Looking to improve your mental and physical health, but find it challenging to live in the present? We turn to our phones at the first hint of boredom, which can impact how we manage stress and anxiety. You can counter this with meditation, a technique to help you stay in the moment and keep your health in check.
Here are some notable benefits of practicing meditation:
1. **Less Stress**: Stress is a silent destroyer, often overlooked until it takes a serious toll on your body. It can mess with our sleep, cause unwanted weight gain, or even result in hair loss. Worse case scenario, it leads to some serious heart and stomach problems. With meditation, you can cut down your stress levels. Meditation lowers cortisol, a hormone that triggers stress in our bodies and causes inflammation. Simply put, if you’ve been feeling quite stressed out recently, it wouldn’t hurt to try meditating.
2. **Pain Management**: Do you know that over 50 million Americans deal with chronic pain? Managing pain can make everyday tasks challenging. Doctors are increasingly suggesting alternative methods to opioids for managing pain due to concerns about possible addiction. Such alternatives include cognitive behavioral therapy, acupuncture, physical therapy, and most notably, meditation. Research showed that meditation could increase tolerance for short-term pain or offer temporary relief from lower back pain. Don’t forget to discuss with your doctor before integrating meditation into your routine.
3. **Combats Depression**: Depression makes it hard for a person to find any joy in the activities they once loved, leading to a lack of purpose. Meditation helps combat this by tackling stress and anxiety, potential triggers for bouts of depression. Mindfulness meditation, specifically, disrupts negative thought patterns by training the brain to shift its focus back to the present.
4. **Lowers Blood Pressure**: Cardiovascular disease is a leading cause of premature death worldwide. Lowering our blood pressure supports long-term heart health. High blood pressure strains the heart and narrows the arteries, potentially leading to a stroke or heart attack over time. Meditation combined with a healthier diet has been found to lower blood pressure. This quietens the brain, inducing relaxation and reducing inflammation in the body.
Keen on starting meditation? You’ll find plenty of guidance videos online. Give it a go! You just might find your days becoming more peaceful and productive.
*Categories: General
Tags: Benefits, Meditation, Mental Health, Physical Health*
