Mindfulness Literature Review

Abstract
This article is a literature review on the topic of mindfulness. Different research works were consulted and their findings are reviewed and put together in this article to see what mindfulness has to offer for the human well being.
Introduction
They say if you treat your head right, everything else would follow. In this busy world, we have so much to worry about that we have stopped focusing on the tasks on hand. You open a pack of snacks, take one, then after a few moments you realize that you have eaten up all of it. But when did that happen? You just opened it and now it’s gone! This is because your mind wandered far off to your past and different situations or your worries that you forgot to focus on the present.
Meditation

A study was conducted by Chiesa, A. & Serretti, A. (2009) to investigate the benefits of MBSR meditation on the stress levels of healthy individuals. It was seen that MBSR does help in reducing the stress levels. MBSR also reduced trait anxiety and ruminative thinking and increased self compassion and empathy.
Another study was conducted by Grossman, P., Niemann, L., Schmidt, S., & Walach, H. (2004) to see if mindfulness really does help reduce negativity and improve vitality as well as coping mechanism of a person. The study supported the fact that MBSR may help a broad range of people to cope with their problems, thus giving health benefits.
Mindfulness and Interpersonal Behavior
Dekeyser, M., Raes, F., Leijssen, M., Leysen, S., & Dewulf, D. (2008), conducted a study to see the relation of mindfulness with interpersonal performance and feelings. The results showed a positive association between mindfulness and interpersonal skills. Mindfulness resulted in increased empathy, awareness, better observation and nonjudgmental acceptance of others’ view points along with less social anxiety and

Y., Gross, C. R., & Kreitzer, M. J. (2007) showed that there is, however, some association between mindfulness and improved sleep. Participants of MBSR experienced less worry etc that in turn helped them to sleep better.
Mindfulness and Substance Use
Zgierska, A., Rabago, D., Chawla, N., Kushner, K., Koehler, R., & Marlatt, A. (2009) did not support mindfulness as a treatment for substance use disorders. It may prove helpful in increasing the coping mechanism of patients and to improve their control but not very successful as a treatment.
On the contrary, a study by Brewer, J.A., Elwafi, H.M., & Davis, J.H. (2013) states that a new field of modern treatment MT has shown efficacy in treatment of addictions, probably by affecting the craving levels Conclusion
From the above mentioned researches we can see that the practice of mindfulness is helpful in many areas of life and it is seen to be effective in reducing stress and strengthening of the coping mechanism of pupils.
Further Research
More research is needed using standardized sleep scales and methods, with particular attention to the importance of MBSR home practice and affect of mindfulness on physical health of cancer