Meditation is a habitual process of training your mind to focus and redirect your thoughts. People also use the practice to develop other beneficial habits and feelings, such as a positive mood and outlook, self-discipline, healthy sleep patterns and even increased pain tolerance.
Meditation can wipe away the day’s stress, bringing with it inner peace. Health benefits of meditation include relief from stress, anxiety, depression, insomnia, irritable bowel syndrome, chronic fatigue syndrome and acute respiratory infection.
It increases IQ, pain tolerance and helps in weight loss. It is also beneficial in maintaining blood pressure. Some forms of meditation can improve depression and create a more positive outlook on life.
See how you can easily learn to practice meditation whenever you need it most.
Anyone can practice meditation. It’s simple and inexpensive, and it doesn’t require any special equipment.
Understanding meditation
Meditation has been practiced for thousands of years. Meditation originally was meant to help deepen understanding of the sacred and mystical forces of life. These days, meditation is commonly used for relaxation and stress reduction. There are certain techniques used by those who practice meditation.
These techniques include focused attention, a specific body posture and no attention or openness to distractions without much of a response or reaction.
Meditation is considered a type of mind-body complementary medicine.
During meditation, you focus your attention and eliminate the stream of jumbled thoughts that may be crowding your mind and causing stress. This process may result in enhanced physical and emotional well-being.
Types of meditation
There are many types of meditation and relaxation techniques that have meditation components.
Ways to meditate can include:
- Guided meditation
- Mantra meditation
- Mindfulness meditation
- Tai chi
- Yoga
Health Benefits of Meditation
Stay Focused
Learning to sustain one’s attention through mindfulness seems to improve the overall ability to focus and maintain attention during everyday tasks.
Reduces Stress
Stress reduction is one of the most common reasons people try meditation. Research suggests that mindfulness-meditation training not only reduces stress and anxiety following a stressful episode but that practicing it can actually help mitigate stress in the moment.
Normally, mental and physical stress cause increased levels of the stress hormone cortisol. This produces many of the harmful effects of stress, such as the release of inflammation-promoting chemicals called cytokines.
Lowers Blood pressure
The benefits of meditation also help managing blood pressure levels. A research study suggests that practicing transcendental meditation may be beneficial in decreasing blood pressure.
Controls Anxiety
It reduced symptoms of anxiety disorders, such as phobias, social anxiety, paranoid thoughts, obsessive-compulsive behaviors and panic attacks. Meditation may also help control job-related anxiety in high-pressure work environments.
Boost Gray Matter
By spurring the growth of gray matter in various brain regions, mindfulness may improve learning, memory, and emotional regulation, several studies over the last decade have shown.
Promotes Emotional Health
Some forms of meditation can improve depression and create a more positive outlook on life. Research shows that maintaining an ongoing habit of meditation may help you maintain these benefits long term.
Treats Insomnia
Lack of sleep can lead to serious health implications including fatigue and lack of appetite. Persons suffering from insomnia rely on sleeping pills to assist them in sleeping.
A study suggests that regular practice of mindfulness meditation may help in developing ways to work with nocturnal symptoms and waking consequences of chronic insomnia.
Avoid Colds and Flu
Mindfulness meditation may help boost immune function. In a study, researchers showed that mindfulness meditation is about as effective as exercise for reducing the occurrence of acute respiratory infection, which includes colds and seasonal flu.
Don’t judge your meditation skills, which may only increase your stress. It takes practice to be able to enjoy the benefits of meditation.
If you want to learn about other ways to improve your health you check out our article 10 things you can do to improve your health right now
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