Meditation is the practice of concentrating your focus on a breath, sound, movement, or object in order to calm the mind, increase awareness of the present, and promote happiness.
We could all use a little more calm and happiness in our lives, but if that’s not enough to convince you, here are five proven health benefits of practising meditation.
- Stress Relief
Probably the most common reason for beginning to meditate is to relieve stress. Mediation can not only alleviate stress in the moment, but with practice, it leads to long-term stress management by providing you with the tools to acknowledge stressors, take a step back, and breathe. Meditation has also been found to help manage symptoms of stress-related conditions such as IBS and PTSD.
- Enhanced Focus and Memory Retention
Practising meditation leads to enhanced focus. When the brain is overloaded with thoughts \swirling around, it causes mental fatigue. Meditation helps calm your mind, allowing you to retain and process information quicker and more efficiently. Practising mediation also increases the volume of grey matter in your brain. Grey matter is crucial for protecting the hippocampus, which is the part of your brain connected to learning and memory.
- Improved Sleep
Mediation has been shown to reduce insomnia and fatigue. As you lay down for bed, like many others, you may find yourself agonising over the day or worrying about tomorrow. Practising meditation helps to control or redirect your racing mind; shortening the amount of time it takes to fall asleep.
- Lower Blood Pressure
A common side effect of excessive stress is high blood pressure, even if you’re physically fit. With its ability to reduce stress, meditation has been found to lower blood pressure. With regular practice, you can sustain this drop over long periods of time. Lower blood pressure reduces the strain put on the heart and arteries, helping to prevent heart disease.
- Management of Addictions
Meditation can be used to break and help maintain abstinence from addictions. Whether it be nicotine, fatty foods or biting your nails, practising meditation can be used to better understand the causes and triggers of your addiction or dependency. In addition, through practice, you can learn to manage and redirect any unwanted impulses. Mediation also reduces stress and anxiety, meaning it is effective at helping to maintain abstinence from any substances or habits you might use as a way to deal with stress or anxiety.
By Charlotte Tindale
