Being mindful helps in better control over mood and behaviour

Updated on: Monday, March 11, 2013

Being mindful can help you better control your mood and behaviour and stabilise your emotions, researchers claim.

A new study from the University of Utah shows that individuals who describe themselves as being more mindful have more stable emotions and perceive themselves to have better control over their mood and behaviour throughout the day.

Higher mindful people also describe less cognitive and physiological activation before bedtime, suggesting that greater emotional stability during the day might even translate into better sleep.

Using a novel method for data collection, the participants wore a monitor that measured cardiac functioning and were prompted periodically throughout the day to rate their emotional state and mental functioning.

"This study gives us a better understanding of how mindfulness affects stress responses throughout the day," said researcher Holly Rau.

"People who reported higher levels of mindfulness described better control over their emotions and behaviours during the day," Rau said in a statement.

"In addition, higher mindfulness was associated with lower activation at bedtime, which could have benefits for sleep quality and future ability to manage stress," said Rau.

A total of 38 subjects, recruited from the community and University of Utah undergraduate psychology courses, participated in the study. They ranged in age from 20 to 45, and one-third were male.

Researchers found that greater emotional stability, better self-rated control of emotions and behaviours and lower pre-sleep arousal - a measurement of cognitive and physical symptoms of anxiety - were all significantly associated with higher trait mindfulness.

Results suggest that mindfulness may be linked to self-regulation throughout the day, and that this may be an important way that mindfulness contributes to better emotional and physical well-being.

The study was published in the journal American Psychosomatic Society.

Being mindful helps in better control over mood and behaviour

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