one symptom of workplace stress, such as headaches or feeling overwhelmed or anxious.

The pandemic has added even more pressure to our existing pain. Engagement and resilience are at all-time lows, having each dropped two percentage points during the course of the pandemic. (That may sound like a small change, but given how low those figures already were and the size of the samples, it is both statistically and practically significant.) Meanwhile, a quarter of U.S. workers quit their jobs in 2021-a historic high.

This points to a problem that increasing wages or simplifying professional on-ramps alone won't solve, although those efforts certainly help improve employees' quality of life. We know this because in ADPRI's most recent 50,000-person surveys of stratified random samples of working populations around the world, the most powerful predictors of retention, performance, engagement, resilience, and inclusion did not include pay or liking one's colleagues or work location or even a strong belief in the mission of the organization. All those provided some explanatory power, but none was as significant as these three items:

Was I excited to work every day last week?

Did I have a chance to use my strengths every day?

At work do I get a chance to do what I'm good at and something I love?

These results, neuroscience research, and my decades of experience working with individuals in organizations strongly suggest that only when a company intelligently links what people love to their actual activities will it achieve higher performance, higher engagement and resilience, and lower turnover.

To stem the tide and to attract and retain the best people, then, we must redesign jobs around a simple but powerful concept: love for the content of the work itself. That word may seem strong in this context, but people's affinity for their work can and should reach this level, and when it does, amazing things can happen.

Creating a place where all people can find love in their work means incorporating three principles in everything your business does: The people are the point. Employees, rather than customers or shareholders, are the most important stakeholders in your organization. One size fits one. Each of those employees is a unique person with distinct loves, interests, and skills. In trust we grow. For employees to discover and contribute their loves at work, leaders must explicitly make trust the foundation of all practices and policies.

We'll take a look at how the most forward-thinking companies are beginning to implement each of these in turn. But first let's examine why love is so important in the workplace and what companies have missed by ignoring it.

What's Love Got to Do with It?

When you're in love with another person, your brain chemistry changes. We don't yet know the exact biochemical cause of romantic love-it appears to be some combination of oxytocin, dopamine, norepinephrine, and vasopressin. But research does reveal that when you're engaged in an activity you love, that same chemical cocktail is present in your brain-along with anandamide, which brings you feelings of joy and wonder.

Primed by this cocktail, you interact with the world differently. Research by neurobiologists suggests that these "love chemicals" lessen the regulatory function of your neocortex, widening your perspective on yourself and liberating your mind to accept new thoughts and feelings. You register other people's emotions more intensely. You remember details more vividly. You perform cognitive tasks faster and better. You are more optimistic, more loyal, more forgiving, and more open to new information and experiences. One could say that doing what you love makes you more effective, but it's so much more than that: You're on fire without the burnout.

So if you're doing work you love, work need not be a stressor but can instead be a source of energy and resilience. Indeed, ADPRI data on engagement shows that people who find love, strength, joy, and excitement in what they do each day are far more likely to be productive, to stay at the company longer than others do, and to sustain themselves in the face of life's inevitable challenges. Finding love in work, therefore, is not self-indulgent or narcissistic; it is a precursor and an amplifier of performance.

To be clear, that's not quite the same as saying that work must consist exclusively of what you love. We have no data proving that the most productive and engaged people at work love all they do. What it points to, though, is that if leaders want their employees to be high performing, to stay with the organization, and to be engaged and resilient, they should be intentional in helping them find love in some of what they do, every day.

Data from the Mayo Clinic reinforces this finding and suggests that 20% is a useful threshold. Its research into burnout in doctors and nurses suggests that if less than 20% of your work consists of things you love to do, you are far more likely to experience physical and psychological burnout. Intriguingly, loving more than 20% doesn't seem to net much increase in resilience. A little love of what you do at work goes a long, long way.

For many of us, finding even that level of love in our work is challenging. Perhaps daunted by the sheer range of where employees can find love, or perhaps distrustful of their intentions, or perhaps presuming that "no one could love this job," many managers have designed loveless work, in which the job is defined by standardized steps or required competencies, and success is measured by how closely the employee conforms to them. Distribution-center work and delivery-driver roles usually fall into this category.

It's neither fair nor realistic to put the onus on employees who are faced with jobs like those-and with the need to put food on the table-to find the love in what they do, although it's clear from my decades of research into all manner of jobs that people can find love in surprising places. I've interviewed a manufacturing worker who loved to figure out the "personality" of each of the machines he operated and intervene right before one of them "chose" to break down. I've done focus groups with boron miners who revealed passions as diverse as a love of precision, the thrill of figuring out how to go a hundred days without even the most minor safety incident, and simply being part of a team. Slaughterhouse work, long-haul trucking, housekeeping-all these jobs include a range of activities specific enough to serve as the raw material for some love of the work. The fact that we haven't designed those jobs through the lens of people with specific preferences and passions doesn't mean there's no love to be found there.

So let's turn to organizations. It's time to start designing jobs with love in mind. If leaders were to take all this data to heart and deliberately try to create what I call a Love + Work organization, in which a greater percentage of employees find love in what they do-even if only 20% of the time-how would they proceed? They would make sure that engaged and resilient people were uplifted rather than depleted by their jobs, and as a result delivered better services and products to their customers and made more-sustainable commitments to their communities. Although I know of no one organization today that fully embodies the Love + Work ideal, plenty are beginning to implement pieces of the three core principles.

The People Are the Point

A true Love + Work organization is built on a recognition of and commitment to the fundamental importance of each person who comes to work. This stance represents an advance on both Milton Friedman's shareholder capitalism, which held that an organization's sole purpose is to maximize shareholder value, and Joseph Stiglitz's stakeholder capitalism, which introduced the idea that organizations should also maximize value to customers, employees, and the broader community.

A Love + Work organization sees employees as the integrating point for all other stakeholders rather than as merely one of many. They are, after all, where the work actually happens-where the value in products or for customers is created. That requires that every employee be seen as a full human being, not just a cog in the machine. Specifically, Love + Work organizations do the following:

Recruit human beings, not workers.

In a more human-centric approach to onboarding, these companies are rigorous and detailed in explaining why each candidate was selected and what specific strengths and loves they saw in the person, including but also going beyond how those can add value to the overall mission of the organization.

Lululemon is a leader in this. During the company's onboarding process, new employees are encouraged to set goals, both career and personal. Employees are equally celebrated whether their goal is to become the company's CEO or to start their own fashion brand sometime in the future. This focus on the person's unique ambitions during onboarding helps lululemon's 90-day retention and first-year employee-engagement levels rise twice as high as industry averages.

Commit to lifelong learning.

A Love + Work organization invests in the ongoing education of each employee. That might be in the form of direct payment for college degrees, as at Amazon, Walmart, and others; or forgiving and reimbursing student loans, as Geico, Starbucks, and UPS do; or giving employees a certain amount of discretionary time to pursue their own projects, as Google has periodically done over the years. All these efforts communicate explicitly that the employee's growth and development have intrinsic worth, even if it doesn't immediately accrue to the organization.

Support alumni.

A Love + Work organization has a formal and carefully considered offboarding program that reinforces the message that people's worth as human beings extends far beyond their time with the organization. Many companies, including Accenture and McKinsey, have found that staying close to a strong alumni community offers practical benefits in the form of existing client growth and referrals. But it's also a way for organizations to show their commitment to each employee as a person.

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Again, lululemon stands out here. The company's willingness to stay connected to, and support, former employees has created a nexus of entrepreneurial companies in Vancouver, spanning multiple industries including apparel, food services, and fitness. Many employees who depart to pursue dreams of opening a studio or a gym later become "ambassadors," their pictures proudly displayed in local lululemon stores to showcase their new ventures. This demonstrates to current employees how deeply invested the company is in the ongoing success of those who came before them-whether or not that success is within the confines of the company.

One Size Fits One

Brain science reveals that there are more synaptic connections in each human brain than there are stars in 5,000 Milky Ways, resulting in endless variations in how we all think and feel. It shouldn't be surprising, therefore, that people in the same job love and do their work very differently. An organization dedicated to love builds its people practices around that fact. To help people pinpoint their particular pattern of loves and loathings and channel them into contribution, an organization must empower teams and team leaders to make the most of each employee's uniqueness.

As part of its ongoing study of excellence at work, ADPRI does primary qualitative research involving top performers in a variety of roles. Here, for example, are the words of three excellent hotel general managers describing what they love about their job:

"It almost sounds strange, I know, but I actually love it when an angry guest marches up to the front desk. I find my brain works faster, my adrenaline pumping; it feels amazing, like I'm on edge, but loving it. Guess I have a superhero complex, right?"

"My best moments are trying to figure out how to get my team to jell. It's hard because you've got all these different personalities, different schedules, different roles, and somehow I've got to arrange it all so that you've got the right people doing the right things at the right time. Of course, I never get it quite right, but I'm so into it."

"People say I'm never satisfied, but I don't think of it like that. I love taking something that's working and then figuring out newer and better ways of doing things. I get bored so quickly. So if it's new, never been done before, first time, I'm right there. I can't tell you how many times we've redone our team awards or our guest appreciation programs. I'll never stop."

Avoid tools that standardize.

Competency models, feedback tools, and rigid career paths, which have become the norm at most large companies today, replace employees' personal loves with cookie-cutter actions or behaviors. At Love + Work organizations, in contrast, each role is defined by a very few measured outcomes rather than by a competency model. Thus hotel general managers are measured according to occupancy levels and guest satisfaction ratings. Nurses are held accountable for patient outcomes and patient satisfaction scores. Salespeople are measured by sales volume and client growth. And so on. When outcomes are carefully identified and calibrated, employees can pinpoint the activities they love and be helped to find their own path toward those outcomes. The explosive growth of coaching-as-a-service companies such as BetterUp is but one sign that companies are moving away from standardization and toward offering individual guidance to employees at all levels.

These organizations also avoid feedback tools, which by definition measure each person against a standardized list of skills or competencies. I've previously explained in this magazine why feedback is pernicious (" The Feedback Fallacy," March-April 2019). In short: People's feedback is inevitably colored by their own loves (and loathings) and offers precious little to help other employees discover and contribute theirs. Aside from input about facts or required steps, feedback generally consists of one person-however well-intentioned-smothering another.

Organizing around love of the work means that no career paths are defined by the skills or competencies required at each level-indeed, no research that I know of in any refereed journal proves that the best practitioners in a given role all have the same skills and competencies. Competency models are an abstraction that denies the real-world truth that people in the same role find love in very different activities and aspects of it-and, therefore, they thrive and excel in the role using quite different methods. Careers will increasingly be designed according to an employee's own interests and skills. AI-based software offerings such as Gloat, Fuel50, and Flux are the leaders in a growing pack of platforms that build career paths in this way.

Focus on teams.

To avoid standardization, companies must organize around teams.

In 2019, as my ADPRI colleagues and I were analyzing the data from our global study of the world's workers, we discovered just how important teams are to employees. Workers who reported that they felt part of a team were not only 2.7 times as likely as others to be fully engaged, but also three times as likely to be highly resilient and twice as likely to report a strong sense of belonging to their organization.

That's because teams make a home for idiosyncrasy. In a team, each person's unique loves and loathings can be combined with those of others to create something greater than any one person could achieve alone. Humans have long known this. In fact, the oldest human art ever discovered is a 45,000-year-old painting on a cave wall on the island of Sulawesi that depicts a small group of hunters, each drawn with a different animal characteristic thought to denote the particular contribution of each team member: the trunk of an elephant to show the strength of one, the tail of a crocodile to symbolize the cunning of another. "There is no 'I' in 'team'" misses the fundamental point of a team, which is precisely to capitalize on the contribution of each unique 'I.' If you're on a team and your manager and teammates see and know your loves, they can find ways to help you do work that you love better than a blind organization ever could.

But today most organizations are not built around teams. Although plenty of teamwork is happening, leaders can't see it or take advantage of it. Just look at most existing human-capital-management software. It displays individuals and who they report to, but not which teams they're on.

An organization with a focus on teams institutes formal team-joining programs in which people learn why they were picked for their assignments. This introduction includes detailed descriptions of the skills and talents they bring to their teams and what they can rely on or turn to each teammate for. Patagonia takes its team building out of headquarters with hiking trips to the nearby Santa Ynez mountains or campfires on the beach in Ventura to help team members see one another as whole, unique people. There they might learn that one member loves working under pressure, another is most creative from 6 AM to noon, and another must do a three-mile run around the neighborhood every morning or lose motivation. As more and more people work remotely, companies will have to be even more intentional about making joining a team a critical part of onboarding. I expect that we'll see lots of software applications emerging to fill this space.

But the most important part of being on a team is developing trust with the individuals who constitute it.

In Trust We Grow

The data supports a strong link between trust and all the good outcomes that love at work produces. When ADPRI asked its 50,000 global survey participants if they trusted their teammates, their team leader, and their senior leaders, those who strongly agreed that they trusted people in two of the three categories were three times as likely as others to be fully engaged and highly resilient. Those who strongly agreed that they trusted all three were 15 times as likely to be fully engaged and 42 times as likely to be highly resilient.

That's because trust drives the ability of employees to discover and do what they love. In a study of housekeepers at Disney World, I found that many loved their job specifically because they could be creative about how to do it. One rearranged children's stuffed animals into different scenes each day, for example. Another lay down on the bed to check the room from that angle because she knew that would be the first thing a guest did after a long day in the park. The trust given the housekeepers to exercise their autonomy-despite official rules to the contrary-was what made them love their jobs, and that love allowed them to excel in ways that no checklist of tasks could possibly do.

To deliberately engender trust in your organization, you'll need to end certain rituals and start others.

Discard rituals that erode trust.

Goals cascaded down from above, performance ratings, and 360-degree surveys-mechanisms that we tend to think of as increasing alignment and boosting performance-too often signal that the organization doesn't trust its people. Goals imposed from above are artificial and disconnect employees from thinking through what they love and how they can contribute it. In contrast, a Love + Work organization trusts people to set their own goals, which are discussed and adjusted as necessary during the course of the year.

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I've previously written in these pages (" Reinventing Performance Management," April 2015) about why performance ratings are unreliable. No one trusts them-even the people getting the highest ratings. With everyone reduced to a number, the organization can't see the whole person. Similarly, everyone suspects, rightly, that 360-degree surveys generate unreliable data that in no way reveals who a particular employee is. These mechanisms convey to employees that they are monitored but without any real trust that they know what it takes to do their jobs.

Instead, pay attention.

Love + Work organizations build trust by actually paying attention to employees through their team leaders. This requires empowering those leaders and reducing their span of responsibility so that frequent, individualized attention is possible.

Organizations that build trust view a once-a-week check-in between employees and team leaders as the core human ritual at work. During this chat the team leader will not be checking up on or appraising the person or giving feedback. Instead the leader will be talking about the short-term past and future, asking, "What did you love about last week?" "What did you loathe?" "What are your priorities this coming week?" "How can I best help?"

Asking those four questions every week for an entire year will ensure that employees build trust with their team leaders. It doesn't appear to matter whether the check-in happens in person, on the phone, by email, or in an app. What matters is simply that it happens. During a check-in both people can talk about the specifics of the work the employee is doing, the challenges that might be arising, and what the team leader can do to help. Each sharing of a challenge and each small action to provide support help build trust between them. But not only that: Naming the specific activities they loved the previous week keeps employees' loves front and center, tied tightly to the real work that needs to get done.

Many organizations have already instituted the check-in as a core ritual. Cisco alone averages more than 3 million check-ins a year. It is not a cure-all, of course: Some team leaders merely go through the motions, and some employees take a long time to feel that the organization genuinely cares about who they are and what they love. But the data from millions of check-ins is compelling. Team leaders who check in every week drive their team members' engagement scores up by 77% and their team members' voluntary turnover in the following six months down by 67%.

To make this ritual possible, Love + Work organizations eschew departments or functions so large that the span of control makes it impossible for a team leader to check in with each team member. A ratio of one leader to 70 members might make financial sense on a balance sheet, but it makes little sense for people trying to build trust.

. . .

Our leaders publicly announce that they want us to return to work, but for many of us, the current tensions regarding work all stem from our questioning whether we even want to go back to an earlier way of doing things. "Normal" led us into a workplace ecosystem that seemed designed to exploit us and stress us and reduce our agency. Normal made us unhealthy. If organizations dismiss employees' reticence or just hope that it will pass by, they will forever struggle to attract the best people and wonder why they have such trouble keeping the ones they do attract.

