People learn to become more mindful as they grow older, study states

The older you are, the wiser you are. We're sure you've heard of this saying multiple times. Well, turns out there might be some truth to it after all. People start to practise mindfulness as they grow older, a new study claims. This is often because as people start to grow old they apply their experiences to certain situations and this helps them deal with things in a better manner.

Mindfulness refers to being aware of a situation and looking at it in a non-judgemental way and not letting your emotions get the better of you. And the study was able to find that older people seemed to show more characteristics of being mindful as compared to younger people. “This suggests that mindfulness may naturally develop with time and life experience,” said study co-author Tim Windsor.

The study is based on an online survey of 623 participants aged between 18 and 86 years. “The significance of mindfulness for wellbeing may also increase as we get older, in particular the ability to focus on the present moment and to approach experiences in a non-judgmental way,” Windsor said. “These characteristics are helpful in adapting to age-related challenges and in generating positive emotions,” Windsor added.

The study focused on looking for elements such as present-moment attention, acceptance, non-attachment etc and examined how these aligned with practising mindfulness. It was found that middle-aged and older people showed more traits of these than younger people. “The ability to appreciate the temporary nature of personal experiences may be particularly important for the way people manage their day-to-day goals across the second half of life,” said study lead author Leeann Mahlo.

“Our findings suggest that if mindfulness has particular benefits in later life, this could be translated into tailored training approaches to enhanced wellbeing in older populations,” she said. Stay tuned for more updates.