Journey to the Sunnyside

Welcome to Journey to the Sunnyside, the podcast where we have thoughtful conversations to explore the science of habits, uncover the secrets to mindful living, and of course, your own mindful drinking journey. This podcast is brought to you by Sunnyside, the number one alcohol moderation platform. And if you could benefit from drinking a bit less, head on over to sunnyside.co to get a free fifteen day trial. I'm your host, Mike Hardinbrook, published author, neuroscience enthusiast and habit change expert. Welcome back to Journey to

the Sunny Side. I'm Mike Hardinbrook. And today, I want to talk about something that's quietly becoming one of the most powerful tools for better health, better stress management, and even better aging. And it's not something overwhelming. You don't need to do hours or have a ton of free time.

You don't need a special retreat. It's called micro mindfulness. So these are small daily moments of awareness that according to new research, can create outsized benefits in your mood, your resilience, and even your long term health. And it might be an easier way to work into your life than you might be thinking when it comes to mindfulness. So let's get into this today, because today isn't just going to be around our habits, specifically around alcohol.

We're going to take a broader approach to mindful living. So let's jump in with a research study that was done by the University of Bath in Southampton. And they recently ran a pretty big study with 1,200 people across 91 countries. And they had participants practice just ten minutes a day of mindfulness meditation using simple free app. And here's some of the results.

So depression symptoms dropped by about nineteen percent more than the control group. Anxiety levels dropped by about thirteen percent. And overall psychological well-being improved by eight percent. And participants also reported feeling more motivated to improve around other areas of their health, like eating better, exercising more, and sleeping better. Now those numbers aren't giant, right?

But we're talking about just ten minutes a day. And here's what's even more convincing. The benefits stuck. So even a month after they stopped doing the daily training, people were still feeling calmer, sleeping better, and reporting a stronger sense of control over their mindset. So here's the key takeaway from that.

Consistency matters way more than the actual length that you dedicate to it. So you don't have to meditate for an hour to see real shifts. A little bit each day rewires your brain. So another trend that's coming out in 2025 from research that was done in 2024 is combining mindfulness with exercise. So when people practiced mindfulness during their workouts, things like focusing on their breath, noticing that their muscles are working, or simply staying present with their body in the movement, they reported some benefits.

So higher enjoyment of actually doing the exercise. They had better mood afterwards. They had more motivation to stick with the routine and a stronger ability to push through discomfort without feeling like they were defeated. So in short, basically, mindfulness made moving your body feel less like a chore and more like an experience. And for anyone trying to build a better relationship with exercise, or maybe just make it stick for the long term, this is pretty convincing.

And it doesn't have to be all that complicated. You could just bring a little bit mindfulness into your next walk around the block. Maybe you could focus on your breath if you're doing some yoga. Maybe, of course, your instructor is going to have you do that, but maybe you're just doing it at home with a YouTube video. Or even just simple things like pause to notice how do your feet feel when you're walking around or going for a jog around the block?

And now let's go even a step further. So there's mindfulness and exercise, there's mindfulness and micro habits. Now we have mindfulness with aging and training your brain for the long game. And this is pretty fascinating. So this year in 2025, a study looked at people who practiced transcendental meditation over a period of forty years.

So compared to non meditators of the same age, the long term meditators showed lower levels of chronic stress hormones, healthier patterns of gene expression related to aging, a stronger immune function, and lower levels of inflammation. So basically, their bodies looked biologically younger at a molecular level, not just because of diet or exercise, because also how they manage their minds. And while not everyone here is going to meditate, of course, for forty years, The takeaway is pretty clear. Consistent mindfulness, even in small doses, can have a long term protective effect on your body and your health. So it's not just about feeling good in the moment, it's an investment for your future self.

But let's talk about mindfulness for a second, because I think everybody immediately thinks like meditation. But it's not just meditation. And I mean, to be honest, the word gets a little bit thrown everywhere these days, but another shift that we're seeing is that you can bring mindfulness into everyday activities like the exercise I just told you. It isn't just about sitting quietly with your eyes closed, maybe you've got your pointer finger to your thumb. It's not that.

It's also bringing mindfulness to a lot of things that we do. It shows up in all aspects of our life. So you could have mindful eating, actually tasting your food and noticing when you're full. There's also some strategies around that on how many chews you take before you swallow. These are all mindfulness techniques.

You could even bring mindfulness in your tech use, you know, just bring some awareness here, pausing before mindlessly scrolling. You actually want to bring like, okay, I'm going to look at this for X amount of time, or I wanted to just do a quick check-in and not just doing it on autopilot. And of course you can bring mindfulness to your breath. There's tons of science that I've talked about, about the effectiveness of our breath and just simple things like taking even sixty seconds to reconnect with yourself during a busy day can reset the nervous system, lower your stress, and just make you feel a little bit better. So research shows that even a five minute mindfulness micro break during the day can significantly reduce your stress, and as I said, reset your nervous system.

And these little moments, they don't seem like much in isolation. However, that keyword consistency and over time, they reshape how you experience your day, how you regulate your emotions, and how you manage inevitable stresses that are going to come because that is how life works. So this really ties in really well with everything that we focus here at Sunnyside. When you're working on changing your drinking habits or improving any habit for that matter, it's not just about gritting through it, willpower, how strong you are. It's not about these huge dramatic moments and these shifts.

Although that can happen, more realistically, it's about small daily awarenesses that stack up and actually matter. So in our case here, tracking your drinks, setting a simple plan for the week, celebrating your small wins, whether that's just one more mindful day, one more alcohol free night, or even just pausing to check-in with yourself and see what you're doing aligns to where you want to go. So Sunnyside works because it builds mindfulness into the practice. It shifts you out of autopilot and it gives you choices. And that's the exact same mental muscle, the one that you build by pausing, noticing, adjusting.

It's the same one that mindfulness strengthens. So whether it's around alcohol, exercise, food, sleep, or just showing up for your life, it's all connected. And the more mindful you are in one area, the stronger you get in every area. So let's wrap it up. If you take nothing else from today, here it is.

Ten minutes a day of mindfulness can create real change in your brain and your behaviors. Combining mindfulness with movement makes both your body and your mind stronger, and micro mindfulness moments throughout your day add up to more than you would probably think. Remember, you don't need perfection. You don't need hours of extra time. You don't need to become a yogi.

You just need to bring a little consistency and, of course, willingness and awareness to notice because change doesn't happen from trying harder. It happens from paying attention sooner. So that's it for today. I hope you have a beautiful week. And until next Monday, cheers to your mindful drinking journey.

This podcast is brought to you by Sunnyside, the number one alcohol moderation platform. And if you could benefit from drinking a bit less, head on over to sunnyside.co to get a free fifteen day trial.