In contrast, the smartest organizations will recognize that if they can redesign work with love at its core, they will be able to make new and more-genuine commitments to their workers and over time will become magnets for talent. They will truly deserve the best people.

Editor's note: Marcus Buckingham is the author of Love + Work: How to Find What You Love, Love What You Do, and Do It for the Rest of Your Life (Harvard Business Review Press, 2022), from which this article is drawn.

A version of this article appeared in the May-June 2022 issue of Harvard Business Review.

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Resignations are at an all-time high, and companies desperate to fill vacancies are trying everything from pay raises to trendy perks. But those interventions are falling short, because the real problem, as the author explains, is that so many jobs are stressful, meaningless, and unlovable.

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Imagine what else you could do with the hours you spend unconscious each night. Oh, the things you could accomplish!

But if you're trying to claw back more of your personal time, sacrificing sleep is not where to start. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society both recommend a minimum of seven hours a night to maintain optimal health. If you regularly sleep less than that, "you're going to experience physical, psychological, and social consequences," says Joe Dzierzewski, vice president of research and scientific affairs at the National Sleep Foundation.

There are two exceptions to this advice. Older adults typically need less sleep than people who are younger, says Lynelle Schneeberg, a sleep psychologist and assistant professor of psychiatry at Yale Medicine. For instance, someone who slept eight hours a night in their 40s might be able to function well with 6.5 hours a night in their 70s. Older people produce less of the sleep-promoting hormone melatonin, and they tend to have more medical conditions that can interfere with sleep.

In addition, a very small number of people have a genetic mutation that allows them to function on less than 6.5 hours of sleep per night with no apparent consequences to their health. This genetic mutation is quite rare, with experts estimating that it only affects around one in 25,000 people.

But for everyone else, here's the bottom line on how low you can go: seven hours is the minimum for your regular sleep schedule, anything between five and seven hours isn't great but will do if it's just a night or two, and anything less than five hours-for any length of time-can have serious consequences.

Surviving versus thriving

Most sleep experts recommend getting somewhere between seven and nine hours of sleep per night. But this isn't always achievable. Perhaps you have a newborn who won't sleep, you're grieving the loss of a loved one, or you're a medical resident working 80 hours a week.

If special circumstances aren't allowing you to sleep as much as you need to, Schneeberg says, at least try to get 5.5 to six hours each night. "That's not what I want people to strive for," she says, but it will allow you to log some deep sleep.

Read More: How to Take the Perfect Nap

Although you might be able to survive with less than seven hours of sleep a night in the short-term, you definitely won't be thriving, especially if you keep it up for a while. "Can you compensate on a short-term basis for an occasional night of poor sleep? Yes, you can," Dzierzewski says. "But if you consistently neglect your sleep health, will it eventually catch up to you? More than likely."

A cascade of negative effects from too little sleep

Many people don't prioritize their sleep because a night or two of poor sleep doesn't lead to any immediate or dire consequences, Dzierzewski says. But once people get less than about five hours of sleep per night, they start to experience clear detriments to their physical health, says Aric Prather, a​​ sleep scientist and professor in the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of California, San Francisco.

A day of less-than-adequate rest can lead to poor mood, concentration, and attention, along with greater susceptibility to illness and riskier driving, Dzierzewski says. Short-term sleep loss can also lead you to crave foods that are higher in fat and sugar because your body produces extra cortisol, the stress hormone, when you're sleep-deprived, says Michael Breus, a clinical psychologist and sleep medicine specialist in Hermosa Beach, Calif.

Read More: You're Vacationing All Wrong. Here's How to Have a Truly Restful Break

A prime example of the consequences of short-term sleep loss: Motor-vehicle fatalities rise by 6% in the workweek following Daylight Saving Time in the spring, according to a 2020 study published in the journal Current Biology. (The authors believe this is due to a combination of sleep loss and driving to work in the dark.) Another study found a 24% increase in heart attacks on the Monday after Daylight Saving Time, and a 21% decrease once the clocks turn back in the fall.

Chronic sleep deprivation over weeks, months, or years can lead to a host of problems, including increased insulin resistance, increased inflammation in the body, and high blood pressure, Prather says. Long-term sleep deprivation can also increase someone's chances of having a heart attack or stroke. Early research has even begun looking at whether people who don't get enough sleep for a long time are at a higher risk of developing neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's, says Prather, who wrote The Sleep Prescription. "There are some devastating things that can happen when people don't get the sleep they need for a sustained period of time," he says.

Quality counts, too

When it comes to getting good shuteye, quality matters just as much as quantity. "Sleep health is multidimensional," Dzierzewski says. "It's made up of more than just duration."

How many times you hit the snooze button, how long it takes you to fall asleep, how often you wake up at night, and how rested you feel in the morning are all good indicators of whether or not you're getting good quality sleep, Breus says. "You can get eight hours of really [poor] sleep, and it's not going to do you a whole lot of good," he says.

Read More: 4 Signs Your Body Is Telling You It's Time to Take a Break

Sleep continuity, or sleeping most of the night without any wakeups, is of particular importance, Prather says. "If you got seven hours of sleep, but it took 10 hours to get it because there were all of these awakenings in the middle of the night, it just doesn't feel as high quality, and it impacts how you feel during the day."

Figuring out your genetic chronotype can be a good way to ensure you're getting high-quality sleep. Your chronotype is when you are biologically programmed to sleep, Breus says. (Think early birds and night owls.) Sleeping according to your chronotype can help you get more restorative sleep, Breus says.

Short sleep is nothing to brag about

We often hear stories of people-famous and otherwise-who function on very little sleep. Former president Barack Obama reportedly only slept about five hours per night during his presidency. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson once said he only sleeps three to five hours per night. And we all know at least one family member or friend who swears they only need five or six hours of sleep a night.

Don't believe them. "Functioning on less than seven hours of sleep on a routine basis is not a badge of honor," Dzierzewski says. "I don't think it's anything that anyone should be proud of... It would be like someone saying, 'I'm able to maintain a healthy weight when all I do is eat chocolate all day.'" If you're looking for more hours in your day, start trimming something else besides your sleep.

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What's the Least Amount of Sleep You Need to Get?

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Playing sleep limbo-how long can you go?-is a dangerous game.

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What Are Sleep Deprivation and Deficiency?

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Sleep deprivation and deficiency are conditions that occur when you don't get enough good quality sleep when your body needs it. This can lead to physical and mental health problems. Learn about the causes, risk factors, symptoms, and treatment for Sleep deprivation and deficiency.

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This is a companion month-by-month Plan Book and Wellness Journal for all educators

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The Educator Wellness Plan Book and Journal

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This goal-setting planner offers K–12 teachers and administrators a practical tool for integrating physical, mental, emotional, and social wellness tips and strategies daily to create a personal and professional life that maintains focus and balance.

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Great Emotional Wellness resource form March Brackett

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The mental well-being of children and adults is shockingly poor. Marc Brackett, author of Permission to Feel, knows why. And he knows what we can do.

"We have a crisis on our hands, and its victims are our children."

Marc Brackett is a professor in Yale University's Child Study Center and founding director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence. In his 25 years as an emotion scientist, he has developed a remarkably effective plan to improve the lives of children and adults - a blueprint for understanding our emotions and using them wisely so that they help, rather than hinder, our success and well-being. The core of his approach is a legacy from his childhood, from an astute uncle who gave him permission to feel. He was the first adult who managed to see Marc, listen to him, and recognize the suffering, bullying, and abuse he'd endured. And that was the beginning of Marc's awareness that what he was going through was temporary. He wasn't alone, he wasn't stuck on a timeline, and he wasn't "wrong" to feel scared, isolated, and angry. Now, best of all, he could do something about it.

In the decades since, Marc has led large research teams and raised tens of millions of dollars to investigate the roots of emotional well-being. His prescription for healthy children (and their parents, teachers, and schools) is a system called RULER, a high-impact and fast-effect approach to understanding and mastering emotions that has already transformed the thousands of schools that have adopted it. RULER has been proven to reduce stress and burnout, improve school climate, and enhance academic achievement. This book is the culmination of Marc's development of RULER and his way to share the strategies and skills with readers around the world. It is tested, and it works.

This book combines rigor, science, passion and inspiration in equal parts. Too many children and adults are suffering; they are ashamed of their feelings and emotionally unskilled, but they don't have to be. Marc Brackett's life mission is to reverse this course, and this book can show you how.

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Permission to Feel [Brackett, Marc] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Permission to Feel

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Are you suffering from chronic stress? Many of us are-whether we're stressed out by our jobs, complicated relationships, caregiving responsibilities, or the general state of the world.

That's where Elissa Epel's new book, The Stress Prescription, comes in. A health psychologist and director of the Aging, Metabolism, and Emotions Center at the University of California, San Francisco, Epel explains how stress affects our bodies and minds-including our health, happiness, and longevity-and how to manage it in the best way possible.

Too many of us are in a constant state of alertness, she argues, which makes us ill-prepared to navigate the everyday stressors and bigger upsets that occur when living a full life. We may think we're relaxed, but we're actually maintaining a low-level vigilance that's hard on our bodies. Constant physiological strain can shorten our telomeres (the caps at the ends of our DNA that protect it from aging)-a process she wrote about in her bestselling book, The Telomere Effect.

Epel emphasizes that not all stress is inherently bad-and that we shouldn't aim for a stress-free life. We need our physiological stress response to survive, as it can come in handy when we're gearing up to perform or facing an actual life-or-death threat.

"Anything worth doing will have aspects of stress woven through: challenge, discomfort, risk. We can't change that. But what we can change is our response," she says.

If we can learn how to handle stress better and build up stress resilience, we're more likely to thrive, she argues. To do that, she recommends seven guidelines and offers specific practices to get us there.

Embrace uncertainty

Life is uncertain, and things will not always go according to plan. But, if we get better at tolerating uncertainty, it can lead to less stress, as well as other good things-like being able to trust others, collaborate, and cooperate more.

Tolerating uncertainty means not always having rigid expectations of the future. "Strong expectations can hurt us whether they're positive (something we're looking forward to) or negative (something we're dreading). Better to loosen our expectations as much as we can," says Epel.

One way to do that, she says, is to practice mindfulness meditation, which keeps you focused on the present and prevents ruminating too much on what unknowable thing might happen. While you'd be forgiven for thinking it's better to anticipate disasters so that you're prepared for them, she argues against that approach. Anticipating the worst leads to spikes of cortisol that are harmful to your health-and result in no better response to stress than not anticipating it.

Don't fret about what you can't control

Like the old adage goes, when things go wrong, it's good to recognize what's in your control and what isn't-and then focus your attention on changing what's under your control. For example, if your spouse suddenly becomes incapacitated, and you're called upon to become a caregiver-a huge stressor for most people-it's better to accept reality, manage what you can, and let go of the rest.

This may not sound easy. But with reflection, says Epel, you might find that many things you ruminate about-what others think of you, a potential illness or diagnosis, the outcome of an election-are not under your control, making worry needless and even problematic. Once you realize this, you can focus on accepting what's not controllable and making better choices about how to handle stressors actually under your control. That might mean letting go of superfluous activities, taking breaks in your busy life for some restful breathing, or practicing self-compassion.

Harness the body's stress response to meet challenges

Our bodies are well designed to enter into fight-or-flight mode when we are under threat or facing difficulties. But the physical effects of stress depend on our attitude-whether we see it as a bad thing or recognize the positive, energizing elements of that mode. When we see the benefits of stress, we actually show a healthier stress response in our bodies-which can help us overcome challenges.

"When we focus on the benefits of stress, we feel less stress about stress, pay attention to positive cues rather than threatening cues, and approach situations more confidently rather than avoid them," writes Epel.

This kind of reframe can be helpful for accepting our mistakes along the way when we try new things. Knowing that failure, challenge, and stress can be an important part of reaching our goals can help us to take them less to heart-and prevent us from giving up too soon.

How to do it? Reframed statements around stress-like saying, "This is exciting! I can appreciate this feeling" as opposed to "This is so stressful. I hate this feeling."-have been found over many studies to reduce our negative feelings about stress.

Train your cells to metabolize stress better

Chronic stress is never good for us. But getting an occasional shot of high stress that our bodies can tolerate and easily recover from-something Epel calls "hormetic stress"-is actually good for us. It builds resilience at the cellular level and makes us better prepared to handle future, unexpected stressors.

While all exercise is good for managing stress and improving our health, Epel recommends high-intensity interval training (HIIT), which gives you the most bang for your buck. HIIT involves short bursts of high-intensity exercise followed by a recovery period, and it has become very popular for people who have less time to exercise.

For those who can't do HIIT, there are other ways to expose our cells to short bursts of stress, such as taking a cold shower or using a sauna. Though the research is relatively new, Epel provides some evidence that both of these can increase stress resilience and lead to better health, too (though you might want to check with a doctor before trying them out).

Use nature to recalibrate

There is ample evidence that spending time in nature reduces stress and improves well-being. Epel argues that "exposure to nature, in all forms and contexts, is one of the most powerful and immediate ways to reduce stress."

Being in green spaces allows us to experience "attention restoration"-a kind of recovery from the stress of cognitive overload and constant stimulation that many people experience in their everyday lives. Experiencing nature can also produce feelings of awe, which, in turn, reduce stress -along with a host of other benefits. If you don't have easy access to the woods or an urban park, take heart. Even looking out at the night sky or watching nature videos can be calming.

Practice deep rest

We all need to relax in order to reduce stress in our lives. But, says Epel, we also need to find moments of deep relaxation where we experience "protected, tech-free, rest-focused downtime for ourselves." This kind of deep rest is different from what we typically think of as "relaxing"- like lounging on a couch and watching TV or walking our dog at night. It's more about the kind of experience you might have on a meditation retreat, where you practice letting go of all responsibility and just being.

Of course, sleeping or napping are ways we can get that kind of rest-if we're good at them, which many of us aren't. But there are other things we can do, too. Epel suggests specific deep breathing exercises, which is something under our control that can quickly put us into a relaxed state-and has all kinds of benefits for our physiology.

Find moments of joy in your life

When we feel happy, we tend not to feel so stressed out. So, says Epel, it's important to cultivate more moments of joy in our lives-especially moments of purpose and meaning. "The science of happiness and joy is pretty clear: It's good for the mind, good for the body, good for stress resilience," she says.

While chasing happiness can actually hurt your well-being if you get too obsessive, you can simply turn your mind toward noticing the positive. One practice she suggests (which I took to heart, personally) is changing the way you wake up and go to bed at night. Rather than startling awake and immediately thinking about all you need to get done, she suggests taking a moment to imagine what you're looking forward to that day. Similarly, before going to sleep at night, you can recount the happiest parts of your day and what you're grateful for.

"Happiness and gratitude give us that reserve capacity, the charge to our battery," she writes. "They give us the resources to zoom out, take a healthy perspective, see the challenge, stay flexible, and be resilient."

While some of these tips for managing stress may be familiar to you, it's definitely helpful to have them all in one place. Thankfully, the book is short and easy to read, yet still chock full of research-as well as ideas on how to make the findings work for you, personally. By following Epel's prescription, you are bound to increase your resilience to stress-and be happier and healthier for it.

Greater Good wants to know: Do you think this article will influence your opinions or behavior?

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Seven Ways to Have a Healthier Relationship With Stress

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Are you suffering from chronic stress? Many of us are-whether we're stressed out by our jobs, complicated relationships, caregiving responsibilities, or the general state of the world. That's where Elissa Epel's new book, The Stress Prescription , comes in.

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My book in the Heart & Soul Small Group Study Series 

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My book in the Heart & Soul Small Group Study Series 

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A professional wellness and self-reflection resource for educators at every grade level

A highly anticipated companion to the wildly popular HEART!, SOUL! empowers educators to take another giant leap toward fulfilling their professional promise. Refreshing and research affirmed, this resource leads readers on a deeply rewarding journey toward discovering their soul story—the pursuit of their moral good in order to create good in others. It also includes dozens of stories from real educators, as well as ample space for journaling and self-reflection.

Become more confident, joyful, whole, healthy, and balanced in your professional life.

Explore the four actions of SOUL—searching, overcoming, unifying, and living—that will help you sustain a fulfilling professional life.

Learn the concept of a soul story, diving into what it is and why it is so important to your well-being and emotional health.

