When you hear health messages—such as “quit smoking” or “get more exercise”—do you feel motivated or ashamed? A new study suggests how we react may depend on how mindful we are.
According to Yoona Kang, a postdoctoral fellow at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania, “mindfulness is usually defined as having awareness of the present moment” and there’s evidence it can reduce negative reactions to emotionally charged situations.
“Health messaging often causes people to react emotionally in negative ways, so we investigated factors—including mindfulness—that could potentially influence people to be more receptive to health messages and more motivated to change their behavior,” said Emily Falk, an associate professor of communication and senior author of the paper published in the journal Mindfulness.
