Database of Practices Associated with Well-being

[rufuspollock]

Creating a list of practices that have (empirical) evidence about their benefits for well-being. This could turn into a mini-wiki-database if it goes well.

[rufuspollock]

Being in nature

In fact, simply being in nature is one of the most reliably effective ways to feel happier and healthier. A classic study in 1984 reported that surgical patients assigned to rooms with windows looking out on a natural scene took fewer painkillers and had shorter post-operative hospital stays. Since then a number of studies have shown that nature-assisted therapy is effective across a wide range of diagnoses, from obesity to schizophrenia. Of course, you don’t need to be sick to benefit from the natural world. According to a recent study, spending at least two hours a week in nature gives people an overall sense of greater well-being.37

37.Roger S. Ulrich, ‘View through a Window May Influence Recovery from Surgery’, Science 224:4647, 1984, pp. 420–1; Renate Cervinka, Kathrin Röderer and Elisabeth Hefler, ‘Are Nature Lovers Happy? On Various Indicators of Well-Being and Connectedness with Nature’, Journal of Health Psychology 17:3, 2012, pp. 379–88; Matilda Annerstedt and Peter Währborg, ‘Nature-Assisted Therapy: Systematic Review of Controlled and Observational Studies’, Scandinavian Journal of Public Health 39, 2011, pp. 371–88; Mathew P. White et al., ‘Spending at Least 120 Minutes a Week in Nature Is Associated with Good Health and Wellbeing’, Scientific Reports 9:7730, 2019.

Lent. Web of meaning.

[rufuspollock]

Meditation and mindfulness

The neurobiology of mindfulness meditation has been studied extensively over the past couple of decades, with thousands of articles published in scientific journals. While some reports of its miraculous effects may be overstated, there is hard evidence showing that practicing mindfulness meditation significantly enhances both mental and physical well-being. Even for beginners, just a few weeks of meditation leads to reduced reactivity to stress, improvement in attention and some reduction in inflammatory markers.48Just like working out in the gym, those initial improvements may prove to be temporary unless there is a sustained commitment to practice. But for long-term meditators (those who have clocked a thousand hours or more), the benefits become more robust. Mentally, they are better able to sustain attention, reduce mind-wandering, react less to stress and embrace strong emotions more easily. Physically, their bodies produce less cortisol and more of the enzyme telomerase, which helps to maintain the cells’ telomeres, thus slowing aging and reducing inflammation.49

49.Ibid.; Jacobs et al., ‘Intensive Meditation Training’; Joshua A. Grant and Pierre Rainville, ‘Pain Sensitivity and Analgesic Effects of Mindful States in Zen Meditators: A Cross-Sectional Study’, Psychosomatic Medicine 71:1, 2009, pp. 106–14; Judson A. Brewer et al., ‘Meditation Experience Is Associated with Differences in Default Mode Network Activity and Connectivity’, PNAS 108:50, 2011, pp. 20254–9; Marcia Barinaga, ‘Studying the Well-Trained Mind’, Science 302, 2003, pp. 44–6.

Lent. Web of Meaning.