Understand your own soul story, and reflect on how you can use it to create good in others.

Learn how to overcome challenges and obstacles that hinder you from fulfilling your soul story.

Discover how to create a positive, thriving school culture focused on meaningful relationships and collaboration.

Follow the discussion of SOUL! on Twitter by using the hashtag #heartandsoul4Ed

Related Topics

Leadership Professional Learning Communities at Work®Professional Learning Communities Teacher Efficacy

Additional Information

Product Code: BKF982, EKF545

ISBN: 9781951075651

Published By: Solution Tree

“Shout this from the mountaintop: If you touch the life of a child as a teacher, paraprofessional, coach, principal, or counselor, you must read this book! SOUL! Fulfilling the Promise of Your Professional Life as a Teacher and Leader will nurture, stretch, challenge, and grow the soul of every reader and everyone readers engage with in their personal and professional lives.”

“After thirty-two years of serving public school students, reading Timothy D. Kanold’s SOUL! triggered a healthy and much-needed sense of nostalgia. Many have shared their soul stories with me, including Rick DuFour, who felt confident I could be part of a team traveling around the world teaching educators how to best promote optimal learning for the students we serve. SOUL! reminds us all of the positive interactions that have impacted each of us and the responsibility we have to continue to positively impact others.”

“SOUL! by Timothy D. Kanold is one of those books that will truly make you think and reflect, not just as an educator but also as a person. Throughout the book, I paused and reflected on how I’ve grown over the years but more importantly how much I still need to grow. The personal stories embedded throughout this book will resonate with every reader because we have all had similar experiences, whether it’s losing a loved one or experiencing a failure. Dr. Kanold brings those personal stories back to the message of each chapter. This book is definitely worth reading and sharing with colleagues in order to help each of us grow as educators and as people.”

“SOUL! will resonate with every educator, as it deeply goes to the heart of why we entered this profession. It is quite simply a masterpiece of storytelling. Author Timothy D. Kanold challenges readers to write their own soul stories, which gives them a mirror to who they are and a window into the opportunities still out there. Tim’s focuses on grace, compassion, empathy, vulnerability, and equity are woven throughout the book as uniting and powerful themes, reminding educators to hold firm to these qualities and continue their beautiful but challenging journey through this profession. SOUL! is quite simply the best educational book of its kind that I have ever read!”

“In SOUL!, Dr. Timothy D. Kanold has created a compelling and timely companion to his best-selling book HEART! Dr. Kanold connects our journey as educators to our inherent desire for purpose and impact. His personal stories and reflections shine a light on the importance of investing in our purpose. While HEART! shows us how to have a positive impact on others and leave our ‘heartprint,’ SOUL! encourages us to turn inward and check our own healthy and sometimes unhealthy reactions and decisions that drive the why behind our impact. Dr. Kanold uses an effective balance of research and relatable personal experiences to help readers develop strategies to cope with obstacles that can block their ability to be effective at building personal and professional relationships. As a school leader, I will encourage my staff to use SOUL! as a tool to improve their professional collaboration with peers and improve their impact with students.”

“SOUL! asks readers to embark on a journey that guides them toward a more purpose-driven professional life. During this journey, readers are catapulted to the promise and reality of a life that results from embracing compassion, empathy, equity, and joy, leaving a lasting imprint that benefits students, parents, and colleagues. Through personal stories and opportunities for reflection, Timothy D. Kanold makes readers conscious of the things they do not see about themselves. This amazing book touches the core of our being and helps us fulfill the promise of our professional lives.”

“The work of successful educators and professionals is hard. It takes passion, dedication, and sacrifice. SOUL! is a must-read for school and district staff, but it also contributes to fields outside of education. It encourages readers to reach their full potential by engaging deeply in the best practices of their work and to create strong connections with colleagues, students, and families. SOUL! navigates readers through this overarching question: ‘What drives us to find complete fulfillment in our vocation?’ Like Dr. Kanold’s prequel, HEART!, this book serves as a guide along this important and impactful journey.”

“When Timothy D. Kanold’s HEART! was published in 2017, I remember how deeply it spoke to me, and how desperately I needed to focus on the very essence of the book as an educator. Four years later, my sense of urgency has escalated beyond belief. Who in education doesn’t need to develop his or her soul story by searching, overcoming, unifying, and living? In SOUL!, Dr. Kanold gives us yet another opportunity to learn, listen, reflect, and record our journey during a time of disruption, resilience, and challenge, not only in education but in society. We need to take this journey for ourselves, for our students, and for each other.”

“In SOUL!, Timothy D. Kanold takes us on a powerful journey that encourages us to reflect on both our personal stories and our impact on others. He recognizes that as educators, we dedicate incredible amounts of our time, energy, and talents in service to our school communities. As educators, we will undoubtedly connect to the real and relatable accounts of his soul story and feel empowered by his guidance as we seek to understand our own journeys. SOUL! is engaging, emotionally healing, and truly a gift for all educators.”

“In SOUL!, author Timothy D. Kanold asks us to reflect on the very soul of what it means to be an educator. He is one of those people who asks questions and then listens intently to the answers. He shows you that he is interested in and cares about you and your answers. You leave the conversation feeling heard and feeling confirmed. Dr. Kanold’s book SOUL! makes you feel the same way. He reminds us of why we chose education as our profession and digs deep into the source of what ignites us. SOUL! is a must-read for all educators!”

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A highly anticipated companion to the wildly popular HEART!, SOUL! empowers educators to take another giant leap toward fulfilling their professional promise. This self-reflection resource offers professional wellness tips and strategies that foster a collaborative, positive school culture, leading…

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Harvard Study: Happiness and Longevity Research 

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Harvard Study: Happiness and Longevity Research 

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The Harvard Study and Lifespan Research Foundation

The joint mission of the Harvard Study of Adult Development (HSAD) and the Lifespan Research Foundation (LRF) is to promote and use the findings of adult lifespan research to enable people to live healthier lives filled with meaning, connection, and purpose.

​

Returning to Generation 2

In the next wave of our research, the Study will take a deeper dive into Generation 2. We plan to address three core themes:

1. Purpose and meaning: How do motivation and a sense of purpose in life change as we age? How does a global crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic change our views of ourselves and what is important to us? How do experiences in the family, at work, and with peers promote passionate engagement in life in the context of rapid societal change?

2. Community engagement: In our society, powerful cultural influences glorify individual achievement and happiness. What attitudes and experiences (in the family, with peers, at work) promote investment in the well-being of the community and the nation? What conclusions can we draw to inform how institutions might promote community involvement in rising generations?

3. Attention, relationships, and the role of electronic media: How do electronic media (screens, social media) shape patterns of attention and information acquisition, and how does this influence engagement in real-time relationships and activities? What makes some adults more vulnerable to the negative effects of electronic media? What can the research tell us that would help families, media providers, and others to maximize the positive value of electronic media on relationships?

On the Horizon

In its 9th decade, the Harvard Study of Adult Development, a unique and precious resource for understanding adult psychological and physical development across generations, continues its voyage of discovery, adding new information to its treasure trove of data, and fueling the Lifespan Research Foundation with knowledge to enable people to live healthier lives filled with meaning, connection, and purpose. W.T. Grant's groundbreaking vision continues to inspire new research that benefits the world.

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The Harvard Study of Adult Development - Lifespan Research Foundation

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Our study's goal is to find answers to what makes a happy and meaningful life. The mission of the Harvard Study of Adult Development and the Lifespan Research Foundation is to promote and use the research findings to enable people to live healthier lives filled with meaning, connection and purpose.

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Research article on renewing our energy each day! 

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Research article on renewing our energy each day! 

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All of us know people who have more energy than we do, but the science of the phenomenon is just coming into view.

For months, during the main pandemic stretch, I'd get inexplicably tired in the afternoon, as though vital organs and muscles had turned to Styrofoam. Just sitting in front of a computer screen, in sweatpants and socks, left me drained. It seemed ridiculous to be grumbling about fatigue when so many people were suffering through so much more. But we feel how we feel.

Nuke a cup of cold coffee, take a walk around the block: the standard tactics usually did the trick. But one advantage, or disadvantage, of working from home is the proximity of a bed. Now and then, you surrender. These midafternoon doldrums weren't entirely unfamiliar. Even back in the office years, with editors on the prowl, I learned to sneak the occasional catnap under my desk, alert as a zebra to the telltale footfall of a consequential approach. At home, though, you could power all the way down.

Still, the ebb, lately, had become acute, and hard to account for. By the standards of my younger years, I was burning the candle at neither end. Could one attribute it to the wine the night before, the cookies, the fitful and abbreviated sleep, the boomerang effect of the morning's caffeine and carbs, a sedentary profession, middle age? That will be a yes. And yet the mind roamed: Covid? Lyme? Diabetes? Cancer? It's no HIPAA violation to reveal that, as various checkups determined, none of those pertained. So, embrace it. A recent headline in the Guardian: "Extravagant eye bags: How extreme exhaustion became this year's hottest look."

It was just a question of energy. The endurance athlete, running perilously low on fuel, is said to hit the wall, or bonk. Cyclists call this feeling "the man with the hammer." Applying the parlance to the Sitzfleisch life, I told myself that I was bonking. At hour five in the desk chair, the document onscreen looked like a winding road toward a mountain pass. The man in the sweatpants had met the man with the mattress.

All of us, except for the superheroes and the ultra-sloths, know people who have more energy than we do, and plenty who have less. We may admire or envy or even pity the tireless project jugglers, the ravenous multidisciplinarians, the serial circulators of rooms, the conference hoppers, the calendar maximizers, the predawn cross-trainers and kickboxers. How does she do it? On the flip side, there are the oversleepers, the homebodies, the spurners of invitations and opportunities, the dispensers of excuses. Come on, man! It's hard to measure success, if you want to avoid making it about money or power or credentials, but, as one stumbles through the landscape of careers and outputs and reputations, one sees, again and again, that the standouts tend to be the people who possess seemingly boundless reserves of mental and physical fuel. Entrepreneurs, athletes, artists, politicians: it can seem that energy, more than talent or luck, results in extraordinary outcomes. Why do some people have it and others not? What does one have to do to get more?

Energy is both biochemical and psychophysical, vaguely delineated, widely misunderstood, elusive as grace. You know it when you got it, and even more when you don't. This is the enthusiasm and vigor you feel inside yourself, the kind you might call chi, after the ancient Chinese life force or the pronouncements of the storefront acupuncturist. The kind you seek to instill by drinking Red Bull or Monster, plunging into an ice bath, or taking psychostimulants, like Ritalin or Adderall or Provigil. Nootropics. Smart pills. CDP-choline, L-theanine, creatine monohydrate, Bacopa monnieri, huperzine A, vinpocetine. Acetyl-CoA, lipoic acid, arginine, ashwagandha, B complex, carnitine, CoQ10, iodine, iron, magnesium, niacin, riboflavin, ribose, thiamin, Vitamins C, E, and K. Biohackers microdose psychedelics, stick ozone tubes up their butts, or pay fifteen hundred dollars for a seven-hundred-and-fifty-milligram dose of NAD IV. Energy is why we've made a virtual religion of 1, 3, 7-trimethylxanthine, otherwise known as caffeine.

"Society has progressively increased its demands on us, and with that, therefore, our expectations of what we can or should do," Maurizio Fava, the chief of the department of psychiatry at Mass General, told me. "This has led to a quest for greater 'energy.' 'How can I do more? Doctor, what can you give me?' "

"Energy," though, is a misnomer, or at least an elision. What we commonly call energy is actually our perception of the body metabolizing carbohydrates or fat as energy. Energy isn't energy. It's our experience of burning energy, converting it to work. It's a metabolic mood. As Richard Maurer, a doctor in Maine who specializes in metabolic recovery, and who encountered me one day last summer as I mumbled about a shortage of it, told me, " 'Energy' is a useless term. It is not the perception of stimulation. It is just the capacity to generate work. I think of it as only relating to potential. If a patient says, 'I want more energy,' maybe the doctor should just write a scrip for methamphetamine. But that's false chi."

The precise workings of the metabolic system, its nuances and contingencies, are, in many respects, an enduring mystery. You'd think we'd have figured out by now how our cells go about their business, this being the most fundamental element of our existence, but they may as well be in deep space or the Mariana Trench.

One and a half billion years ago, the planet's only life-forms were single-celled. Fermentation ruled the earth. Then an anaerobic bacterium engulfed an aerobic bacterium. In time, the ingested bacterium's capacity for feeding on oxygen managed to increase, by an order of magnitude, the amount of energy available to its anaerobic host. This accidental collaboration made possible the proliferation of multicellular life-forms and, eventually, tool-wielding hominids who would come to complain that they feel tired all the time.

According to what is known as the endosymbiotic theory of biological complexity, this chocolate-meets-peanut-butter moment, this big mush, is the reason we exist. That aerobic bacterium evolved into what we call mitochondria, the organelles that fuel living creatures: the powerhouses of the cell, as every schoolkid learns. (It's about all I retain from high-school bio, anyway, save for Mr. Burns's relishing his coinage of the phrase "a smidgen of lipids.") Each of us has hundreds-if not thousands-of trillions of mitochondria. They convert glucose and oxygen into adenosine triphosphate, or ATP, the primary cellular fuel. They also help produce the essential hormones-among them estrogen, testosterone, and cortisol-and regulate cellular proliferation and death.

It's not inconceivable that the rest of the body (brain, hands, heart, lungs, digestive tract) is merely an elaborate and sometimes clumsy apparatus for the nourishment of the mitochondria-that it is the mitochondria, and not Homo sapiens, who rule and foul the earth. Our cardiovascular system, that fantastic and vulnerable machine, is essentially a delivery system for the oxygen they require. The mitochondrion is the creature and we are merely its husk, its fleshy chrysalis. A newborn's first breath? That's the mitochondria, calling the shots.

"That, anyway, is the mitocentric perspective," Martin Picard said, on a recent afternoon in his office, in Washington Heights. Picard, a partisan of that perspective, is a professor of behavioral medicine at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, where he directs a lab of about a dozen researchers. His work straddles the departments of psychiatry and neurology. His specialty is mitochondrial psychobiology. "We try to understand the connection between the mind and mitochondria," he said. "We think about energy a lot."

A lean Montrealer, with a gentle yet poised intensity that one might classify as medium-energy, Picard came at the question of vim and vigor from a near-cosmic vantage. His office, high above the Heights, had a commanding view down the Hudson, a receding sun-blanched shorescape of skyscrapers and tidal swirl that lent his pronouncements an oracular air. In a mostly sincere attempt to convey how little we know about the workings of consciousness, he said, "We have yet to disprove that our brains aren't merely antennas, that all of our 'thoughts' and 'memories' don't just come from out there"-he pointed out the window-"and that we're not just 'streaming' everything." Glancing behind him at the river's eddying current, I half expected to catch a glitch in the matrix.

"The main distinguishing characteristic between a cadaver and a living, thinking, feeling individual is the flow of energy through the body," he said. "The cells are the same, but without the energy flow it's just an inert blob."

Mitochondria transform chemical energy into electrical energy, Picard explained. "Communication and energy go together," he said. "The organs and cells can't communicate without energy. Cells talk to each other. The mitochondria, which used to be bacteria, talk to the gut microbiome. They are like cousins. Cells choose to do one thing or another, based on the energy available. Energy for cells is like emotions for a human. It causes them to make decisions that may not seem rational."

Picard took me around the lab. He opened a cryo-storage tank-ice vapor wafting out-which contained cells of patients with mitochondrial disease, genetic defects that afflict at least one in five thousand humans. He pointed out other machines. Fluorometer, respirometer, real-time-PCR instrument, plate reader, Halo robot, a cellular-energy-consumption analyzer called a Seahorse. "This is our way to get to know the mitochondria, to challenge them and poke them," he said. "It's our way to ask them questions."

A handful of doctoral candidates were at work. A research assistant was trying to determine whether women and men have different mitochondria. Mitochondrial DNA seems to be passed down from generation to generation exclusively by the mother; sperm contributes nothing. As a result, genealogists have been able to trace a matrilineal line from all living humans back to a woman in East Africa, our so-called Mitochondrial Eve, born an estimated two hundred thousand years ago. (Picard did his postdoctoral work, at the University of Pennsylvania, with Douglas Wallace, the evolutionary biologist who discovered that mitochondria are matrilineal and that mutations in mitochondrial DNA are a significant cause of disease. "He put mitochondria on the map," Picard said.)

