Mindfulness and mood stimulate each other in an upward spiral: a mindful walking intervention using experience sampling

Abstract

The aim of this study was to explore the feasibility and effectiveness of mindful walking in nature as a possible means to maintain mindfulness skills after a mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) or mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) course. Mindful walking alongside the river Rhine took place for 1, 3, 6, or 10 days, with a control period of a similar number of days, 1 week before the mindful walking period. In 29 mindfulness participants, experience sampling method (ESM) was performed during the control and mindful walking period. Smartphones offered items on positive and negative affect and state mindfulness at random times during the day. Furthermore, self-report questionnaires were administered before and after the control and mindful walking period, assessing depression, anxiety, stress, brooding, and mindfulness skills. ESM data showed that walking resulted in a significant improvement of both mindfulness and positive affect, and that state mindfulness and positive affect prospectively enhanced each other in an upward spiral. The opposite pattern was observed with state mindfulness and negative affect, where increased state mindfulness predicted less negative affect. Exploratory questionnaire data indicated corresponding results, though non-significant due to the small sample size. This is the first time that ESM was used to assess interactions between state mindfulness and momentary affect during a mindfulness intervention of several consecutive days, showing an upward spiral effect. Mindful walking in nature may be an effective way to maintain mindfulness practice and further improve psychological functioning.

Depression, Mindfulness, and Psilocybin: Possible Complementary Effects of Mindfulness Meditation and Psilocybin in the Treatment of Depression. A Review

“…This conforms an alternative hypothesis, namely that MM not merely reduces cortisol, but rather optimizes HPA responsivity (78,184). However, another study investigating the effect of MBCT on the CAR in patients remitted from recurrent depression did not support the findings by Matousek et al (146) (120), which may be due to the use of MBCT rather than MBSR (78). MBSR, as opposed to MBCT, is implicated in being a particularly suitable means for diminishing overall stress symptomatology, as it promotes specific stress coping strategies (79,113).…”

“…These techniques emphasize different aspects of mindfulness and consequently yield diverse psychological and biological effects (60,75,176). For example, the effect of MM on cortisol (CAR) differs between MBCT and MBSR (78,120). Hence, findings in one study may not necessarily apply to all forms of MM and introduce methodological noise.…”

Mindfulness in Nature Enhances Connectedness and Mood

“…The people walking in our study were not part of a formal mindfulness training course (cf. Gotink et al, 2016), yet our novice participants still benefited from a brief mindful walk in urban nature. On the other hand, we did not observe mindfulness-related improvements on most positive affect scales.…”

Depressive Symptoms and Emotional Eating: Mediated by Mindfulness?

“…Notably, in most studies examining the association between depressive symptoms and mindfulness, a lack of mindfulness is considered as the antecedent of later depressive symptoms (Raphiphatthana et al 2016). However, some recent findings on the temporal order of this association suggest that depressive symptoms also precede the development of mindfulness (Gotink et al 2016;Raphiphatthana et al 2016). According to wellsupported cognitive models of depression, depressive symptoms may induce all sorts of negative cognitive biases (Beck 1976), which increase the chance of negative interpretations and less mindful thoughts or actions (i.e., acting without awareness).…”