Looking To Hit New Year's Fitness Goals? Incorporate Mindfulness, New Study Says

For this study, researchers wanted to review the existing data on physical activity and mindfulness, identifying 35 trials that included exercise and mindfulness interventions, control groups, and their subsequent outcomes.

And based on their analysis, when you combine physical activity and mindfulness, the dynamic duo come together to boost overall health and well-being, with notable improvements in mood, among other things.

On their own, physical exercise and mindfulness both boast a number of benefits, so it's no surprise that putting them together compounds those benefits.

Namely, the researchers note, combining exercise with mindfulness was effective in reducing depression, anxiety, and stress, and also "shows promise for improving rumination, emotion regulation, and self-worth over and above mindfulness training itself."

The researchers want to further investigate just how much mindfulness and exercise are needed to see the most benefits, but their results were clear: combining physical activity and mindfulness may offer more benefits than doing either on their own.

So, as study co-author Masha Remskar, MSc, explains in a news release, if your New Year's fitness goals need a boost, you might just want to start a mindfulness practice.

"Mindfulness is an approach that can help us 'train up' the psychological strengths we need to exercise and be more in tune with our bodies, as well as make exercising more interesting and help us recognize its benefits," Remskar explains, adding, "This may be because becoming more mindful prompts us to think differently about our lifestyle, [and] makes us more accepting and less judgmental of our own shortcomings, which can help to build healthy habits."

Not sure where to start? Mindfulness includes your obvious options like yoga or meditation, but even a walk can be mindful, and so can journaling, eating, and even sipping a cup of tea.