"The human body is a social network," Picard said. He compared it to an ant colony, in which every ant has the same genome but serves a different purpose, much in the way the organs do for a human being. "My working hypothesis is that mitochondria do a lot of the sensing and perceiving and integrating of signals. That they are the cellular antenna, or little brains that receive, process, and integrate information."

A student was filling plates with skin cells; each plate had ninety-six wells the size of apple seeds, and each of these contained twenty thousand cells. She was exposing healthy cells and compromised ones to stress, in the form of a synthetic version of cortisol. "A whole human life span, but in a dish," Picard said. "Cells age faster if you expose them to stress. They burn energy faster. It's as though cellular anxiety causes cells to breathe faster. They consume more oxygen. They're wasting energy, and we don't know why."

People with mitochondrial disorders struggle to transform energy into ATP. "What they experience subjectively is constant tiredness and fatigue," Picard said. "They don't have the mojo. Fatigue is the No. 1 symptom-they feel tired all the time. And it's a long diagnostic odyssey. So, yes, it seems people can sense when their intercellular energy state is low." Another bit of circumstantial evidence: Amytal, or amobarbital, an active ingredient in truth serums developed in the United States in the thirties, essentially inhibits mitochondrial respiration, supposedly rendering subjects too worn out to lie. Amytal is also what Picard's lab has used in some of its assays. "If you mess with the mitochondria, people feel shitty," Picard said.

It can work the other way, too. A few years ago, Picard's lab did a study in which ninety-one women reported their mood levels and submitted to mitochondrial tests for seven days. The study suggested that mood has a direct effect on mitochondrial health. Chin up!

By this point, I'd heard and read a lot about mitochondria-"the coolest independent contractors on the planet," as Maurer called them. In " The Energy Paradox: What to Do When Your Get-Up-and-Go Has Got Up and Gone," Steven Gundry, the well-known California cardiologist, describes "mitochondrial gridlock," the overwhelming of these organelles with too much to do-too much junk. Gundry enumerates seven "deadly" energy disrupters: antibiotics, glyphosate (the main active ingredient in the weed killer Roundup), other environmental chemicals, overused pharmaceuticals, fructose, bad light, and electromagnetic fields. Thinking about all the inputs, their ubiquity, and the myriad unmappable consequences of their interactions, one may just sigh and reach for the Red Bull. Fake chi until you make chi.

Picard's purview was perhaps more descriptive than prescriptive. "Energetic constraints, energetic flow, and the forces that drive energetic flow-these questions aren't taken into account as much as they should be," he said. "The way of the future is understanding personalized energy flows. The last ten years of personalized medicine has been taken over by genomics. The premise is that if you can sequence it you'll know whether you'll get sick or stay healthy. That's where all the money goes. It's a lucrative hypothesis, but it's doomed to yield incomplete answers. The genome is static. Health is so dynamic."

"People are somewhat gorgeous collections of chemical fires, aren't they?" Harold Brodkey wrote, in the story "Angel." "We are towers of kinds of fires, down to the tiniest constituencies of ourselves, whatever those are." Some years ago, without thinking, I introduced two friends of mine, B. and M., to each other, in a loose crew of people meeting up in a bar before a concert. B. and M. were both married. "I love your energy!" B. told M. Everyone laughed: such cheese. The next day, he called me and asked for her number. Such trouble. M. began referring to him, when discussing him with others, as "Energy"; she liked his, too. Their marriages didn't survive the radiative flux, and B. and M. now live together, in a gravitational field of their own, otherwise known as Essex County, New Jersey. (When I told M. recently that I was writing about energy, the kind you feel, she said, "Talk about how annoying it is that everyone says they are tired. Tired is universal. We are exhausted until we die.")

B. and M.'s energy is of a different, albeit related, category-the kind you project, or perceive in others. This one has something to do with vigor as well, but also charisma, aura, and temperament. It has a spiritual dimension, to those who perceive or credit such phenomena, and a social one. In some circumstances, good energy may just be a matter of radiance, of good skin, teeth, hair, posture, which are in many respects themselves functions of robust health. Or it may comprise kindness, attentiveness, optimism, humor-the ability to make other people feel good about themselves. There may be intangibles at play. Pheromones, assurance, electromagnetics, pixies.

To the extent that there is an overlap between the kind of energy you feel and the kind you project-a three-part Venn diagram of bio, mojo, and woo-woo-the concept has an array of ancient antecedents. In the Upanishads, prana, Sanskrit for "breath," is the vital breath that animates body and soul, and all of existence, much like chi. Posidonius, the Stoic, proposed the existence of a life force that emanates from the sun. (Picard, the mitocentric, also cites the sun: it initiates a life cycle-photosynthesis, glucose, oxygen, ATP-that happens to have mitochondria as its linchpin.)

Many of the variations on such ideas are pseudoscientific, the purview of quacks and crazies, or of spiritual adepts who may have been mistaken for them. Esotericism encompasses a variety of impossible-to-substantiate phenomena that persist best, in our quasi-scientific era, as metaphors or abstractions. In the eighteenth century, Franz Mesmer introduced his concept of mesmerism, or animal magnetism, involving a universal vital fluid that passes in and out through our pores. Baron Carl von Reichenbach, some decades later, described an electromagnetic substance he named the Odic force, after the Norse god Odin, which sensitive souls could perceive emanating from others' foreheads. Early in the twentieth century, the French philosopher Henry Bergson identified an "élan vital," which impels consciousness and evolution. Schopenhauer had his "will to live," and, of course, for Freud, the source of the oomph within was the libido. Freud got some of his ideas from the work of the American neurologist George Miller Beard, who, in the years after the Civil War, had identified a condition called neurasthenia, arising out of the exhaustion of the nervous system. Headaches, fatigue, and impotence were the symptoms of what Beard called "American nervousness." The cause, he proposed, was the stress of modern civilization, the most salient manifestations being "steam-power, the periodical press, the telegraph, the sciences, and the mental activity of women."

And then there was orgone, discovered, or imagined, by Wilhelm Reich, the Austrian psychoanalyst and fallen Freudian. Reich-who fled Germany in 1933 and pursued his experiments in Norway and New York before settling in rural Maine, where he could keep an eye out for U.F.O.s-sought to find physiological proof of the libido. In the lab, he hooked his subjects up to an oscillograph (one of them was a young Willy Brandt, the future West German Chancellor) and, with a microscope, discerned pulsating particles he called "bions," which he claimed were the source of a mysterious life force called orgone. Orgone, he said, was blue, and was responsible for the color of the sky. Later, he invented a device called the orgone accumulator, an insulated shed the size of an outhouse, lined with metal panels. Among other things, it was said to enhance orgasms; the subject, preferably naked, would sit inside and accumulate orgone. It accumulated adherents, anyway-including Norman Mailer, Saul Bellow, J. D. Salinger, and Sean Connery-despite there being no legitimate evidence of orgone's existence or benefits. Reich's machine inspired the Orgasmatron, in Woody Allen's "Sleeper," and Dr. Durand Durand's Excessive Machine, in "Barbarella." The federal government, suspicious of Reich's free-love evangelism and his associations with Communists, hounded him for years, and eventually jailed him for shipping orgone accumulators across state lines. He died of a heart attack in 1957, at Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary.

A year ago, my wife gave me, as a gift, an Oura ring, my first so-called wearable. A hint, perhaps. I slipped it on next to the wedding ring, and it began feeding data about my exercise and sleep to an app on my phone. Yes, people have been using technology to track their steps and heart rates for a long time now- Fitbit, Apple Watch-but I'd considered such devices dorky, and vaguely sinister. Self-improvement can grate; data tracking can infringe. But maybe I needed a shove, and I was curious to see some numbers behind the brownout afternoons.

The Oura motivated me to get out and move-steps, miles, calories. I took long, aimless walks that I imagined would add weeks to my life, like injury time in a soccer match. (It would take a lot of injury time to make up for the hot dogs, if, as a recent study suggested, each one shortens the life span by thirty-six minutes.) Harder work, not surprisingly, yielded higher scores. Jog, or bike, or run stairs, then excitedly check the app. The lure of better numbers, more carrot than stick, was energizing in itself, even if the ring's criteria seemed kind of arbitrary, maybe overgenerous. The instrument is blunt, but it will cut.

The ring also conditioned me to begin each morning with a Christmas-stocking jolt of anticipation. Oh boy, new data. "How'd you sleep?" my wife would ask, as one does.

"Don't know yet."

Most days, the numbers weren't good: Santa leaves a lump of coal. My sleep patterns were lousy and seemed to augur an early demise. It turned out that what might feel like restorative slumber-after a keen night out, for example, or a bout of hard work-was instead my body struggling to process the poison I'd put into it. The time in bed was more work than rest.

The Oura emphasized the concept of "readiness"-a measure of recuperation. The relevant data point was heart-rate variability, or H.R.V. Your heart rate, like most of the body's involuntary functions, is controlled by the autonomic nervous system, which has two components: the sympathetic nervous system and the parasympathetic one. The former fires the fight-or-flight impulse; it activates when you experience stress, or excitement, or overindulgence. The latter is the restorative impulse: "rest and digest," "feed and breed." The sympathetic system stimulates adrenaline, which dilates your pupils, raises your pulse, opens your airways, and interferes with signals to your bladder. (This is why fear can cause people to piss themselves.) The parasympathetic does the opposite-it settles you down. Ideally, these two systems achieve balance. You rev up, you calm down. You push, you heal. H.R.V. supposedly measures this state of concord. Counterintuitively, higher variability is said to reflect greater balance, and better health. Low H.R.V. correlates to a range of diseases and to earlier mortality. My H.R.V., especially after I'd had a few, was very low.

"You can only manage what you measure," Will Ahmed, the founder of Whoop, another tracking device, told me last month. By now, I had on three wearables: the Oura ring, a Whoop band on my left wrist, and a Levels glucose monitor behind my left triceps. I'd heard about Whoop from a doctor and journalist named Bob Arnot, a standup-paddleboard masters world champion and competitive ski-mountaineering racer, and the author of the recent book "Flip the Youth Switch." Dr. Bob, who is seventy-three, is a high-energy guy-maybe a freak.

Clearly, despite our best efforts, energy is not evenly distributed, whether because of genetics or fate, nature or nurture. People blessed with it may ascribe it to their own virtue, perseverance, or self-discipline, and will sometimes wield the descriptor "low-energy" as a slight, as though Eeyores are contagious. The idea that you can train, will, or even medicate yourself into a permanent state of pep, charisma, and accomplishment lends an atmosphere of piety to the energy-assessment dance. It's all a matter of attitude, they say, as though attitude were not itself determined by energy. Think positive! It takes energy to change habits and alter circumstances. One can adjust certain knobs, but it can feel like a chore to deduce which knobs do what.

"I fundamentally believe this is something you have control over," Arnot said, when I called him. He credited his apparently prodigious mental energy to what he called "associative thinking." Lately, he'd been composing a trumpet concerto and studying Python, calculus, machine learning, Arabic, and Swahili. "I don't sleep much. I've always been a hopeless overachiever. Whatever I do is the opposite of what I call ruminating." Whoop, he said, had helped him maximize his workouts and his downtime. His H.R.V. readings got better each month (H.R.V. typically worsens as you get older), and he reckoned that his biological age was much lower than his chronological one.

Arnot connected me with Ahmed, a former Harvard squash captain, who told me that it was in deep sleep that you generate ninety-five per cent of your growth hormones: "That's when you're repairing the muscles you break down in the gym." The gym. Right. For cognitive repair, it was REM sleep, the dream state that cleanses the brain. "Chess players focus on REM," Ahmed said. According to both Oura and Whoop, my REM and deep-sleep numbers weren't great. I was killing it, though, on light sleep, and not sleeping. Search "Orgone accumulators near me."

"Energy is a real thing, and your perception of your energy can affect your levels," Ahmed said. Ahmed himself always eats early and avoids sugar and alcohol in the evening. He wears blue-light-blocking glasses when, as he must, he uses his phone late (the light wavelengths from our screens, as we are often warned, disrupt our circadian rhythms), takes a cold shower and does breathing exercises before bed (favorite prescriptions of Wim Hof, the Dutch extreme athlete and life-style guru known as the Iceman), and uses blackout shades and an eye mask, aiming for more than five hours of REM and deep sleep a night. "I have never met someone who gets that much who isn't leading a great life," he said.

"Totally," I said.

A Whoop representative had told me about Levels, which sent me a kit with a disk to stick in my arm for a couple of weeks. I began taking blood-sugar readings with my phone. Soon afterward, Casey Means, Levels's co-founder and chief medical officer, checked in on me. Means, who is thirty-four, is a graduate of Stanford's medical school and a self-proclaimed "recovering surgeon." She cited a University of North Carolina study that found that eighty-eight per cent of Americans suffer from some metabolic malfunction. "That means that roughly one in ten of us is able to process energy the way our bodies are designed to," she said. "It's an epidemic. Our fundamental pathways have been hijacked by the Western diet and life style. Disordered blood sugar is a big driver of most inflammation and chronic disease. It's not just diabetes."

The Levels app revealed that even a banana or a piece of toast raised my blood sugar by an alarming amount. The flat line of the morning's fast, once broken, would bend into the red. The app would post an exclamation point next to the spike on the graph and ask, "Did something happen?" Yeah, jerkface, I had breakfast. Then, two hours later, the numbers would begin to ebb. But it wasn't as though I was feeling jacked on the way up and then whacked by the crash. It felt like not much. Until around 3:23 P.M. -the attack of the yawns. Following the instructions of Levels, I experimented, and soon discovered that fat and fibre-a slab of bacon, chia, some fucking kale-modified the surge, and the bonk. Egg good, juice bad? O.K., then.

"Glucose variability can correlate with a variability in your subjective experience of mood," Means said, though not in the way you'd think. The traditional notion of the sugar high, sugar crash doesn't always bear out, to go by the overlay of verve and blood sugar. Once you have high levels of glucose in your system, the more you add, the less energy you feel; your cognitive-processing speed declines. The advantage of the glucose monitor, she said, is that it can reduce the misattribution of our subjective experiences-that habit we all have of telling ourselves, or especially other people, what might be causing certain symptoms or feelings. ("You're just dehydrated.") The wearables can help you tinker with the variables. It's not so much the rush and the crash. It's the roller coaster itself. Glucose excursions, or glycemic variability, which Means called "spikiness," lead to oxidative stress (an imbalance between free radicals and antioxidants), which over time damages the mitochondria. (It's the opposite of H.R.V., where spikiness is the goal, in a way.) And that, more than the sensation of the caffeine or the fructose wearing off, seems to be the true culprit, a leading cause of what Mark Hyman, the doctor and wellness celebrity, calls F.L.C. Syndrome-Feel Like Crap. "What's happening in our cells is what's happening in our bodies," Means said.

By Means's reckoning-and, admittedly, her perspective is not a rare one, in our desperate, fallen world-we are suffering from our own, twenty-first-century incarnation of George Miller Beard's "American nervousness," with less misogyny. We expect too much of ourselves, and then handicap our attempts to meet our expectations. There's a contradiction: we need energy to do more, but to get it we need to do less, or at least less of the things we are doing. This particular energy crisis, to the extent that it is more metabolic than imagined, may be as apt an indicator of ill health, on a mass scale, as, say, addiction or disease.

"We like to think we have conscious control over our behavior, but the more we learn, the more we know that that's not entirely true," Kevin Hall, who runs a clinical-nutrition lab at the National Institutes of Health, in Bethesda, told me. "We're less in control than we'd like."

Hall has been trying to understand how different sources of energy in our diet affect metabolism-what happens, for example, when we restrict carbs or fat. "The body makes huge shifts to accommodate calories in different forms. You're on a low-carb diet? The fat in your blood-triglycerides-stimulates the uptake and blocks the release of fat. Low-fat, high-starch? Insulin plays that role. The human body is like a vehicle that burns different fuels. It's an incredible engineering challenge. The metabolism is a miraculous flex-fuel engine. Diesel, ethanol, doesn't matter in the short term. It will adapt."

A recent study published in the journal Current Biology determined that the body seems to adjust to higher burn rate by becoming more efficient, especially with exercise. This is called "energy compensation" and is not yet well understood. Generally, when your body burns through energy less efficiently, you are likely to die earlier and have a greater risk of disease. An inefficient metabolic system is like a car engine you rev too high: it wears out faster.

