Maintaining a consistent meditation routine can be challenging. With the demands of daily life, having time to sit down can seem impossible. However, the benefits of meditating are so many that it is worth introducing it on a daily basis.
The purpose of meditation is to help us learn how to come to our situation as it is. It's not about creating the perfect atmosphere or waiting for the perfect moment. In fact, when we are just in moments of stress, it may be the most suitable and fruitful time to practice it.
What is it?
Meditation is a technique used for thousands of years to develop awareness of the present moment. It can involve practices to sharpen focus and attention, connect with the body and breath, develop acceptance of difficult emotions, and even alter consciousness. It has been shown to offer a number of physical and psychological benefits, such as stress reduction and improved immunity.
Although many spiritual traditions include meditation as part of their teachings and practices, the technique itself does not pertain to any particular religion or faith. Although it is of ancient origin, it is still practiced today in cultures around the world to create a sense of peace, calm, and inner harmony.
Meditation may offer a solution to the growing need to reduce stress amid busy schedules and demanding lives. Although there is no right or wrong way to meditate, it is important to find a practice that meets our needs.
It is estimated that there nine popular types for the practice of meditation, which are:
- Mindfulness
- Spiritual
- focused
- Moving
- Mantra
- Transcendental
- Progressive relaxation
- loving kindness
- Display
Not all styles of meditation are right for everyone. These practices require different skills and mindsets.
Advantages
Meditation can bring a sense of calm, peace, and balance that can benefit emotional well-being as well as overall health. And these benefits do not end when the meditation session ends. It can help make the days calmer, and control the symptoms of certain diseases.
Reduces stress
Stress reduction is one of the most common reasons people try meditation. Normally, mental and physical stress causes increased levels of the stress hormone cortisol. This produces many of the harmful effects of stress, such as the release of inflammatory chemicals called cytokines.
These effects can disrupt sleep, promote depression and anxiety, increase blood pressure, and contribute to fatigue and fuzzy thinking. A style of meditation called "mindfulness meditation" reduces the inflammatory response caused by stress.
Additionally, research has shown that meditation can also improve symptoms of stress-related conditions, including irritable bowel syndrome, post-traumatic stress disorder, and fibromyalgia.
Control anxiety
Meditation can reduce stress levels, which translates to less anxiety.
One study found that eight weeks of mindfulness meditation helped reduce anxiety symptoms in people with generalized anxiety disorder, as well as increasing positive self-statements and improving stress reactivity and coping.
Another study in people with chronic pain found that completing an eight-week meditation program led to noticeable improvements in depression, anxiety, and pain over a year.
Additionally, some research suggests that a variety of mindfulness exercises and meditation can reduce anxiety levels. For example, yoga has been shown to help people reduce anxiety. This is likely due to the benefits of both meditative practice and physical activity. Meditation can also help manage work-related anxiety.
Promotes emotional health
Some forms of meditation can lead to a better self-image and a more positive outlook on life.
For example, a review of treatments given to adults found that mindfulness meditation improved symptoms of depression. Another study found that people who completed a meditation exercise experienced fewer negative thoughts in response to viewing negative images, compared to those in the control group.
Additionally, inflammatory chemicals called cytokines, which are released in response to stress, can affect mood and lead to depression. A review of several studies suggests that meditation may also reduce depression by lowering levels of these inflammatory chemicals.
Helps control pain
Pain perception is connected to mental state and can be elevated under stressful conditions. Some research suggests that incorporating meditation into your routine may be beneficial for pain management.
For example, one review concluded that mindfulness meditation could reduce pain, improve quality of life, and decrease symptoms of depression in people with chronic pain.
Meditators and non-meditators experience the same causes of pain, but meditators show a greater ability to cope with pain and even experience less pain sensation.
Improve sleep
Almost half of the population will have insomnia problems at some point. One study compared mindfulness-based meditation programs and found that people who meditated stayed asleep longer and had better insomnia severity, compared to those in a control condition without medication.
Being proficient in meditation can help control or redirect racing or runaway thoughts that normally lead to insomnia. Additionally, it can help relax the body, releasing tension and placing it in a peaceful state where we are more likely to fall asleep.
Fight addictions
The mental discipline that we can develop through meditation can help break dependencies by increasing self-control and awareness of triggers for addictive behaviors. Research has shown that meditation can help people learn to redirect their attention, control their emotions and impulses, and increase their understanding of causes.
A study of people receiving treatment for substance use disorder alcohol found that the practice of transcendental meditation was associated with lower levels of stress, psychological distress, alcohol cravings, and alcohol use after 3 months.
Meditation can also help control food cravings. One review found that mindfulness meditation helped participants reduce Binge emotional.
Improve attention span
Focused attention meditation is like lifting weights for your attention span. Helps increase the strength and stamina of attention. For example, one study found that people who listened to a meditation tape experienced better attention and accuracy when completing a task, compared to those in the control group.
A similar study showed that people who practiced meditation regularly performed better on a visual task and had a longer attention span than those who had no meditation experience at all.
What's more, one review concluded that meditation can even reverse patterns in the brain that contribute to mental distraction, worry, and inattention. Even meditating for a short time each day can be beneficial. One study found that meditating during only 13 minutes a day attention and memory improved after 8 weeks.
As practiced?
The easiest way to start is to sit quietly and focus on your breath. The old sayings say that we should sit in meditation for 20 minutes every day, unless we are too busy. So we should sit down for an hour so we can focus on it.
However, it's best to start in small time increments, even 5-10 minutes, and build up from there. We will constantly sit for 20 minutes a day and do this for 100 days straight. We can combine that with an extra 2-5 minutes of meditation throughout the day to break up the chaos, and we'll soon feel the benefits.