Meditation is a practice of deep relaxation that has numerous advantages for your mental and physical wellbeing. Not only does it reduce stress, boost focus and promote better sleep quality, but its many other advantages also come into play when used regularly.
This practice is straightforward and can be done anywhere, but it’s best to find a quiet spot with few distractions. Additionally, selecting an accessible meditation style that you feel comfortable practicing may make the experience smoother for you.
1. Reduces Stress
Meditation reduces stress by bringing your focus to the present. It’s easy to become overwhelmed with a hectic schedule, but with meditation you can slow your mind down and focus on being present.
Meditation also enhances your sense of self, helping you to feel more peaceful and content with what’s going on around you.
By practicing mindfulness, you will become more tolerant to minor disruptions like traffic, a long line at the bank, or family arguments that once would have overwhelmed you. Your capacity for presence and focus will become an automatic habit that can be applied anywhere.
2. Increases Focus
Research suggests that people who meditate regularly tend to have better attention control than non-meditators, enabling them to ignore distractions better. This could potentially contribute to improved standardized test scores for some students.
Meditation has also been found to improve working memory, the capacity for recalling new information. This finding may be particularly beneficial for people who struggle with multiple tasks at once or those suffering from attention deficit disorder (ADD).
Focused meditation involves selecting a sound, object or sensation and fixing your attention on it. When your mind wanders away from the point of focus, gently bring it back to the original point and feeling.
3. Improves Sleep
Meditation can be an invaluable aid for improving sleep quality, particularly if you suffer from chronic insomnia. Millions of people struggle with difficulty falling or staying asleep each night, which has detrimental effects on their health and productivity levels.
Meditation can aid in achieving restful sleep by clearing your mind, lowering blood pressure and producing fewer stress hormones. Additionally, it may aid in falling asleep faster and maintaining deep sleep for an extended period of time.
Studies have demonstrated that mindfulness meditation improves sleep quality on par with exercise and cognitive behavioral therapy. Even one year after beginning a meditation program, many participants still report improved sleep quality.
4. Reduces Pain
Meditation reduces stress and the hormone cortisol, which exacerbates pain. Studies have also demonstrated that those who meditate tend to be less sensitive to it when measured through MRI brain scans.
Zeidan emphasizes that meditation alters your brain structure to better handle pain – this process is known as neuroplasticity.
In one study, UC Davis researchers scanned the brains of participants who had just finished an intensive mindfulness training program. They compared activation in areas related to cognitive control and emotion before and after meditation training. Surprisingly, meditation reduced both intensity and unpleasantness of a painful heat stimulus applied to volunteers’ calf muscles.
5. Lowers Blood Pressure
One of the more surprising advantages of meditation is its potential to lower blood pressure. This benefit is especially significant for those with high blood pressure, as this condition increases risk factors for heart disease and stroke.
Studies have demonstrated that meditation can help lower systolic blood pressure (the top number in your reading) and diastolic blood pressure (the bottom number).
Studies have also suggested that it increases the production of nitric oxide, a compound which causes your blood vessels to dilate.
Mindfulness meditation (MBSR), also known as Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), has been scientifically proven to improve sleep and focus in those suffering from anxiety or depression. Furthermore, MBSR can reduce stress levels and enhance immune function.
