Connecting with other like-minded parents at the Healthy Children – Happy Families event at Town Hall Theater on Tuesday night was super energizing and fun! Not only did we get to talk shop about MiniBury and Beautycounter, we also learned about new ways to improve health and de-stress through mindfulness. A take home DIY calming jar was the perfect giveaway gift for all parents of young childre, thank you Building Bright Futures for those! If you didn’t attend you can still learn how to make one at home!
Missed the event, here are the three biggest take aways of the evening..
Stress is:
- bad. duh.
- It affects overall health. duh.
- Childhood stress causes illness later in life. yikes.
Mindfulness is:
- paying attention/being aware
- on purpose
- in the present moment
- without judgement.
note there’s nothing about breathing, doing yoga or meditating in there…. it’s just about being in the moment you are in without feeling bad about it. sign us up. Goals for 2017, be more mindful.
Benefits of Mindfulness:
- increased sustained attention, working memory, emotional control, decision making, and other cognitive functions
- increases neuroplasticity (the brains ability to change based on experiences)
- decreases anxiety, depression, perception of pain, helps with substance use/abuse
- many health benefits including lower blood pressure, reduces and slows progression of HIV, irritable bowel syndrome, some cancers, can change the happiness set point, increases immunity, etc
- overall health is better as reflected in lower medical costs.
In short, why wouldn’t we practice Mindfulness? Want to know more? We wrote about why we throw tantrums, what it has to do with mindfulness HERE.
