Mental health articles

Concentrate on washing the dishes can relieve tension
After finishing the high-pressure work all day, we may just want to lie on the sofa when we go back to home, let alone the housework such as washing the dishes, pots and so on. But scientists think that housework is beneficial to both our body and mind.
According to Taiwan ‘Central News Agency’ reports, the study found that washing the bowls helps clean our hearts: concentrate on washing the dishes, focus on the action of the washing can relieve stress and tension.
Scientists of America Florida State University want to know whether the dish washing can be used as an informal meditation practice, to improve the focus and promote positive emotions.
Researchers found 51 students to concentrate on washing the bowls, more than half of the students were asked to read a 230-words paragraph text emphasizes sensory experience of doing the washing, including taste of the detergent, touch of the soap liquid and shape of the dishes or bowls etc.
The rests of the students in the control group were asked to read a piece of writing with similar length about basic skills in washing the bowls. Then every student washed 18 bowls.
The study found that tension of the students focus on sensory experience of washing bowls dropped 27%, heart motivational effect was increased by 25%, but the control group had no obvious change.
In the paper published in the medical journal named （Mindfulness）,the researchers wrote: “The results showed that focus and positive influence can be improved through engaging in different kinds of activities.”

Tags: tension