Nowadays, the world has thankfully started to take mental health seriously. As we continue to look for treatments, meditation is certainly one of those. Doctors would also recommend medications but they often have side effects, unlike meditation which just needs your time.
However, life nowadays is so rushed that we barely have time for ourselves. Thankfully, meditation isn’t a time-consuming practice. Try spending a few minutes a day to restore your calm and find inner peace. It may sound nonsensical, but think of how you need to control your breathing when having a panic attack. And that essentially calms you down.
In the same sense, meditation helps the air in your body circulate and calm your nerves. It’s an inexpensive and simple practice for anybody. You don’t need any special equipment to do it too. You can simply meditate on your bed in your room or on the couch.
Once you’ve understood the basics of meditation, you can practice it anywhere. It can be while you’re on a walk or on your way to your nearby doctor. You can even try meditating in the middle of a stressful business meeting.
Meditation in Context
Meditation has a long history where it’s been practiced for thousands of years. You’d commonly see monks meditating in movies, trying to achieve enlightenment or greater inner strength. The art of meditation has been practiced for thousands of years and it’s still going strong.
However, it’s not just about breaking through your bodily limits. It’s a practice meant to deepen their ties and understanding of the mystical forces of life. Now, it’s more common to use meditation to relax and reduce stress.
This doesn’t mean that there’s no science behind meditation. According to neuroscience research, meditation can increase the connections between our amygdala and prefrontal cortex. These two parts of our brain are what help us be less reactive to stressors. They also help us cope and recover better from stressful experiences.
Hence, meditation is considered a kind of mind-body complementary medicine. By meditating, you’re able to gradually remove your jumbled and stress-inducing thoughts. Consequently, your mind will enter a state of tranquility and improve your physical and emotional states.
What are the Benefits of Meditation?
Meditation Reduces Stress
Stress reduction is one of the primary reasons why people attempt meditation. Some claim and support its efficacy.
When you’re mentally and physically stressed, your body produces increased levels of cortisol, the stress hormone. This is where those stress-induced symptoms stem from. Your body releases harmful inflammatory chemicals called cytokines.
You’ll experience a disruption in sleep patterns and have bouts of depression. You’ll also suffer from anxiety, increased blood pressure, and additional fatigue. Not to mention, you’ll find that you can’t think straight too.
Meditation can help reduce the stress-induced inflammation response of your body. It may also improve other stress-related symptoms, like irritable bowel or fibromyalgia.
That’s why it’s not weird for doctors to recommend meditation, especially if you’re about to undergo a stressful procedure. The primary doctor near me can recommend the best meditation practices and routines for you.
Meditation Keeps Anxiety Under Control
By reducing stress levels, you can also reduce anxiety with meditation. A research trial with 1,300 adults found that meditation decreases anxiety. And its effects were more noticeable and stronger in subjects with the highest levels of anxiety.
Meditation can help increase positive self-statements and the way people react to stress. Their coping mechanisms will improve and become healthier. In that sense, you’re changing your life in powerful and positive ways. For example, people with chronic pain found noticeable improvements in their mental health.
That is only effective if meditation is done regularly. Meditation is not a fast-acting cure but its benefits, in the long run, are greatly felt. You will learn to love yourself and in effect, come to love the beings around you.
For example, people who practice yoga show reduced levels of anxiety. This can be explained by the combination of physical activity and meditative practice.
Meditation Helps You Understand Yourself Better
Sometimes, we’re frustrated by ourselves for acting in a way we don’t understand. The frustration leads to negative thoughts and we feel our sense of self getting muddled. Meditation untangles those webs of thought and helps you gain a stronger understanding of yourself.
In a quiet space, you can ask yourself questions that you’ll eventually find the answer to. It’s called “self-inquiry meditation” and it’s a process that helps you relate to those around you.
Some forms of meditation will teach you how to recognize harmful thoughts and how to ward them off. By having greater self-awareness, you can steer your thought habits from destructive patterns.
For example, tai chi teaches you to believe in your ability to overcome great challenges. This improves your self-efficacy and self-image. It helps you overcome defeatist thoughts and believe in yourself.
Meditation Can Lengthen Your Attention Span
It’s so common these days for kids to have a short attention span. But focused-attention meditation is an exercise for that. It will increase the endurance of your attention before it flicks away to a distraction. Think of it like weight lifting but it’s for your attention span.
Some people listen to meditation tapes. Afterward, they experienced an improvement in their accuracy when completing their tasks. Meditation can undo mind-wandering and poor attention patterns in the brain.
Feel free to go to the nearest doctor’s office to consult about meditation routines for your attention span.
Conclusion
Meditation is a thousand-year practice to understand the forces of life and reach enlightenment. It’s usually part of an ascetic practice to detach oneself from worldly desires. However, it can also be used to relieve stress and anxiety so you can live a better life.
Though meditation may not seem logical, some studies prove how it can cure stress-induced symptoms. The inflammatory hormones in your body caused by stress will be reduced. That’s not all, meditation is good for your mental and emotional health when practiced long-term.
Meditation can improve your outlook on life and the way you view yourself. Meditation isn’t limited to simply sitting down and taking deep breaths. Some exercises count as meditation, like yoga or tai chi. Some of them teach you how to overcome stress and challenges by believing in yourself.
Believing in your capabilities is just the first step. By having a firm mentality, you’re able to focus on finding solutions than worrying about your problems.
Finally, meditation is also good for lengthening your attention span. It’s becoming harder these days to have a strong attention span, but meditation helps you endure long periods of focus.
Hence, if you’re having issues with your self-esteem, mental health, or attention span, try consulting your doctor. See if meditation can help you overcome the negative thoughts and challenges within yourself.
