What Are The Health Benefits Of Meditation?

Lynda Ishida

Professional Writer

Everyday life for many of us can often result in stress, anxiety, and the inability to slow down. Studies based on different types of meditation indicate that just 20 minutes a day for a few weeks can be enough for you to start experiencing benefits.

It’s hard to believe that a simple daily meditation session can change almost every area of your life. This article will explain what is meditation and the health benefits of mediation – including meditation for stress, and meditation for anxiety.

Find Answers to Frequently Asked Questions

What is meditation?

The definition of meditation is to engage in mental exercise for the purpose of reaching a heightened level of spiritual awareness. In simple terms meditation is considered as a kind of mind and body complementary medicine – producing a deep state of relaxation and a calm mind.

During the mediation process your attention is focused on getting rid of racing thoughts that may be cramming your mind and causing stress – resulting in enhanced emotional wellbeing.

Does meditation work?

Yes, it does. Studies have shown that mediation is an effective tool for stress management – reprogramming the brain to manage stress within a consistent, daily practice. Mediation can actually rewire your brain for peace and happiness. It also improves your ability to store new information and recall that information more easily.

What does meditation do?

Meditation counters the stress response with a relaxation response which leads to a reduction of blood pressure, heart rate, and the consumption of oxygen. This creates a gradual change in the brain – and the more you meditate the more mental resilience is built up.

Meditation improves physical health by boosting immune functions, regulating hormones, and decreasing cell inflammation. And can control responses during traumatic events preventing panic attacks or nervous breakdowns.

Meditation also stabilises blood circulation and regulates metabolism, blood pressure, and heart rate whilst bringing a positive lifestyle attitude, reducing fatigue, and improving sleep quality.

How does meditation help with stress?

Meditation reduces the density of brain tissue associated with anxiety. Stress relief meditation results in stress levels falling as it helps in controlling blood circulation – that spikes during stressful events. As a natural nerve soothing method meditation is a preferred way to ease work stress and tension without having to rely on medication.

Meditation releases muscle tension and brings energy and control to stressful situations, as negative thoughts are replaced with positive ones. And sleeping healthily encourages the body to heal naturally. Mindful meditation has been shown to reduce the inflammation response caused by stress.

Depression and anxiety also respond effectively with mediation. Studies show that it severs the connection between centres in the brain – resulting in the disruption of the entire stress cycle. This gives the power to ignore negative feelings and successfully overcome depression.

What are the health benefits of meditation?

The emotional benefits of meditation can include:

• Enhancing self-awareness, developing a stronger understanding of yourself and how you relate to those around you
• A reduction of negative thoughts, and an increase of positive feelings and actions towards yourself and others
• A focus on the present, and an increase in the strength and endurance of your attention span
• Gaining a new perspective on stressful situations, and learning skills to manage them

Research continues to show that meditation may also help people manage symptoms of certain conditions like anxiety, asthma, high blood pressure, sleep issues, and tension headaches.

Overcoming addictions and improving cardiovascular health, reducing the risk of heart disease, are two other benefits. And enhancing your immune system making you more resilient against infections and viruses is another. Scientific research has also proven that meditation has the capability of reducing both physical and mental pain.

Different Types of Meditation

There are many types of meditation which all share the same aim to relax the mind and achieve inner peace. These ways include but aren’t limited to:

Guided, guided imagery, or visualisation meditation

With this technique you form mental images of situations or places you find relaxing using smells, sounds, sight, and textures

Mantra meditation

Silently repeating a calming word, thought, or a phrase that distracts your mind from racing thoughts

Metta meditation

Also known as the loving-kindness mediation starts with developing kind thoughts and feelings towards yourself. Through practice this is extended to friends and acquaintances – increasing compassion, improving social anxiety, and helping anger management

Mindfulness meditation

During this meditation method you focus on your experience throughout meditation such as your breathing. It’s based on being mindful and having increased awareness and acceptance of living in the moment – increasing your psychological function and improving your sense of wellbeing

Qi gong

This traditional Chinese type of meditation combines relaxation, physical movement, and breathing exercises to restore and maintain balance

Tai chi

In Tai Chi you perform a series of movements or postures in a graceful and slow manner as you practice deep breathing – another form of gentle Chinese medicine

Transcendental meditation

This simple and natural technique uses a personally assigned mantra – a word, sound, or phrase – in a specific way. This allows your body to settle into a state of deep rest and relaxation, and your mind to achieve an inner peace, improving cognition and increasing ability to perform tasks needing focus

Yoga

Performed through a series of postures and controlled breathing exercises that encourage you to focus on the present and less on your busy lifestyle – promoting a flexible body and a calm mind. Yoga has been shown to help people reduce anxiety due to the benefits of both meditative practice and physical activity.

Meditation Made Easy

Muse 2 is a multi-sensor meditation training device that provides feedback to help you learn more quickly. It gives you accurate, real-time feedback on your brain’s activity as you meditate. And measures your breathing, heart rate, and body movements as you free your mind from racing thoughts.

As Muse 2 analyses your brainwaves it then guides you to control them – keeping you calm by converting brainwaves into weather sounds. Peaceful weather indicates a calm and settled mind. This form of meditation is powerful enough to change the structure and function of your brain, improving both your mental and physical wellbeing.

Lynda Ishida My job is to write but my hobby is to research the latest tech innovations, especially for health & wellness.