The Merits of Mindfulness

A decade ago, no one knew what mindfulness was other than a trait you were taught by your parents when it comes to others. But this traditional practice of self-improvement has gained significant attention in the medical community as it appears to help reduce anxiety. On this week’s show, we’re going to venture into the other benefits of mindfulness that may lead you to add this technique to your lifestyle.  Our first guest is Adele Diamond. She is a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of British Columbia and has been listed as one the 15 most influential neuroscientists alive today. Her work has explored the effects of mindfulness on something we all use but know very little about. It’s called executive function and it is the basis of everything you do during the day. We hear about how mindfulness can help executive function although perhaps not in the way most people think. Instead of sitting or lying in one place, the research has suggested that we need to be moving in order to get the best results. We continue the conversation to learn more about how to achieve the best returns from mindfulness. It turns out that you’re better off doing something you love. There’s also another trick to success. It may be better to immerse yourself in whatever you are doing than trying to master individual activities.     In our SASS Class, we move from the head to the heart as we talk with our guest teacher, John Durocher, an associate professor in biological sciences at Michigan Technological University. His research has shown that a single session of mindfulness can benefit the cardiovascular system. It can also spur people to try it more often and make it a part of their routine…including his.  If you enjoy The Super Awesome Science Show, please take a minute to rate it on Apple Podcasts and be sure to tell a friend about the show. Thanks to you, we won the Canadian Podcast Award for Outstanding Science and Medicine Series. Let’s keep the awesome momentum going together!  Twitter: @JATetroEmail: [email protected] Guests: Adele DiamondWeb: http://www.devcogneuro.com/AdeleDiamond.html Twitter: @DrAdeleDiamond John DurocherWeb: https://www.mtu.edu/biological/people-groups/faculty-staff/faculty/durocher/ Twitter: @Dr_Durocher Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices