Abstract
Strikingly, like physical exercise, the more time servicemembers spent engaging in mindfulness exercises, the more they benefited. [...]while stress may degrade well-being, mindfulness training protects against this. Strikingly, the benefits from KabatZinn's exercises were maintained for more than a year after the program's formal end, and patients reported continuing the exercises on their own. Since that pioneering study, hundreds of studies have been conducted on MBSR and are now being aggregated into "metaanalyses" to compile results from thousands of participants. Reductions in physiological ailments and symptoms of chronic pain, fibromyalgia, and arthritis have been reported. [...]there is growing evidence that mindfulness training improves wellness in the body. [...]Epel suggested in her paper that "A present attentional state may promote a healthy biochemical milieu and, in turn, cell longevity" (Elissa S. Epel, Eli Puterman, Jue Lin, et al., "Wandering Minds and Aging Cells," Clinical Psychological Science, 2013 (1:1), at 75-83).