Mindful meditation as a path to reduce stress

Stress and anxiety are daily facts of life for many people, and running or working in a dental practice can be particularly stressful. Mindfulness exercises are designed to focus your awareness on what you’re sensing and feeling without interpretation or judgment, and can help you reduce stress by engaging with the world around you.

In addition to stress, the Mayo Clinic states that mindful meditation can help with:

• Anxiety
• Pain
• Depression
• Insomnia
• Hypertension

In clinical trials, meditation has also been shown to improve attention, reduce the risk of job burnout, and improve sleep patterns and diabetes control.

Dr. Mark Abramson has practiced dentistry for more than 25 years, with a specialty in the treatment of chronic pain and temporomandibular disorders. He teaches and lectures internationally, and is the founder and facilitator of Mindfulness-Meditation Based Stress Reduction programs at Stanford Health Care and Stanford University School of Medicine.

“My first goal is to debunk meditation as anything that is special,” explains Dr. Abramson. “You’re already mindful in many places in your life. But we want to bring this out into the open so you can use it more consciously and benefit from the practice in your life, and also to be able to use in your practice for the benefit of your patients.”

Dr. Abramson worked with the ADA Center for Professional Success to develop a series of videos on mindfulness. The videos aim to help dental professionals, staff and patients create a more healthy and happy work environment. The video topics include:

• What Is Mindfulness?
• Your Brain Can Work against You
• Are We Capable of Change?
• Be Kind to Yourself
• Managing Fear
• The Science behind Stress
• Mindful Movement Exercises

Watch the videos.