Loading...

@

Advertisements
8 Scientifically Proven Benefits of Meditation
Health
2 years ago

 

Why meditate?

The main objective of meditation is to make our mind calm and peaceful. That is, currently, due to the amount of technology, work, and family that we have, it is very likely that we are constantly stressed, if not always. With meditation, we can achieve that even no matter what happens around us, our mind remains calm, without continuing to turn to those worries or mental discomforts with which we will finally experience real happiness.

You realize that many times it does not matter how much we have in the material matter, or that we achieve what we want, we are never truly happy or we are for a short time, and this is because our mind is always in a state of stress, saturated with external things. With the regular practice of meditation, you will be able to stay in harmony and happy regardless of the circumstances that surround you.

Meditation techniques and practices

Meditation helps us train our minds in the same way that we teach the body with exercise. But just as there are many forms of exercise, so there are meditation forms.

Depending on what you want to practice or what you want to achieve at a certain moment, you can use different techniques and thus develop different mental abilities.

For example, if you start your meditation practice, it will not be easy to sit for hours and try to keep your mind blank. What's more, even for me, who has been meditating for a long time, it is sometimes difficult to keep my mind blank, and then I can change the technique I am using. The best way for me, and the most recommended to start with is to focus on your breathing.

6 benefits about meditation

Below I show you some scientifically-proven benefits of meditation. I share some links to the studies and the results of them. Unfortunately, these studies are only in English, but if you are interested, you can easily translate them on Google.

According to an article in Forbes, meditation has been shown to physically change the brain and to have many neurological benefits. Some of them are the change in the volume of the gray matter until the reduction of activity in the region of the self in the brain that allows greater connectivity between the regions of the brain.

1. Reduce stress

One of the primary factors for meditation is tension relief. In a survey of 3,500 individuals, depression among people who meditate daily may potentially be minimized.

Normally, mental and physical stress causes an increase in the hormone cortisol. And this is what makes stress have so many negative effects on your health, such as lack of sleep or that you are very tired, that you are more prone to depression and anxiety, increase in blood pressure.

In an 8-week study, mindfulness meditation was shown to reduce these symptoms caused by stress.

2. Helps fight depression and reduce anxiety

There are at least 167 investigations where it is shown that meditation helps reduce anxiety, one of them is the study carried out at John Hopkins, where it was proven that meditation helps reduce stress and depression.

Meditation helps you manage stress and thereby reduces anxiety. An 8-week study was carried out where it was shown that it helped them reduce anxiety and some other symptoms such as phobias, social anxiety, paranoid thoughts, obsessive-compulsive behaviors, and panic attacks.

In another study with 18 volunteers 3 years after completing their 8-week meditation program. It was found that the majority had maintained the practice of meditation and therefore continued with low levels of stress.

In a much larger study with 2,466 participants showed that even the different strategies meditation help reduce anxiety levels. For example, the practice of yoga helps people reduce their anxiety, largely through the practice of meditation in motion and another through physical activity.

3. Improves concentration and attention

In a few days, you will be able to notice the difference in the ability to concentrate and stay attentive on a task, and it has been seen that people who meditate on their mind tend to be less distracted, and in case they are distracted, it is much easier to someone with a frequent practice of meditation which can realize and re-stay in the present.

For example, a study focused on the symptoms of practicing mindfulness meditation showed that participants were able to redirect and maintain their attention.

Likewise, it has been shown that workers who continually practiced mindfulness meditation were able to remain more attentive to their tasks for longer. And with this, they could better remember the task they were aiming for.

4. Help children in schools

Meditation can be of great help to developing minds, and even more so than in adults. Lately, there has been a lot of interest from educators and researchers in bringing meditation and yoga to schools. Many schools have recently implemented these practices into their daily schedules and have seen grades and attendance increase. So it has also been proven that there are cognitive and emotional benefits for children.

Meditation can reverse patterns in the brain that contribute to easy distraction, worry, or poor attention, therefore it is highly effective with children.

5. Helps preserve the brain against old age

According to a UCLA study, it was found that people who meditated for more or less 20 years had more gray matter volume throughout the brain, and the loss of volume in older people was much less than people who did not practice the meditation.

Also, the fact that meditation helps you improve your attention and maintain clarity is synonymous with keeping your mind young.

It appears to also improve memory loss somewhat, especially in patients with dementia.

6. Promotes emotional health

Some forms of meditation can help you improve your image and have a much more positive attitude.

Two specific studies on mindfulness mediation showed that depression was reduced in more than 4,600 adults. ( 1,  2 ).

The electric response of people who regularly perform focus therapy and those who don't was related to another regulated sample. For those who meditated reported optimistic thought for motivation based improvements in the brain.

Learn more about meditation on best healthcare and wellness blogs