Richard Maurer comes from a family of long-distance runners. In college, he was obsessed with calories-what was and wasn't working when he ran. The simple equation of calories in and out, the default presumption, didn't actually seem to measure up. At the time, in the eighties, it was hard to find medical schools that taught nutrition ("Except the one in Loma Linda, and that was run by Seventh-day Adventists," he said), so he wound up at the National College for Naturopathic Medicine, in Portland, Oregon. What was then fringe is now tacking sharply to mainstream.

"Every day we learn one thing less," Maurer said. He cited a study of élite cyclists. They rode hard on a stationary bike and, when their muscles were spent, were given water on one occasion and a sweet drink like Gatorade on another, both of which they spit out without swallowing. The water spitters lagged behind, in terms of subsequent wattage produced. The taste of sugar had apparently tricked the brain into releasing energy that it had been hoarding for other functions. "In some ways, the bonk is a perception," Maurer said.

In September, Sai Krupa Das, a scientist at the Jean Mayer U.S.D.A. Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging and a professor of nutrition at Tufts, sent me a Rand Corp. survey she and other clinicians use to get a sense of psychobiological energy. In one section, you are supposed to rate, on a scale of one to six, from "all of the time" to "none of the time," your experience of the past four weeks:

Did you feel full of pep?
Have you been a very nervous person?
Have you felt so down in the dumps that nothing could cheer you up?
Have you felt calm and peaceful?
Did you have a lot of energy?
Have you felt downhearted and blue?
Did you feel worn out?
Have you been a happy person?
Did you feel tired?

All of the above? Is variability of mood more like H.R.V. or like blood sugar? It was hard to imagine a more subjective exercise. Das also sent me a link to the Web site of something called the Human Performance Institute, at Johnson & Johnson, which offered a survey that was a kind of screening for the "corporate athlete." Who doesn't love a self-evaluation? I aimed to be honest. The J. & J. verdict was that I was "disengaged": "This suggests that significant obstacles stand in the way of fully igniting your talent and skill. To become an extraordinary performer, you must build significantly stronger energy management skills." The corporate Olympics would have to go on without me.

Das didn't have a test for the other kind of energy, the kind that one projects. "This kind of energy does exist, and people who have it generally do have that aura about them," she said. "But it is certainly hard to measure. This energy is in large part physiological, too. There's a genetic component, and a biological underpinning for cellular health that reflects in tissue health."

Each day, I fixated on the data from my wearables, even as my resistance to change rendered them moot. I was more interested in adding exercise than in giving up my morning toast or evening whiskey. I sought the Whoop's approval, if not that of its other evangelists. "I'll invite you to join our group and help coach you," Arnot wrote. "What's your Whoop name?" Not telling. The Whoop's version of what the Oura called "readiness" was "recovery," also H.R.V.-based. For exercise, it emphasized "strain," a more robust version of the Oura's "activity" category. It rewarded a high heartbeat and a hard workout, and basically turned up its nose at long walks. It preferred sweat to steps.

And yet. The other day, an old friend passed through town from the Bay Area. We'd grown up across the street from each other and, in our fifth-grade production of "Alice in Wonderland," had played Tweedledum and Tweedledee. We met up in Central Park, walked and talked for an hour-no secrets, at this age-and then said our fond farewells. I returned to the desk chair, energized.

That evening, I checked the data. The Oura ring, generous to a fault, gave me credit for burning two hundred and twenty-four calories. Ball don't lie. The Whoop, though, had captured something else entirely. The readout from our meander suggested that I'd undergone my most gruelling physical trial not only since I got the device but in many years, possibly decades. It had me at nearly fifty minutes with an average heart rate above a hundred and fifty, plus twelve minutes above one-sixty-seven, with a high of one-eighty-five. Basically, according to the Whoop, I'd won the Tour de France and was now dead. Or the Whoop, for once, was mistaken: a glitch not in the matrix but in the watch.

Then there was a third possibility. My friend and I had had an excellent rapport on our stroll-a surge of groovy vibes and hearty laughter. Could this energy, the kind that is projected, perceived, and exchanged, yet purportedly impossible to measure, have somehow spun the monitor's compass, like a poltergeist or a solar flare? Was my Whoop a spiritist? A line of Tweedledee's came to mind: "Contrariwise, if it was so, it might be; and if it were so, it would be: but as it isn't, it ain't. That's logic." ♦

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All of us know people who have more energy than we do, but the science of the phenomenon is just coming into view. For months, during the main pandemic stretch, I'd get inexplicably tired in the afternoon, as though vital organs and muscles had turned to Styrofoam.

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GREAT Self-care ideas on her Tina's Podcasts!

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Self-Care for Educators is the podcast for creating happy, healthy, inspired, badass educators. Host Tina H. Boogren is a lifelong educator, the author of numerous books, and an associate for Solution Tree and Marzano Resources. Each week, Tina will help educators dig into the essential work of self-care via bite-sized episodes that fit into your busy schedule. If you are a teacher, administrator, counselor, coach, singleton, or simply considering a career in education, this podcast is for you.

Because truth be told, this isn't just a podcast; this is a community. We are the caretakers.

It's time to find ourselves again, so we can

create lives we don't

need to escape from.

You are welcome here.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Self-Care for Educators is the podcast for creating happy, healthy, inspired, badass educators. Host Tina H. Boogren is a lifelong educator, the author of numerous books, and an associate for Solution Tree and Marzano Resources. Each week, Tina will help educators dig into the essential work of self

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Great piece of research on the benefits of a focus on gratitude each day!

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Kindness: Measuring Your Impact on Others! 

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Kindness: Measuring Your Impact on Others! 

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Abstract

A simple compliment can make someone's day, start a new friendship, or just make the world a better, kinder place. So, why don't people give more compliments? Perhaps people misforecast the effect their compliment will have. Five studies explored this possibility. In Studies 1a and 1b, compliment givers underestimated how positively the person receiving their compliment would feel, with consequences for their likelihood of giving a compliment. Compliment givers also overestimated how bothered and uncomfortable the recipient would feel (Study 2)-and did so even in hindsight (Study 3). Compliment givers' own anxiety and concern about their competence led to their misprediction, whereas third-party forecasters were accurate (Study 4). Finally, despite compliment givers' anxiety at the prospect of giving compliments across our studies, they felt better after having done so (Study 4). Our studies suggest that people misestimate their compliments' value to others, and so they refrain from engaging in this prosocial behavior.

Keywords: compliment; conversation; prosocial behavior; social influence; well-being.

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Why a Simple Act of Kindness Is Not as Simple as It Seems: Underestimating the Positive Impact of Our Compliments on Others - PubMed

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A simple compliment can make someone's day, start a new friendship, or just make the world a better, kinder place. So, why don't people give more compliments? Perhaps people misforecast the effect their compliment will have. Five studies explored this possibility. In Studies 1a and 1b, compliment gi ...

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Crossing The Bridge From Teaching To Learning! 

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Crossing The Bridge From Teaching To Learning! 

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This is an online chapter that goes with my book HEART! Enjoy!

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Educator Wellness: Self-Evaluation Protocol 

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Educator Wellness: Self-Evaluation Protocol 

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This is our tool to help you identify your wellness progress: strengths and areas for improvement!

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I have a few books you just might be interested in! Ha!

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Timothy D. Kanold: books, biography, latest update

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Follow Timothy D. Kanold and explore their bibliography from Amazon.com’s Timothy D. Kanold Author Page.

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From my Colleague Gina Rivera: Fill in the blank journals to help you start your journey!

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Journaling as a mindfulness habit stands to offer benefits that include improving your love life, prioritizing your mental health, and dealing with overwhelming feelings. That said, journaling writer's block is real-even for a professional writer and self-professed journaling connoisseur who has kept up a regular practice since middle school (ahem, that's me). But rest assured, this strain of writer's block is very treatable and journals with prompts built in can certainly help.

Instead of purchasing a plain journal, you can grab one that already has journal prompts inside to guide your thoughts. Since journals with prompts stand to make the writing part easier, you can focus on the harder work of self-reflection and introspection. Below, find seven journals with prompts that take all the guesswork out of the mindfulness habit.

Below find 7 journals with prompts to make self-reflection a little more seamless.

The Five Minute Journal is perfect for those who don't have much time for journaling. Filling out one page per day requires only five minutes, split between morning and night. In other words, no excuses. Start your day by writing down three things you're grateful for, three things that would make the day great, and an affirmation for the day. Then, check back in at the end of the day to reflect on three amazing things that happened that day and how you could have done better.

The Kind Friend Journal is an excellent tool for stepping up your self-care practice. Inside the journal, you'll find weekly spreads that help you set goals, track habits and mood, and prompt you to reflect on your week. You can note what worked, what didn't, and what you're grateful for that week. There are also empty pages for freestyle journaling if you feel inspired.

The Full Focus Journal features prompts that help to uncover the top lessons of the day, shift your mind to a more positive perspective, create clarity, and prompt you to slow down and celebrate daily small wins.

As its name suggests, the Stress Less Journal aims to help you keep your cool in stressful situations. Complete with a vegan leather cover, the journal features seven chapters filled with journaling exercises based on cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) that help you identify any thoughts that trigger you, cultivate more positive thoughts, and manage stress and anxiety. There are also daily habit and mood trackers included to help you kick stress to the curb.

If you have little ones at home, including them in your journaling practice can be a fun way to spend quality time together while nourishing their minds and improving their reading, writing, and communication skills. Designed for kids ages five and up, the Loom Parent Child Journal features research-backed gratitude practices, affirmations, and exercises that cultivate a growth mind-set.

The Daily Stoic Journal is the companion to The Daily Stoic book of meditations by best-selling author Ryan Holiday. Whether you've read the original book or not, this hardcover journal helps you put ancient philosophies into practice with daily thought-provoking journal prompts. It's designed to take you on a journaling journey for 366 days so you'll have more than enough journaling inspiration for the remainder of 2020 and beyond.

If you're serious about taking your journal practice to the next level, this guided journal set might be the thing for you. It includes six journals, each covering different themes, including self-love, relationships, mindfulness, resilience, anxiety, and healing. Each journal has 30 prompts that dig into each theme and help you identify blocks, set goals, and create actionable plans to improve that area of your life. You also have the option of purchasing each journal separately if one calls to you more. Bonus points for the pretty pastel shades the journals come in, which will look lovely on your desk or nightstand.
Oh hi! You look like someone who loves free workouts, discounts for cult-fave wellness brands, a nd exclusive Well+Good content. Sign up for Well+, our online community of wellness insiders, and unlock your rewards instantly.

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7 Journals With Built-In Prompts That Take the Guesswork Out of Self-Reflection

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Ever get journaling writer's block? Try one of these journals with prompts to make the writing part easier so you can focus on self-reflection.

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Research affirms we can reduce anxiety and lower our blood pressure with Music!!

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Aging Well Age-Related Depression, Mood and Stress Maintaining a Healthy Mind as You Age

If you want to firm up your body, head to the gym. If you want to exercise your brain, listen to music.

There are few things that stimulate the brain the way music does. If you want to keep your brain engaged throughout the aging process, listening to or playing music is a great tool. It provides a total brain workout.

Research has shown that listening to music can reduce anxiety, blood pressure, and pain as well as improve sleep quality, mood, mental alertness, and memory.

The Brain-Music Connection

Experts are trying to understand how our brains can hear and play music. A stereo system puts out vibrations that travel through the air and somehow get inside the ear canal. These vibrations tickle the eardrum and are transmitted into an electrical signal that travels through the auditory nerve to the brain stem, where it is reassembled into something we perceive as music.

Johns Hopkins researchers have had dozens of jazz performers and rappers improvise music while lying down inside an fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) machine to watch and see which areas of their brains light up.

Music is structural, mathematical and architectural. It's based on relationships between one note and the next. You may not be aware of it, but your brain has to do a lot of computing to make sense of it.

Everyday Brain Boosts from Music

The power of music isn't limited to interesting research. Try these methods of bringing more music-and brain benefits-into your life.

Jump-start your creativity.

Listen to what your kids or grandkids listen to, experts suggest. Often we continue to listen to the same songs and genre of music that we did during our teens and 20s, and we generally avoid hearing anything that's not from that era.

New music challenges the brain in a way that old music doesn't. It might not feel pleasurable at first, but that unfamiliarity forces the brain to struggle to understand the new sound.

Recall a memory from long ago.

Reach for familiar music, especially if it stems from the same time period that you are trying to recall. Listening to the Beatles might bring you back to the first moment you laid eyes on your spouse, for instance.

Listen to your body.

Pay attention to how you react to different forms of music, and pick the kind that works for you. What helps one person concentrate might be distracting to someone else, and what helps one person unwind might make another person jumpy.

Definitions

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI): A large machine that uses powerful magnets and radio waves to see inside your body. Unlike an X-ray, MRI testing does not use radiation. If you undergo this test, you'll lie on a narrow table that slides inside a tunnel-shaped scanner for about 30 to 60 minutes while health-care professionals watch from another room. If you feel anxious in small, enclosed spaces, ask your physician about an open MRI that is not as close to the body.

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Aging Well Age-Related Depression, Mood and Stress Maintaining a Healthy Mind as You Age If you want to firm up your body, head to the gym. If you want to exercise your brain, listen to music. There are few things that stimulate the brain the way music does.

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The Power of Compliments and why it is so complex to give them! 

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The Power of Compliments and why it is so complex to give them! 

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Abstract

A simple compliment can make someone's day, start a new friendship, or just make the world a better, kinder place. So, why don't people give more compliments? Perhaps people misforecast the effect their compliment will have. Five studies explored this possibility. In Studies 1a and 1b, compliment givers underestimated how positively the person receiving their compliment would feel, with consequences for their likelihood of giving a compliment. Compliment givers also overestimated how bothered and uncomfortable the recipient would feel (Study 2)-and did so even in hindsight (Study 3). Compliment givers' own anxiety and concern about their competence led to their misprediction, whereas third-party forecasters were accurate (Study 4). Finally, despite compliment givers' anxiety at the prospect of giving compliments across our studies, they felt better after having done so (Study 4). Our studies suggest that people misestimate their compliments' value to others, and so they refrain from engaging in this prosocial behavior.

Keywords: compliment; conversation; prosocial behavior; social influence; well-being.

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national center for biotechnology information

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Why a Simple Act of Kindness Is Not as Simple as It Seems: Underestimating the Positive Impact of Our Compliments on Others - PubMed

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A simple compliment can make someone's day, start a new friendship, or just make the world a better, kinder place. So, why don't people give more compliments? Perhaps people misforecast the effect their compliment will have. Five studies explored this possibility. In Studies 1a and 1b, compliment gi ...

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This is a link about Parental burnout...

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This is a link about Parental burnout...

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Read for your use as a parent, and thinking about the parents of your students!

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Credit... Getty Images

Two-thirds of working parents surveyed met the criteria for parental burnout. Here's how to spot the signs - and get help.

For two years, working parents in America have been running on fumes, hammered by the stress of remote schooling, day care closures, economic instability and social isolation.

Now, a new report says that 66 percent of working parents meet the criteria for parental burnout - a nonclinical term that means they are so exhausted by the pressure of caring for their children, they feel they have nothing left to give.

The report, published Thursday by researchers with Ohio State University, is based on an online survey of 1,285 working parents that was conducted between January 2021 and April 2021. It gives a snapshot of a different time, when America was deep in pandemic lockdowns.

But its authors believe parental burnout is here to stay, because working parents don't have enough practical, structural supports to overcome the relentless stress, which isn't abating. Any parent can experience burnout, but the new report focuses on working parents, who, the researchers believe, are at particular risk for exhaustion.

"Parental burnout isn't just going to end magically when the pandemic finally ends," said Bernadette Melnyk, dean of the College of Nursing at Ohio State and an author of the report. "The chronicity of the pandemic has taken a toll and depleted many parents' coping reserves that will take time and patience to build up again."

Parental burnout isn't a clinical diagnosis that would end up in anyone's medical chart, but many psychologists recognize it as a subtype of burnout - a work-related phenomenon now recognized as a syndrome by the World Health Organization. (It is not included in the DSM-5, often called the "bible" of psychiatry in the United States.)

"As with burnout, parental burnout is defined as physical, emotional and mental exhaustion due to the ongoing demands of caring for one's children," said Dr. Jennifer Yen, a psychiatrist at UTHealth Houston.

