Mindfulness, exercise together offer 'greatest benefits'

Mindfulness is the ability to be completely present and aware of your emotions; it helps enhance our focus, memory, and emotion regulation.

While everyone knows the benefits of exercising, imagine what would happen if we were to combine both, mindfulness and exercise and apply them to our daily routine.

A study found that combining both can lead to greater benefits than adopting just one, Real Simple reported.

The study led by Masha Remskar, a behavioural scientist and doctoral researcher at the University of Bath, is believed to be the first of its kind to offer insight into how combining these two activities can have positive impacts on health and well-being.

The study's findings showed that incorporating both exercise and mindfulness into a regular routine seems to be most advantageous for improving mental health in general as well as for more serious conditions like stress reduction, emotional regulation and resilience, motivation, and the prevention of anxiety and depression.

The study found that practicing mindfulness might encourage you to exercise since it helps get rid of negative thoughts and enables you to live in the moment rather than worrying about the future.

For example, many people find it difficult to begin or maintain new fitness regimens because they are scared they won't work, but mindfulness may help you get over this fear and clear your mind of criticism and self-judgment.

How to incorporate mindfulness into your everyday routine?

Although it might take some time to get used to it, practicing mindfulness doesn't have to be another daunting task to add to your already long list of things to accomplish. There are simple mindful breathing exercises you can do any time of day when you need an extra boost.

Even everyday tasks, such as brushing your teeth and sipping your happy hour drink, can all be done more mindfully and intentionally without any distractions.