Mindfulness tips to manage stress if you have a medical career

Professionals that have a medical career are most likely to deal with a lot of pressure every day. This is because most doctors and nurses’ have overwhelming shifts and a lot of responsibility to deal with. Mindfulness is one of the most powerful tools out nowadays to help people to improve their mental health. Here we have different tips on how to practice it so you can cope better with stress

The facts

One study made by AMA and The Mayo Clinic found that doctors work an average of 10 hours more per week than the average person, they also experience a high rate of emotional exhaustion, have higher burnout rates and lower life satisfaction rates.

On the other hand, nurses experience something similar, they have a higher burnout rate than the average person and their life satisfaction is lower compared to other professionals.

If you have a medical career it is important to find personal ways of center your mind. By doing so you will lower your cortisol levels in your body, and in the end, this will help to have a clear mind when dealing with patients and make rightful decisions.

But what is Mindfulness?

Mindfulness is basically the awareness you have of the present moment, of your thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, and the surrounding environment. Once you are in tune with the present you are more likely to accept all these thoughts and feelings without judging them. You just take them as they are avoiding connecting them with the past or imagining the future.

A very interesting study published in the Annals of Family Medicine found that doctors who practice mindfulness, communicate better with patients, and provide better quality care.

Why might mindfulness have this effect?

The researchers who made this study think that because mindfulness involves attentiveness, curiosity, and presence, it promotes a greater awareness of the self and others. 

In other words, mindfulness helps doctors to have a better understanding of the experience of others, and help them to respond to their patients with more understanding, empathy, and compassion, not taking anything personal and let the not essential things go away.

To practice Mindfulness:

As you can see, mindfulness has great benefits if you have a medical career, not only for your professional life but also for your personal life. But how can you start practicing mindfulness? Here are some tips: 

• Don’t be too hard on yourself. Bring your attention back to the present.
• Make a conscious effort to focus on the present moment, without judgment.
• Try to practice 5 to 10 minutes of meditation every day
• Don’t think about the past. Don’t plan the future.
• Pay attention to your thoughts, words, actions, and motivations.
• Notice your judgments and let them pass.
• Use mindfulness apps. Calm has great free exercises available.

Finally, we wanted to list some of the benefits that some studies have found that people experience when they practice mindfulness:

• Mindfulness reduces insomnia, increases your sense of well being, and increases energy both mentally and physically.
• Mindfulness reduces stress, anxiety and other destructive emotions 
• It can be helpful for pain management
• Mindfulness helps your memory by increasing your focus and attention 
• Mindfulness improves your emotional and social intelligence and develops empathy and compassion. It is also shown to improve relationships 
• Mindfulness improves confidence and emotional resilience.

If you have a medical career and have more mindfulness tips please share them in the comment box down below, don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter and share if you like 🙂

Helpful links:

https://nurse.org/articles/nurse-burnout-statistics/

https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/research_digest/is_mindfulness_as_good_as_antidepressants

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0005789404800285