Of course, raising children is demanding in all those ways, which makes it difficult to draw a clear line between normal periods of stress and burnout. Dr. Yen said parents should be on the lookout for signs like fatigue, irritability, changes in sleep, appetite and mood, or aches and pains. What sets parental burnout apart is how severe those symptoms are, as well as how much they affect daily functioning.

"It's a state where you have been giving, and giving, and giving and giving - until you're totally empty," said Kate Kripke, a clinical social worker and the founder of the Postpartum Wellness Center in Boulder, Colo.

Dr. Yen also noted other red flags that are specific to parental burnout, like feeling angry or resentful about having to care for your children, and starting to isolate from them physically or emotionally. Parents with burnout may also feel trapped or fantasize about leaving, she added.

Though the new report may be useful to clinicians, the researchers wrote it directly for working parents. It includes a new burnout scale they hope parents will use to gauge how they are doing, which includes 10 statements such as: "I wake up exhausted at the thought of another day with my children" or "I feel like I am in survival mode as a parent." Parents can agree or disagree with each on a scale from "not at all" to "very much so." They are then given a final score that can help indicate whether they have what the researchers would consider to be mild, moderate or severe burnout.

No matter where working parents fall on that spectrum, it may be helpful for them to first acknowledge that many of the challenges they're facing are beyond their control. It is impossible to be a dedicated employee and a dedicated caregiver simultaneously without adequate support. Self-compassion is important, Dr. Melnyk said.

But parents facing mild burnout may be able to make immediate changes that will prevent more severe exhaustion. Find small ways to ask for help, the researchers say. If you are able, ask a family member or neighbor to pitch in with child care, even if it's just to give you a short break. If you're responsible for getting your children to and from school, activities and play dates, find others to car pool with so you aren't running yourself ragged.

The report found that 68 percent of working moms say they're burned out compared with 42 percent of working dads, so it may be especially important for women to take breaks and ask for help - though that may not be simple or easy.

Stressed-out parents may also find it helpful to tap into a sense of quiet and calm by practicing mindfulness. Research shows that mindfulness can help reduce parental stress, which may in turn help improve children's psychological outcomes. It can be as simple as intentionally feeling the bottom of your foot on the floor and taking a deep breath, Ms. Kripke said.

But breathing alone won't solve this. Parents with more serious burnout should reach out to a primary care practitioner or mental health provider immediately. They can screen for issues like anxiety and depression. (If you are unsure how to find a mental health provider, it may be helpful to start by searching free online directories, like Alma, ZocDoc, Monarch or Headway.)

Keep in mind that some mental health providers feel conflicted about the notion of parental burnout.

"This is the first I'm hearing of the term," said Dr. Catherine Birndorf, the C.E.O. and medical director of the Motherhood Center in New York City. She said she likes the concept, and the idea of a parental burnout scale, if they help parents who wouldn't otherwise recognize they are struggling. But she worries that some parents may write off what they're experiencing as burnout, instead of getting treated for an underlying condition like anxiety or depression.

Dr. Birndorf also emphasized that the onus should not be solely on parents to recognize - and manage - their own burnout. They have been stuck in a situation she called "untenable," caused not just by the pandemic, but also by a longstanding gap in policies that would offer working parents the day-to-day support they need.

"The issues are systemic," Dr. Birndorf said. "Burnout is happening in the context of a national crisis, which is about paid parental leave and universal child care. Without those things, what are we supposed to do?"

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New Report Confirms Most Working Parents Are Burned Out

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Two-thirds of working parents surveyed met the criteria for parental burnout. Here's how to spot the signs - and get help. For two years, working parents in America have been running on fumes, hammered by the stress of remote schooling, day care closures, economic instability and social isolation.

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Abstract

Empathy for pain is a complex phenomenon incorporating sensory, cognitive and affective processes. Functional neuroimaging studies indicate a rich network of brain activations for empathic processing. However, previous research focused on core activations in bilateral anterior insula (AI) and anterior cingulate/anterior midcingulate cortex (ACC/aMCC) which are also typically present during nociceptive (pain) processing. Theoretical understanding of empathy would benefit from empirical investigation of shared and contrasting brain activations for empathic and nociceptive processing.

Thirty-nine empathy for observed pain studies (1112 participants; 527 foci) were selected by systematic review. Coordinate based meta-analysis (activation likelihood estimation) was performed and novel contrast analyses compared neurobiological processing of empathy with a comprehensive meta-analysis of 180 studies of nociceptive processing ( Tanasescu et al., 2016).

Conjunction analysis indicated overlapping activations for empathy and nociception in AI, aMCC, somatosensory and inferior frontal regions. Contrast analysis revealed increased likelihood of activation for empathy, relative to nociception, in bilateral supramarginal, inferior frontal and occipitotemporal regions. Nociception preferentially activated bilateral posterior insula, somatosensory cortex and aMCC.

Our findings support the likelihood of shared and distinct neural networks for empathic, relative to nociceptive, processing. This offers succinct empirical support for recent tiered or modular theoretical accounts of empathy.

Introduction

Empathy is a critical concept in human emotional and social experience. The ability to share in the affective states of those around us brings evolutionary advantages, enabling us to respond to the needs of others, predict their behaviour and support decision-making about our own actions ( Decety et al., 2012). Empathy for observed pain leads to the generation of a negative affective or cognitive state which is generally considered to be aversive. However, this process contributes to the benefit of the individual via learning-protective functions ( Craig, 2004) and societal groups by inducing prosocial helping behaviours ( Hein et al., 2010; Decety et al., 2016). In this fashion, empathy influences our day-to-day personal experience, aspects of mental health and well-being and impacts on societal structures ( Bernhardt and Singer, 2012).

Nociceptive (pain) processing is associated with wide-reaching patterns of neural activation which briefly encompass bilateral anterior, mid-and-posterior insula cortices, primary and secondary somatosensory cortex, inferior frontal gyri (IFG) and supramarginal gyri, as well as medial clusters in anterior cingulate/anterior midcingulate cortices (ACC/aMCC), thalami and brainstem ( Melzack, 2001; Wager et al., 2013). Previous neuroimaging studies highlighted a similar pattern of neural activation during empathy for pain, with particular overlap between direct experience of pain and empathy for pain described in ACC/aMCC and anterior insula (AI) cortex ( Morrison et al., 2004; Singer et al., 2004; Jackson et al., 2005). As such, it was posited that shared representations in the brain for empathy and direct pain experience could underpin the similarities in neural activation profiles for both ( Preston and de Waal, 2002; de Vignemont and Singer, 2006).

The Perception-Action Model (PAM) of empathy ( Preston and de Waal, 2002), suggests that attended perception of another's state automatically activates one's own subjective representations, leading to generation of associated responses unless inhibited. As well as aforementioned neuroimaging studies, research in support of the PAM highlighted the automaticity of empathic responses from humans ( Lamm et al., 2007) through to lower order mammals ( Langford et al., 2006). Such automaticity may reflect an inherent dependence on specific neurobiological mechanisms e.g. mirror neuron systems ( Rizzolatti and Craighero, 2005) which could facilitate the close relationship between perception and action responses.

However, current definitions of empathy suggest the involvement of automatic affective processing but also include aspects of higher order cognition. For example, empathy requires isomorphic sharing of feelings with another, but also necessitates awareness that one's state originates from observation of the target ( Singer and Lamm, 2009). In support of this, neuroimaging research has shown that empathic brain responses in humans are modulated by top-down psychological factors including (but not limited to) situational context ( Singer, 2006), intentionality ( Akitsuki and Decety, 2009), in/out-group status ( Azevedo et al., 2014), implicit bias ( Azevedo et al., 2013), pain catastrophising ( Fallon et al., 2015) and relevant expertise ( Cheng et al., 2007). Top-down modulation of empathic brain responses points to processes beyond mere shared representation, which would likely necessitate a pattern of brain activation that is at least partly distinct from nociceptive pain processing.

The Russian-Doll model of empathy posits a tiered system with progressive levels of empathy from basic affective (e.g. emotional contagion) to higher order processes such as sympathetic concern and emotional perspective taking ( de Waal, 2008). Similarly, other proponents also suggest multifaceted neuroscientific theoretical models of empathy which necessitate shared representations between self and other, plus the ability to distinguish between the two, as distinct and essential building blocks for empathic experience ( Lamm et al., 2016). Likewise, the most recent iteration of the PAM describes a dynamic and graded system with flexibility for learning and experience which is likely to recruit different brain regions for distinct components of empathic processing ( de Waal and Preston, 2017). Novel approaches are required to provide empirical data to support understanding of brain regions or networks of regions involved in shared and distinct theorized components for empathy and direct pain processing.

More recent coordinate based meta-analyses have confirmed core activations for empathy for pain in AI and ACC/aMCC. However, they also revealed additional activations profiles in postcentral gyrus, inferior parietal lobe and deep brain structures including thalamus and brainstem ( Timmers et al., 2018) bilateral IFG, supramarginal and fusiform regions and the right anterior lobe of the cerebellum ( Jauniaux et al., 2019; Xiong et al., 2019). Given the likelihood of an extended network of empathic processing, it would now be advantageous to consider spatial conjunction and contrast for empathy for pain and processing of actual pain. Although neuroimaging studies have previously considered conjunction ( Lamm et al., 2011), until now, there is no meta-analysis of brain imaging research to investigate the spatial contrast between empathy for pain and direct pain experience.

Furthermore, the current interpretation of existing data, which points to overlap of empathy and direct processing for pain in aMCC and AI, is further complicated by the relevance of these regions for broader states that are independent of pain processing such as interoception, arousal and attention ( Craig, 2009). Indeed, these regions are statistically the most commonly activated across an expansive range of fMRI experiments with varying themes ( Yarkoni et al., 2011). Moreover, the specificity of pain-related activations in AI and aMCC was recently criticized ( Iannetti et al., 2013), which in turn casts doubt on the relevance of conjunction activations with empathy for pain. Taken together, we need to consider new empirical approaches which will allow for an improved understanding of how activation profiles for empathy for pain relate to, and differ from, those associated with direct experience of pain to inform our theoretical understanding of empathic processing.

Following-on from recent extended meta-analyses, we hypothesized that empathy for observed pain would demonstrate a greater degree of overlap with nociceptive pain processing which would extend beyond established core activations in AI and aMCC. In addition, we posited that empathy for pain and direct experience of pain would each demonstrate distinct activation profiles in line with recent theoretical descriptions which highlight the likelihood of modular components of empathy with potential for hierarchical functional relevance ( Lamm et al., 2016; de Waal and Preston, 2017). We anticipated that empathy for pain, relative to actual pain experience, would demonstrate increased likelihood of activation in brain regions associated with higher order processing and particularly self-other distinction such as parietal cortices and temporoparietal junction (TPJ). Conversely, it was expected that direct pain experience would elicit greater likelihood of activations in brain regions such as posterior insula which receives afferent nociceptive projections ( Garcia-Larrea, 2012) and therefore would not be recruited by empathy for pain.

Method

Data search and extraction

Article selection and extraction of data

Formal database searches were conducted by two authors independently (N.F. and C.R.), as were supplementary and manual searches. Both authors were responsible for assessment of articles for inclusion, and decisions over article inclusion were determined by discussion, disagreements where resolved via discussion or presented to a third arbiter (A.S.). One author (N.F.) extracted the relevant coordinate data, which was cross-checked and confirmed by a second (C.R.). Studies that reported coordinates in the Talairach space were converted into MNI using GingerALE software for the purposes of analysis and reporting.

Eligibility criteria

The criteria for inclusion were: (i) human fMRI studies published up until October 2019; (ii) original English language articles; (iii) published in a peer-reviewed journal; (iv) utilizing a paradigm including visual pain stimuli i.e. images, videos or animations of pain scenes or pain facial expressions; (v) employed an appropriate contrast with a suitable control stimulus (e.g. non-painful scene, animation, etc.); (vi) coordinates were reported in the paper or supplementary material of the direct (pain > non-pain) contrast in either Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI, ( Evans et al., 1993)) or Talairach space, studies that reported coordinates in the Talairach space were converted into MNI for the purposes of analysis and reporting; (vii) data were obtained from a healthy population without experience or expertise that could modulate empathic processing (e.g. we excluded studies that explicitly recruited only clinicians or other healthcare professionals or only incarcerated individuals); (viii) whole-brain analysis were reported with thresholding of (or equivalent to) P < 0.001 uncorrected voxelwise throughout the whole brain with at least P  < 0.05 cluster level correction (or equivalent) declared. We excluded papers which only reported ROI results.

Meta-analysis has shown that the selected level of hierarchical thresholding is optimal for balancing sensitivity to effect with reduced risk of false positives ( Woo et al., 2014). This level was selected to reduce bias by reducing the inclusion of false positive reports which are highly likely to favour specific regions that are established in the literature. This was also the reason for excluding studies which only utilized ROI analyses. In few potentially acceptable studies when no thresholding was reported, we contacted individual groups to request details but received no replies. For comparison with direct pain experience, we utilized an existing open-access database of coordinates included in a previous meta-analysis of experimental pain stimulation during fMRI ( Tanasescu et al., 2016). Inclusion criteria were similar to those in the present study. Briefly, the authors only included research that reported whole-brain group analysis of a pain induction>baseline contrast. From the full dataset (which included subgroups of chronic pain populations and also healthy people with chemically induced hyperalgesia) we extracted only studies which focused on cutaneous pain in healthy populations to reflect the population extracted for the present empathy meta-analysis. Further details on the studies included can be found in Supplementary Materials 3.

In order to determine consistency in reported regions of activation for both analyses, ALE meta-analyses was performed in Brainmap GingerALE v2.3.6 ( Eickhoff et al., 2009). This method assigns an ALE value to each voxel throughout the whole brain, with greater ALE values indicative of more studies which report activated peaks at a voxel or in close proximity. We implemented the more stringent correction of ALE estimation ( Turkeltaub et al., 2012). This method utilizes a random effects model to minimize within-experiment effects (by accounting for the number and proximity of reported foci) and within-group effects (by accounting for multiple contrasts reported from a single study), both of which can unduly influence meta-analyses. This method therefore optimizes the degree to which ALE values represent concordance of findings across independent contributions.

Standardized procedures and default parameters were employed throughout the analysis adhering to recent guidelines on methodology for appropriate study selection and thresholding of results ( Eickhoff et al., 2016). The concordance of ALE values throughout the brain for empathy for pain (empathy > control), and direct processing of pain (pain > non-pain) were evaluated in comparison to random distributions using permutation analysis ( Maris and Oostenveld, 2007) with 10 000 permutations. Deactivation contrasts (e.g. control > empathy, non-pain > pain) were not included due to the infrequency of reporting of this direction of contrast in the literature. An initial cluster forming threshold (uncorrected P < 0.001) was implemented followed by cluster-level Family-wise error (FWE) correction ( P < 0.05) to identify relevant ALE regions as recommended in recent publications ( Eickhoff et al., 2016). Secondly, resulting ALE maps for empathy for pain and direct pain experience were compared using conjunction and contrast analyses. Again permutation analysis was performed with 10 000 permutations to identify brain regions which demonstrated overlapping and distinct patterns in the respective ALE maps for each process. For cluster analysis, results were thresholded using cluster-level false discovery rate (FDR, P < 0.05) and a minimum cluster size of 200 mm ³ as previously recommended ( Eickhoff et al., 2016). FDR correction is the most stringent correction method available in Ginger ALE software for contrast analyses, FWE method is not available for contrast analyses ( Hoffman and Morcom, 2018; Papitto et al., 2020).

Results

Significant ALE clusters for empathy for pain.

Directly perceived pain

The findings of the coordinate based analysis for directly perceived pain studies reflect the results from the existing research where they are described, illustrated and discussed in more detail ( Tanasescu et al., 2016). To briefly summarize, our ALE meta-analysis contrast of experimental pain in healthy participants-baseline pooled data from 180 eligible studies with a total of 2605 participants and 2780 reported foci. Results revealed four (extensive) clusters of activation encompassing primary and secondary somatosensory cortices (S1, S2), bilateral anterior, mid and posterior insula, prefrontal and premotor cortices, bilateral putamen and thalami and medial clusters in ACC/aMCC and brainstem regions.

