Stress is one of the most profound occupational hazards for nurses. It contributes to burnout, poor job performance, absenteeism, job turnover, decreased patient satisfaction, and even poorer health outcomes for patients. Decrease nurse stress, and you have happier, healthier nurses and patients. 

The practice of mindfulness has proven to decrease stress, anxiety, depression in many studies and also promotes emotional regulation, better relationships, awareness, and empathy. More recently, a systematic review of research on mindfulness in nurses has found that these strategies to be extremely effective in improving nurses’ mental wellbeing (Guillaumie, Boiral, and Champagne, 2017). 

Mindfulness has become more and more popular among the mainstream. But do you actually know what mindfulness is? And what it is not? Sometimes people think meditation is an out of body type of experience or a state of deep relaxation. There are different types of meditation, but mindfulness meditation is actually more of a heightened sense of awareness. Simply, mindfulness is fully attending to the present moment. Mindfulness can be done in a quiet seated or lying position, but it can also be practiced in movement and everyday activities. In mindfulness, you are not trying to achieve a particular state of mind but to practice being present. 

If you’ve never done it, it may be more challenging than it sounds. Try sitting for 5 minutes and simply attending to your breath, a very common mindfulness exercise. You may find that a barrage of other thoughts and sensations invade your mental space. The truth is, for mindfulness to be effective it must be cultivated and practiced. I recommend starting with only 5 minutes a day and then gradually increasing the amount of time. There are a variety of different mindfulness exercises out there you can try, like mindful breathing, yoga, body scans, and more. 

In future blogs, I am going to give you more tools and tips on practicing mindfulness as well as discussing how this can benefit your life in many ways. In the meantime, enjoy this one minute video I took while sitting in a local park. Enjoy the peaceful moment and just be!

Reference
Guillaumie, L., Boiral, O., and Champagne, (2017). A mixed‐methods systematic review of the effects of mindfulness on nurses. Leading Global Nursing Research, 73(5), 1017-1034.  https://doi-org.ezproxy.uky.edu/10.1111/jan.13176

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Categories: Healthcare, Nursing, Careers

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