Healthy Benefits of Meditation
To meditate regularly is to teach one’s mind to focus and redirect its thoughts. Meditation’s rising profile can be attributed to rising awareness of its positive health effects.
Use it to sharpen your sense of self and the world around you. Many see it as a method to improve their focus and calm down.The practice is also used to cultivate other desirable traits and emotions, such as optimism, self-control, good sleep hygiene, and even a higher pain threshold.
1.Controls anxiety
Stress and anxiety can both be reduced by meditative practice.
Meditation may lessen anxiety, according to a meta-analysis that included nearly 1,300 adults. It’s worth noting that people whose anxiety levels were already high felt this effect the most
In addition, 8 weeks of mindfulness meditation helped decrease anxiety symptoms, improve positive self-statements and stress reactivity and coping in persons with generalized anxiety disorder, according to a single study
Another study indicated that after 8 weeks of meditation, 47 persons with chronic pain experienced significant reductions in their levels of sadness, anxiety, and pain that persisted for an additional year
Furthermore, various mindfulness and meditation practices have been shown to lower anxiety levels in several studies
As one example, yoga’s anxiety-reducing effects have been well-documented. Possible causes include the synergistic effects of meditation and exercise
Workplace stress can be reduced by meditation. Compared to a control group, employees who used a mindfulness meditation app for 8 weeks reported greater improvements in well-being and fewer negative emotions about their jobs and their lives.
2.Promotes emotional health
Improved self-esteem and a brighter view on life are two benefits that some meditative practices claim to provide.
Among more than 3,500 individuals, for instance, mindfulness meditation was found to reduce depressive symptoms in a meta-analysis of therapies
Similarly, a meta-analysis of 18 trials found that compared to a control group, those who participated in meditation therapy had fewer depressive symptoms
Another study indicated that compared to a control group, participants who conducted a meditation exercise had fewer negative thoughts after viewing unfavorable images
The inflammatory chemicals called cytokines are released in reaction to stress and can have an effect on mood, contributing to sadness. Several research analyzed together imply that meditation may alleviate depression by lowering inflammatory chemical levels.
3.Reduces stress
Most people start meditating in an effort to calm their minds and feel better.
According to the findings of at least one study, meditation’s reputation for relieving stress is well-deserved
Cortisol, the “stress hormone,” is normally elevated when one is under mental or physical duress. Many of stress’s negative consequences, such as the production of cytokines, an inflammatory molecule, result from this.
These side-effects can make it difficult to fall asleep, increase feelings of despair and anxiety, raise blood pressure, and cause weariness and foggy thinking.
An 8-week study found that a particular type of meditation termed “mindfulness meditation” mitigated the inflammatory response brought on by stress
Irritable bowel syndrome, post-traumatic stress disorder, and fibromyalgia are all diseases linked to stress, and studies suggest that meditation may alleviate their symptoms.
4.Enhances self-awareness
It has been suggested that certain types of meditation can help you gain a deeper insight into who you truly are, thereby accelerating your journey toward being your best possible self.
Self-inquiry meditation, for instance, is designed to help you learn more about yourself and your relationships with others.
Some help you learn to identify negative or destructive thoughts. In other words, the more self-aware you become, the more control you’ll have over your thoughts and can use that control for good (16Trusted Source, 17Trusted Source, 18Trusted Source).
Research from 27 studies suggests that tai chi may boost a person’s sense of self-efficacy, or confidence in their ability to meet and succeed at goals (19Trusted Source).
Another study found that after two weeks of using a mindfulness meditation app, participants reported less loneliness and more social interaction than participants in the control group.
5.Can generate kindness
The benefits of meditation extend beyond mental and physical health to include improvements in how you treat yourself and others.
Practicing Metta, also known as loving-kindness meditation, involves first cultivating self-compassion.
As a result of repeated practice, people are able to extend their newfound generosity and forgiveness to others, first with their closest friends and family and progressing to complete strangers and, finally, their most bitter adversaries.
A review of 22 studies found that this method of meditation increased participants’ empathy for both themselves and others (30Trusted Source).
These benefits were found to be dose-dependent in one trial of 100 adults randomly assigned to a program that included loving-kindness meditation.
Simply put, the more time people spent in weekly metta meditation practice, the more happy emotions they reported (31).
Another study with 50 college students found that after 4 weeks of practice, metta meditation enhanced pleasant feelings, social relationships, and empathy (32Trusted Source).
Long-term practice of loving-kindness meditation appears to accrue these effects as well.
6.Improves sleep
It’s estimated that as many as half of all people will have trouble sleeping at some point.
People who participated in mindfulness-based meditation programs slept for longer and experienced less severe insomnia than those in a non-medicated control condition, according to a meta-analysis of studies on the topic .
Mastering meditation techniques could be useful in calming the anxious, racing thoughts that can contribute to sleeplessness.
It also has the added benefit of calming the mind and body, making it easier to unwind and drift off to sleep.
7.Helps control pain
The intensity of your pain perception is linked to your mental state and might increase in stressful conditions.
There’s some evidence that regular meditation can help you manage pain more effectively.
One analysis of 38 studies found that mindfulness meditation helped persons with chronic pain feel less pain, have a better quality of life, and have less depressive symptoms (40Trusted Source).
Meditation has been linked to less pain, according to a comprehensive meta-analysis included nearly 3,500 people (41Trusted Source).
Both meditators and non-meditators were exposed to the identical painful stimuli, but the former shown higher resilience in the face of pain and even reported feeling less discomfort overall.
8.Can decrease blood pressure
Reducing stress on the cardiovascular system is another way in which meditation benefits health.
A weak heart is one of the long-term effects of hypertension, which forces the heart to work harder than necessary to pump blood throughout the body.
Atherosclerosis, or the hardening and constriction of the arteries, is another risk factor for cardiovascular disease and stroke caused by hypertension.
Twelve trials with approximately one thousand people revealed that meditating helped lower blood pressure. Older participants and those with higher blood pressure going into the study had greater benefits
According to the results of one study, there was no significant difference in the blood pressure-lowering effects of different styles of meditation
The neuronal impulses that coordinate heart function, blood vessel tension, and the “fight-or-flight” response that enhances awareness in stressful conditions appear to be regulated by meditation, which helps to keep blood pressure in check.
9.Lengthens attention span
Meditating with a focused concentration is like working out your focus muscles. Strengthening and lengthening one’s ability to focus is a side effect.
One study indicated that persons who listened to a meditation CD while performing a task outperformed a control group on measures of focus and precision (22Trusted Source).
Subjects who meditated regularly outperformed individuals who had never meditated before on a visual task, and their attention span was significantly longer (23Trusted Source).
Furthermore, one study showed that meditating can change brain patterns associated with daydreaming, anxiety, and inattention (24Trusted Source).
It’s possible that even a brief daily meditation practice could improve your life. After 8 weeks, even just 13 minutes of daily meditation improved focus and memory, according to one study..
10.It has the potential to reduce age-related memory loss.
Improvements in attention and clarity of thought may aid in the preservation of your mind’s youth.
Kirtan Kriya is a meditation technique that combines a mantra or chant with repetitive finger motions to help you focus your thoughts. It improves performance on neuropsychological tests in people with age-related memory loss, according to studies (26Trusted Source).
Furthermore, preliminary evidence suggests that multiple meditation styles can improve attention, memory, and mental quickness in older volunteers, according to a review (27Trusted Source).
Meditation, in addition to combating normal age-related memory loss, can at least partially improve memory in dementia patients. It can also help those caring for family members with dementia manage stress and cope better.
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