Conjunction analysis

Contrast analyses: empathy-pain

Contrast analyses: pain-empathy

Discussion

The present study was the first to utilize coordinate based meta-analytical methods to statistically evaluate the conjunction and contrast between empathy for observed pain and direct painful experience. For this aim, we compare ALE maps of empathy for pain with those of a conclusive analysis of nociceptive processing comprising some 180 experimental pain studies in healthy people ( Tanasescu et al., 2016). Similar to the extended pattern of foci observed for empathy for pain, conjunction analysis highlighted a broad range of overlap for empathy for pain and direct experience of pain with bilateral clusters in AI, IFG and supramarginal gyri, as well as medial clusters in ACC/aMCC. These regions are all important for pain processing, and highlighted in the recent fMRI neural signature of pain ( Wager et al., 2013) and its predecessor, the pain neuromatrix ( Melzack, 2001). The conjunction between pain and empathic processing builds upon previous image-based analyses which suggested that spatial overlap was primarily limited to AI and aMCC, although this previous study exclusively utilized cue-based, as opposed to visual observation of pain, paradigms ( Lamm et al., 2011). The present results go further and support proponents of the PAM ( Preston and de Waal, 2002; de Waal, 2008; de Waal and Preston, 2017) by demonstrating a broader functional network of brain regions which occupy the same morphometric space and are recruited during observed pain phenomena and direct experience of pain. This provides empirical support for theoretical interpretations which recognize a degree of shared representation between empathy and direct experience of pain ( Singer and Lamm, 2009; Bernhardt and Singer, 2012; de Waal and Preston, 2017; Lamm et al., 2017). In summary, we believe that the present meta-analysis represents the most succinct evidence to date of an extensive conjunction for pain experience and empathy for pain, encompassing a diverse array of pain relevant brain regions in a bilateral pattern indicative of a coherent network. However, it is important to note that evidence of conjunction of processing between nociceptive and empathic pain does not necessarily imply the same psychological representation ( Zaki et al., 2016). For example, debate around functional specificity and complexity for pain (and associated) processing in anterior cingulate region is well documented ( Lieberman and Eisenberger, 2015; Wager et al., 2016).

Contrast analyses also pointed to bilateral occiptotemporal activations that were more likely to be engaged during observed pain, but not direct pain experience. Previous fMRI research have explained these activations for empathic viewing in terms of enhanced visual processing ( Azevedo et al., 2013) likely due to augmented salience ( Akitsuki and Decety, 2009) or attention ( Han et al., 2017) for pain scenes. As with supramarginal activation patterns, such lateral occipitotemporal activations are often reported with minimal or no discussion ( Vachon-Presseau et al., 2012; Morelli et al., 2014; Seara-Cardoso et al., 2015; Enzi et al., 2016; Fourie et al., 2017; Richins et al., 2019), despite often being amongst the strongest research results in terms of statistical significance. Lateral occipitotemporal cortex encompasses the extrastriate body (EBA) which is associated with perception of body parts ( Downing et al., 2001). As the present meta-analysis which focused on paradigms which included visual depictions of pain scenes, most often to limbs or face, this seems reasonable. However, all studies included used a suitable visual control, i.e. same body part in absence of pain, which suggests some empathy (or at least salience-related) function underlying these augmented bilateral activations during empathic processing. Interestingly, activation in lateral occipitotemporal cortex, and particularly EBA, were previously shown to reflect in-group status during empathy for pain ( Azevedo et al., 2013) although another study did not report empathy activation in EBA ( Lamm and Decety, 2008). Recent research has demonstrated relevance of EBA for self-other recognition of body parts ( De Bellis et al., 2017), which suggests potential for the region in higher order aspects of empathic processing, particularly when observing visual depictions of others undergoing somatic pain. The present findings suggest that the occurrence of activation in these regions is frequent, but not assured. Occipitotemporal activations were identified in 30-40% of fMRI research with no clear pattern suggesting that the activation relates to a specific paradigm or stimuli type. Therefore, the nature of lateral occipitotemporal processing during empathy for pain warrants further investigation.

Contrast analyses also revealed greater bilateral activation in ventral IFG during empathy for pain relative to direct experience of pain. The IFG is frequently activated during motor imagery or action observation type paradigms ( Hétu et al., 2013). As IFG is a core component of the mirror neuron system ( Rizzolatti and Craighero, 2005), it has been easy to dismiss this as automatic, perception-action processing and a neighbouring part of this region was also highlighted by conjunction analysis. However, the contrast analysis significance of bilateral IFG in the empathy, relative to pain, contrast analysis suggests the likely importance for empathic processing. Previous studies demonstrated increased activation in IFG when participants were rating observed pain rather than a distractor task leading to the suggestion IFG could also contribute to higher order cognitive processes such as attaching meaning to the empathic situation ( Gu and Han, 2007; Budell et al., 2010). Moreover, a recent empathy viewing study identified this region as relevant for the process of mentalizing similarity between oneself and the target that one is observing ( Majdandzic et al., 2016). Therefore, our findings suggest that processing of visually observed somatic pain in another could recruit activation of IFG to facilitate elements of action-understanding and self-other processing.

ALE of directly perceived pain, compared to empathy, demonstrated preferential concordance of activation in bilateral S1, posterior insula and parietal operculum, right putamen, right prefrontal cortices and aMCC. Posterior insula and parietal opercular cortices represent the primary targets of nociceptors in the spinothalamic tract ( Garcia-Larrea, 2012) and the medial regions highlighted in the contrast reflect functional imaging of somatic aspects of pain perception such as gauging pain intensity ( Coghill et al., 1999). Overall the contrast points to an absence of empathic processing in medial pain-processing regions, suggesting a pattern wherein empathy for pain shares more overlap with cognitive-affective aspects than somatic processing, as was previously hypothesized ( Singer et al., 2004), albeit in a broader neural network than previously thought.

From a theoretical perspective, the patterns of ALE seen in conjunction and contrast analyses show alignment with a tiered theoretical understanding of empathic processing such as the Russian-Doll model ( de Waal, 2008; de Waal and Preston, 2017) or independent components of shared representation and self-other distinction ( Lamm et al., 2016). The conjunction of activations in bilateral pain processing brain regions suggests a degree of automatic state-matching or emotional contagion ( Preston and de Waal, 2002; de Waal, 2008). This is extended by empathy distinct activity in supramarginal, occipitotemporal and IFG regions which may reflect higher order aspects of empathy, and particularly mechanisms of self-other distinction. Previously, TPJ was highlighted for distinction of self-other during empathic processing ( de Waal and Preston, 2017). Although our analysis did not indicate TPJ activations during empathy, this region shows greatest functional and anatomical connectivity with supramarginal gyrus and occiptotemporal cortices ( Carter and Huettel, 2013; Igelström and Graziano, 2017). Previously, it was posited that TPJ activation could be associated with nuances of the empathic situation, particularly when it requires cognitive perspective-taking ( de Waal and Preston, 2017). The present meta-analysis utilized paradigms eliciting empathy via observation of pain, which are less dependent on cognitive perspective-taking. Therefore, supramarginal and lateral occipitotemporal activations, which border TPJ, may reflect more automatic aspects of self-other distinction. Possibly reflecting mechanistic processes relevant to self-other distinction including reorienting attention and quantifying threat ( Decety and Lamm, 2007; Carter and Huettel, 2013) or interpreting self-other distinction of perceived body parts ( De Bellis et al., 2017). We can speculate that the network of regions highlighted by the present, meta-analysis of empathy for observed pain is more relevant to these mechanistic aspects of empathic processing, whereas higher order cognition, such as emotional perspective taking, may recruit TPJ.

The present study has some limitations. As mentioned, we focused on empathy for observed pain rather than more complex iterations of cognitive empathy such as paradigms which utilize learning to associate abstract cues with pain stimulation delivered to another person located outside of the scanner. The former design is more prevalent in fMRI research ( Lamm and Majdandžić, 2015), allowing for a greater degree of studies to be included. To include cognitive empathy paradigms would necessitate the permission of a smaller cohort of studies, falling below the minimum 17 independent studies recommended for ALE analysis ( Eickhoff et al., 2016). Else it would mean permitting less stringent search and analysis methods which would sacrifice the integrity of the aims which focused on concordance across studies which utilized whole-brain analyses and robust statistical thresholding to reveal empathy for pain activations regardless of existing bias. However, it should be noted that previous meta-analyses suggest distinct patterns of activation for observed pain compared to more cognitive methods of evoking empathic response ( Lamm et al., 2011) and specifically that observing visual pain in one's environment may be more associated with brain regions that are associated with affective and motor-motivational processes ( de Waal and Preston, 2017). Furthermore, other factors such as the bodily location of pain, (e.g. face vs. limb) or laterality were not considered, but their importance has been demonstrated in previous meta-analyses ( Jauniaux et al., 2019). On the other hand, the decision to include studies which depicted facial expressions of persons experiencing pain, rather than solely observation of pictures or video clips of directly delivered pain stimuli, could add an element of cognitive interpretation ( Jauniaux et al., 2019; Xiong et al., 2019) which could also introduce some variance into the meta-analysis and should be considered as a limitation. Therefore, the present analysis should primarily be interpreted in relation to empathy for observation of pain through visual modality, and as a novel comparison with direct pain processing.

To surmise the impact of the present study, elucidation of a rich functional brain network of empathy for pain, extending beyond AI and aMCC, is important for theoretical understanding of the phenomenon. The conjunction and contrast analyses reveal, for the first time, shared and distinct networks for observed and direct pain which supports the concept of tiered levels of processing of empathy as were previously theorized ( de Waal, 2008; Bernhardt and Singer, 2012; Lamm et al., 2016; de Waal and Preston, 2017). The findings indicate that an extended network of brain regions warrant greater focus and consideration for their role in empathic processing, particularly regions neighbouring TPJ in inferior parietal and occipitotemporal cortices. Such a broader approach would accord with recent developments and understanding from social neurosciences ( Carter and Huettel, 2013; Igelström and Graziano, 2017). Finally, greater understanding of neurobiological underpinnings of empathy has practical implications for diagnosis of clinical disorders as well as therapeutic or pharmacological interventions ( Decety et al., 2016; Christov-Moore and Iacoboni, 2019), or development of strategies to promote prosocial behaviours or establish moral, fair and practical societal structures ( Decety and Cowell, 2015).

To conclude, the findings reveal concordance in an extensive bilateral network of brain regions for empathy for observed pain. This encompassed bilateral AI, supramarginal gyri, lateral occipitotemporal cortices IFG and aMCC, regions with functional relevance for interoception, pain processing, social cognition and self-other distinction. Utilizing novel contrast analyses for empathy for pain and direct pain experience, we demonstrated a broad network of shared brain representations which align to automaticity of response or emotional contagion, and empathy-specific activation patterns with relevance for higher order responses such as self-other distinction. Knowledge of these shared and distinct brain networks offers a novel insight into the neurobiological underpinnings of our subjective experience of empathy with relevance for theoretical, clinical and social applications.

Conflict of interest

None declared.

References

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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Shared and distinct functional networks for empathy and pain processing: a systematic review and meta-analysis of fMRI studies

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AbstractBackground. Empathy for pain is a complex phenomenon incorporating sensory, cognitive and affective processes. Functional neuroimaging studies indi

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Educator Wellness Rubric based on the four Dimensions of Wellness! 

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Educator Wellness Rubric based on the four Dimensions of Wellness! 

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Use this quick survey to get your Anger Response score!

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We all get angry. It's a normal emotion. However, some of us handle our anger better than others.

While one person might be a bit unhappy when someone cuts him off in traffic, another is so angry that he shouts and swears, and starts driving aggressively himself.

How can the same event cause such different reactions? And how can you make sure that your reaction is the calm one, instead of the wild one?

How Good Is Your Anger Management?

So how well do you manage your anger? Use the online test to find out how well you do.

Instructions

For each statement, click the button in the column that best describes you. Please answer questions as you actually are (rather than how you think you should be), and don't worry if some questions seem to score in the 'wrong direction'. When you are finished, please click the 'Calculate My Total' button at the bottom of the test.

Your last quiz results are shown.

You last completed this quiz on , at .

18-41

You seem to let your anger control you, which probably causes you all sorts of problems. In turn, this may make you more angry. Fortunately, you can learn how to break this cycle. Read the rest of the article for some great strategies for managing your anger. (Read below to start.)

42-66

You're able to manage your anger in some situations and not others. You have a few strategies that work for you, however, you'll benefit from a better understanding of what causes your anger, and what actions you can take to better manage your emotions. (Read below to start.)

67-90

Well done! You have a very good understanding of what makes you angry, and you know what to do when you start to feel signs of trouble. You've developed a wide range of anger management strategies, and you can be proud of these. (Read below for more.)

Manage Your Anger Constructively

The goal of anger management is not to eliminate anger completely: that isn't possible, since it's a natural human emotion. Rather, the objective is to control and direct your anger - so that it doesn't control you, or damage an important relationship or situation.

In Anger Management: Channelling Anger into Performance, we discuss Redford Williams' steps for controlling anger. There are three key elements to these:

1. Understanding what causes your anger.

2. Reducing your angry reactions.

3. Controlling your anger when you experience it.

(Questions 1, 8, 13)

Use a diary or "anger log" to write down the times, people, and situations that make you angry.

Look for trends, or things that make you angry often.

Ask yourself why these things make you angry. Do you connect certain memories to these sources of anger? Do you feel that goals are being frustrated, or that something important to you is being threatened?

(Questions 3, 5, 14)

(Questions 7, 12, 15, 18)

Build empathy - When you understand another person's perspective, it helps you analyze the situation objectively and understand your role in the conflict. Accept that you may not always know best!

Learn to trust others - Assume the best in people, and don't take their actions personally.

Listen - Use active listening to consider what the other person has to say, and then think before you speak. In many situations, the best way to deal with anger is to accept it, and then find ways to move forward. This can protect your relationships with people, and it allows you to acknowledge your feelings.

Be assertive, not aggressive - By improving your assertiveness skills, you can reduce the frustration that you feel when your needs aren't being met. When you know how to ask for what you want, you'll generally feel more in control, and less likely to say things that you'll later regret.

(Questions 2, 9, 11, 16)

Take 10 deep breaths. It really does work!

Do some physical activity - walk, run, swim, play golf, or do some other sport. This can be great for releasing the stress and frustration you've built up!

Use a punching bag or a pillow to physically express your anger (in a way that's not harmful).

Do yoga, or another relaxing form of exercise.

Participate in a fun activity or hobby.

Use a journal and/or art to express your feelings.

Forgive. At some point, it helps to let go and move on with a fresh attitude.

(Questions 4, 6, 10, 17)

Change Your Environment

Take a break and physically remove yourself from the conflict. Go to another room, go for a walk, or count to 10. This may give you time to gain perspective and simply calm down.

Learn to avoid situations that you know will cause your anger. If you don't like your teammate's messy desk, don't go into her office.

If you regularly do something that makes you angry, try to find something else to do in its place. For example, if the crowded elevator upsets you every morning, take the stairs.

Use Humor

Think of something funny to say (but don't be rude or sarcastic).

Try to see the funny side of the situation.

Imagine the other person in a silly situation.

Learn to laugh at yourself.

Smile. It's hard to be angry with a smile on your face.

Calm Yourself Physically

Use physical relaxation techniques. Take slow, deep breaths and concentrate on your breathing.

Tighten and release small muscle groups. Focus on your hands, legs, back, and toes.

Repeat a word or phrase that reminds you to stay in control and remain confident. For example, say, "You'll get through this. Relax! You're doing a great job!"

Practice imagery techniques. Use your imagination or memory to visualize a calming place or situation.

Key Points

It is natural to feel, express, and release anger. However, there are appropriate ways to do so - and that's what anger management is all about.

You can get a strong insight into your anger issues by understanding what makes you angry. From there, you can create a plan to minimize frustration and anger in your life.

When you do get angry, there are many approaches you can try to calm down - including changing your environment, using humor, and practicing relaxation techniques. It's also important to release your anger on a regular basis.

Don't let your anger control you. Instead, face it - and take back control of anger - and of your life!

Note:

This assessment has not been validated and is intended for illustrative purposes only. It is just one of many that help you evaluate your abilities in a wide range of important career skills. Click here for other self-tests.

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How Good Is Your Anger Management?: Controlling Your Anger Before it Controls You

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We all get angry. It's a normal emotion. However, some of us handle our anger better than others. While one person might be a bit unhappy when someone cuts him off in traffic, another is so angry that he shouts and swears, and starts driving aggressively himself.

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Advice from the Berkeley Center

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When it comes to workplace woes, Christina Maslach has heard it all.

The hard-working team that's celebrated less than the office slackers. The professionals who wind up in a soul-sucking job. The employees required to attend office BBQs but left out of workplace decision making.

It's been 40-plus years since Maslach, a psychology professor emerita at UC Berkeley, first wrote about workplace trauma and burnout. She's since pioneered a body of research that has influenced how we think about work-and what it means when work isn't working out.

The Burnout Challenge, her new book from Harvard University Press, distills decades of research on workplace culture into a slim volume that she and coauthor Michael P. Leiter hope serves as a solutions-focused template for employees and employers alike.

Their book is loaded with examples collected from decades of research that help build a spectrum of what they call six "mismatches" that plague employee-employer dynamics: mismatches with workload, control, rewards, community, fairness, and values.

They hope to help people either escape a potentially problematic situation-or quit altogether. Their book also comes at a time of transformation: Many workplaces are still figuring out the post-pandemic reality. Many have changed for the better. But Maslach and Leiter say many "perils" remain.

"A dysfunctional workplace is not something for people to endure," they write. "It is something to change."

Berkeley News spoke with Maslach about her new book, what the pandemic revealed about work, and when to walk away. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Berkeley News: The word burnout has been used a lot, especially lately. It almost feels like it's lost its meaning. Let's start broad: How do you describe and define burnout in today's world? What does it look like?
Christina Maslach: Burnout is being used by people to describe all kinds of other things. It's evocative. It has imagery. Job burnout, which is what I've been doing research on, and which the World Health Organization recognized officially in 2019, is basically a response to chronic job stressors in the workplace that have not been well-managed. It shares a lot with stress, but it goes beyond that. When people are talking about burnout, that's what we're really focusing on.

The experience has three interrelated components. One is exhaustion, which is the stress response. A second is not just feeling stressed and exhausted and tired, but really feeling negative, cynical, hostile. It's having a "Take this job and shove it" feeling about the workplace. They don't know what they're doing. They're not well managed. They don't like being there. They don't like the people. That leads to what I consider more of the hallmark of burnout than just the stress and exhaustion. It leads to this cynicism about the workplace.

And then the third component that we see is people begin to feel negative about themselves, instead of just about their workplace. "What's wrong with me?" "Why did I go into this job?" "I'm not proud of some of the stuff I've done." "Why can't I handle it?"

All of this, as the World Health Organization points out, can lead to all kinds of subsequent outcomes down the road, including physical health problems, mental health problems, poor performance, and quitting the job. It can have ripple effects.

You've given it your all, and there's nothing left to give. In some sense, that's the epitome of burnout in the workplace.
BN: A theme of the book seems to be that the workplace burnout problem isn't something individual workers should be forced to manage through self-care. You see it as much bigger than that-as a relationship issue. Why does that distinction matter?
CM: It matters because how you frame the questions leads you to a different kind of answer. If you frame the question as "What is wrong with the worker who's burned out?," then the solutions tend to be about how that person does self-care. How does that person take care of themselves and figure out what to do? Do they need time off? Do they need to see a doctor? Do they need to see a therapist? It's all saying that the problem is located within the individual and, therefore, solutions are aimed at that individual. That includes, "Why don't you leave?" If you ask it that way, you're answering it in terms of what happens to a person or what actions somebody could take to fix that person, heal that person.

I'm not objecting to coping and self-care. But we really need to understand why. What are the causes and not simply the effects? You can do all the self-care in the world, but at some level, if the stressors are the same, you're still going to have the problem.

If you think of it in terms of cause and effect, we need to look at both sides. What's going on in the workplace? What's going on with the individual? It's not pointing a finger at one or the other. It's both-and. We've got to look at all of this. The goal is, how do we get a better fit, a better match so that people thrive rather than get beaten down by the workplace?

If you think of the mantra that has been around forever- If you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen -it's a recognition of a gap, a mismatch between the job and the person. But it's saying, "It's your problem. If you can't do it, then go away. Don't be here." Meanwhile, nothing is being raised about the space itself. Could the heat be turned down? Could we redesign the kitchen to be a better place?
BN: You identify a spectrum of six mismatches-workload, control, rewards, community, fairness, and values-that are most common between employees and workplaces. How does acknowledging those mismatches help employers and employees overcome this broader burnout issue?
CM: The notion of a match or a fit between people in the job is actually not a new one. For years, we've talked about ergonomics and the fit between the physical environment and the workers. When computer workstations first came out, people were blowing up their wrists and hands with carpal tunnel syndrome because the equipment wasn't designed to match the human body well. We learned to change the design of chairs so that we don't have so much musculoskeletal damage. That kind of notion has been there for a long time.

Of course, when we train people, we're teaching them to match the job. We've given them skills, education, and practical experiences. What's new about it for us is that we're saying it applies just as well to not only people's physical body, but to their psychological motivation, to what makes people tick.

It's hard to say one or more of these six mismatches are more common. There's certainly ones that are more commonly thought of and focused on, like workload. But that's not the whole story. That gets you stressed and exhausted, but it doesn't necessarily lead to the negative cynicism and the negative self-evaluation. So, when people say, "Gee, I'm burned out, we've got so much to do. I'm just really tired," I say, "How do you feel about it? Do you like the job at all?"

"Oh, this is a great place. I am so glad I'm in this particular place," they say.

"How do you feel about the quality of your work?"

"It's good. Good. I'm just so tired."

"You're overextended," I say. "You're not burned out. You're still functioning. It's just that it's hard. You've got too much to do with not enough resources to get it done."

Obviously, there are ways to try and say, "How can we fix this? Can we work on it? Can we change some of the tasks?" If we add something to somebody's plate, what do we take off? In general, we are really good at adding, but we are bad at subtracting. That's part of the problem.
BN: You write that the "post-pandemic transition presents possibilities and perils" when addressing burnout. What do you mean? And do you think we're living up to those possibilities as a society, at this point?
CM: I'm not sure we're enough down the road to really know. I mean, people keep saying things like quiet quitting, quiet hiring, hush vacations where people are working from anywhere and not letting the company know that they're not at home.

The pandemic had, in some sense, forced us to recognize that a job doesn't have to be the way it is. It could be different. We had to do it differently. In some cases, what we learned from doing it differently were great things. Not to give the pandemic a silver lining, but there is one. People discovered they don't have to commute all the time, they can spend more time with family.

There were also things that did not work well. Teachers got thrown into the deep end of the pool with little support to try and teach without preparation, without good equipment, without any really good support. And I think with health care, some things worked well, some things didn't.

We can learn from the mistakes that didn't work, and we can learn from the possibility that it could be different. We can think out of the box, not just for the pandemic, but going forward.
BN: And the perils? How should people use the book to address those?
CM: The perils are that things get put in place as a kind of reaction to the pandemic or reaction to work from home or reaction to hybrid without really thinking it through and critically, without getting a more collaborative process. The things that I was saying even before the pandemic were often done with the best of intentions. "What can we do for our workers?" companies would ask. "We will put a volleyball court on the roof so people can go up and exercise and play a team sport." But did they check with all the employees about, of all the things you could do and spend your money, would this be the thing that would really make a difference? No. Did the volleyball court get used? No. They're coming up with stuff under the impression it will be good for employees, but without actually talking to the people who are going to help carry it out or live with it.

So, start with the low-hanging fruit, with the pebbles in your shoe, and then maybe work up to other stuff. What's working well? Where are we not doing so well? What changes could we make? What kinds of things could we do and make sure that the people who are going to be the target of this are fully on board and on the same page?

But if they haven't been asked to contribute, it could be a disaster.
BN: Over all of your years of talking to people about job burnout, what's the one thing that people say would help them prevent it?
CM: In recent years, the theme that I've heard a lot is, people would say things like, "When I was in school, or when I was being trained, I had a mentor, I had somebody I could go to to talk with, to get advice from, to get feedback, to share things." You knew that this mentor had experience and was trying to help you move forward, and would treat it confidentially.

Then, they'd say things like, "I don't have anybody like that anymore."

People used to be there for each other. Now, I can be surrounded by tons of people, and I don't know one that I could turn to. People think it's a risk. That they'll be stigmatized. They'll be put down. They'll be out of the running for any promotion or a letter of recommendation. So, they believe they just have to keep quiet and struggle alone. "I wish I didn't have to come in and be there with all of these folks," they think. "I don't have that safe person." That has just struck me so much.

We always say, from a lot of research in the social sciences, that one of the best predictors of people's well-being is that they have social relationships, a social blanket. That you had people who were friends, who were colleagues, who were neighbors, who were family. People that you could argue with, that you could talk to, that you could trust, that you could hang out with, that you could get good advice and help and that you could do the same for others.
BN: What advice do you give to employees about when they should walk away?
CM: The first response is to ask, "Is there some way to improve things here and make it better? Am I the only one who is unhappy with this? Maybe there are others." Rather than saying, "I'm burned out," ask the team, "Could we rethink some of our processes?"

And from there, use these six areas we describe in the book. You don't need a special test or anything like that. But how are things going for me in those six areas? Are there some other opportunities that I could pursue that would be better than what I have now? Do you have somewhere to leap to that you think actually is going to not have the same problems that you're leaping away from?

For some people, some of those areas are more important than others. People will tolerate mismatches of various kinds as long as the ones that they really care about are OK.

When people hear about the six areas, they start going through a mental checklist.

BN: You have an example of this in the book where someone has followed up with you after hearing about your burnout research and this idea of mismatches. Tell me about that.

CM: Yes. Somebody who was studying for a Ph.D. in the sciences at UC Berkeley. She came up to me after I spoke about stress in labs and said, "I heard your talk four years ago, and I just want to let you know that I was about to quit my dream profession."

She said, "I was thinking, 'I'm not cut out for this. I'm not doing well in my lab, so maybe I have to quit because I'm not going to succeed.' And then I started going down the six areas of my life that you talked about."

She had negative thoughts about all six of them. And then she realized she needed to get into another lab. That's not easy to do and make a change. But she kept at it and finally got into a different lab. And she thrived in that second lab. She got research done. She was able to collaborate, she got her name on some publications. And she told me, "I now have some job offers, and I'm going out for interviews."

It was using that information to ask, "Where am I, and how am I doing in terms of those six areas of mismatch?" And in her case, it was realizing nothing was working well. Her insight was, "It's the wrong place, it's not me. Maybe if I'm in a better place, I could do better." And she did.

The hope is that other people can do that for themselves, as well.
A longer version of this article was originally published on Berkeley News. Read the original article.
Greater Good wants to know: Do you think this article will influence your opinions or behavior?

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Where to Start If You Feel Burned Out at Work

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When it comes to workplace woes, Christina Maslach has heard it all. The hard-working team that's celebrated less than the office slackers. The professionals who wind up in a soul-sucking job. The employees required to attend office BBQs but left out of workplace decision making.

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Work on improving your relationships with colleagues! 

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Work on improving your relationships with colleagues! 

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One way to feel less stressed!

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Want Better Relationships? Here’s What to Do Today

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A new study finds that even just one conversation with a friend could make you feel more connected and less stressed.

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Read this at Graduation time! Enjoy!

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Self-check to see if you are suffering from Working Parent Burnout! 

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Self-check to see if you are suffering from Working Parent Burnout! 

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He recorded his TED talk, titled "What Makes a Good Life? Lessons from the Longest Study on Happiness," in 2015, and it has been viewed 13,000,000 times.

The researchers also found that marital satisfaction has a protective effect on people's mental health. Part of a study found that people who had happy marriages in their 80s reported that their moods didn't suffer even on the days when they had more physical pain. Those who had unhappy marriages felt both more emotional and physical pain.

Those who kept warm relationships got to live longer and happier, said Waldinger, and the loners often died earlier. "Loneliness kills," he said. "It's as powerful as smoking or alcoholism."

According to the study, those who lived longer and enjoyed sound health avoided smoking and alcohol in excess. Researchers also found that those with strong social support experienced less mental deterioration as they aged.

In part of a recent study, researchers found that women who felt securely attached to their partners were less depressed and more happy in their relationships two-and-a-half years later, and also had better memory functions than those with frequent marital conflicts.

"Loneliness kills. It's as powerful as smoking or alcoholism."

"Good relationships don't just protect our bodies; they protect our brains," said Waldinger in his TED talk. "And those good relationships, they don't have to be smooth all the time. Some of our octogenarian couples could bicker with each other day in and day out, but as long as they felt that they could really count on the other when the going got tough, those arguments didn't take a toll on their memories."

Since aging starts at birth, people should start taking care of themselves at every stage of life, the researchers say.

"Aging is a continuous process," Waldinger said. "You can see how people can start to differ in their health trajectory in their 30s, so that by taking good care of yourself early in life you can set yourself on a better course for aging. The best advice I can give is 'Take care of your body as though you were going to need it for 100 years,' because you might."

The study, like its remaining original subjects, has had a long life, spanning four directors, whose tenures reflected their medical interests and views of the time.

Under the first director, Clark Heath, who stayed from 1938 until 1954, the study mirrored the era's dominant view of genetics and biological determinism. Early researchers believed that physical constitution, intellectual ability, and personality traits determined adult development. They made detailed anthropometric measurements of skulls, brow bridges, and moles, wrote in-depth notes on the functioning of major organs, examined brain activity through electroencephalograms, and even analyzed the men's handwriting.

Now, researchers draw men's blood for DNA testing and put them into MRI scanners to examine organs and tissues in their bodies, procedures that would have sounded like science fiction back in 1938. In that sense, the study itself represents a history of the changes that life brings.

Psychiatrist George Vaillant, who joined the team as a researcher in 1966, led the study from 1972 until 2004. Trained as a psychoanalyst, Vaillant emphasized the role of relationships, and came to recognize the crucial role they played in people living long and pleasant lives.

"When the study began, nobody cared about empathy or attachment. But the key to healthy aging is relationships, relationships, relationships."

In a book called "Aging Well," Vaillant wrote that six factors predicted healthy aging for the Harvard men: physical activity, absence of alcohol abuse and smoking, having mature mechanisms to cope with life's ups and downs, and enjoying both a healthy weight and a stable marriage. For the inner-city men, education was an additional factor. "The more education the inner city men obtained," wrote Vaillant, "the more likely they were to stop smoking, eat sensibly, and use alcohol in moderation."

Vaillant's research highlighted the role of these protective factors in healthy aging. The more factors the subjects had in place, the better the odds they had for longer, happier lives.

"When the study began, nobody cared about empathy or attachment," said Vaillant. "But the key to healthy aging is relationships, relationships, relationships."

The study showed that the role of genetics and long-lived ancestors proved less important to longevity than the level of satisfaction with relationships in midlife, now recognized as a good predictor of healthy aging. The research also debunked the idea that people's personalities "set like plaster" by age 30 and cannot be changed.

"Those who were clearly train wrecks when they were in their 20s or 25s turned out to be wonderful octogenarians," he said. "On the other hand, alcoholism and major depression could take people who started life as stars and leave them at the end of their lives as train wrecks."

The study's fourth director, Waldinger has expanded research to the wives and children of the original men. That is the second-generation study, and Waldinger hopes to expand it into the third and fourth generations. "It will probably never be replicated," he said of the lengthy research, adding that there is yet more to learn.

"We're trying to see how people manage stress, whether their bodies are in a sort of chronic 'fight or flight' mode," Waldinger said. "We want to find out how it is that a difficult childhood reaches across decades to break down the body in middle age and later."

Lara Tang '18, a human and evolutionary biology concentrator who recently joined the team as a research assistant, relishes the opportunity to help find some of those answers. She joined the effort after coming across Waldinger's TED talk in one of her classes.

"That motivated me to do more research on adult development," said Tang. "I want to see how childhood experiences affect developments of physical health, mental health, and happiness later in life."

Asked what lessons he has learned from the study, Waldinger, who is a Zen priest, said he practices meditation daily and invests time and energy in his relationships, more than before.

"It's easy to get isolated, to get caught up in work and not remembering, 'Oh, I haven't seen these friends in a long time,' " Waldinger said. "So I try to pay more attention to my relationships than I used to."

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Over nearly 80 years, Harvard study has been showing how to live a healthy and happy life

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For nearly 80 years, the Harvard Study of Adult Development has been producing data and lessons on how to live longer, happier, and healthier lives.