7 Health Benefits of Meditation
For thousands of years, meditation has helped man increase awareness not only on himself but also on his surroundings. Experts term meditation as the process of gradually training one`s mind to focus and redirect internal energy in a bid to create long lasting peace and contentment. For many, meditation helps reduce stress and anxiety levels among other health benefits. Below is a list of 7 ways meditation boosts your overall health.
01. Stress reliever
Believe it or not, people who meditate are less likely to be affected by increased stress levels as compared to their non-meditating counterparts. Once you practice meditation, you increase your brain’s feel good factor mainly due to analyzing the stressful situations and attempting to find a solution. However, it is important to note that inconsistent meditation may not be as effective as meditating on a day to day basis. To get the most out of meditation, you should take time to reflect on stress enhancers regularly, and concentrate on finding an inner solution. Meditating on your various stress factors will help you face challenges head on and address them without delay. People who do not practise meditation are likely to bottle up issues until they become increasingly difficult to control.
02. Improved memory
By meditating regularly, you enhance your brain`s memory retention capability. Meditating ensures you take your time to think about pertinent issues and picture situations vividly in your head. Although the art of successful meditation might prove difficult to learn, it usually gets easier with time. Expert meditators have been known to have superb memory retention abilities. Meditation is recommended for middle aged and elderly people, more so those who experience difficulties in regards to memory. Once you engage in active meditation, your brain will become better positioned to remember images, people and situations.
03. Helps overcome addiction
Let’s face it, addiction affects your health in more ways than one. Whether you are addicted to hard drugs or less toxic substances such as coffee, meditation can help you overcome such addictions. Addiction more often than not results from deeper rooted and unresolved issues which lead to dependency on either a drug or an activity as an escape route. By meditating regularly, you will be in a position to identify and address the root cause of the issue. Unlike other therapies designed to curb addiction, meditation helps one to find peace with the situation. The more you engage in meditation, the deeper you embark on your self-discovery journey. That is, you will become better placed to separate yourself from your addictions and eventually restore your health.
04. Reduced anxiety
Anxiety is often perceived as a light issue that is fairly easy to control. However, as experts reveal, anxiety can lead to various mental illnesses if not adequately addressed. Therefore, it is advisable to seek professional assistance from certified agencies that can help address anxiety before it escalates to undesirable levels. An example is Brisbane Wellbeing Psychologists which provides meditation assistance for different types of clients. Meditating regularly helps reduce anxiety in both the short term and the long run. Due to work and other demanding days to day activities, anxiety is inevitable for almost everyone. Meditation helps address your fears by being one with yourself and detaching yourself from your phobias. However, to successfully reduce anxiety through meditation, you will need to practice consistently and seek professional assistance whenever the need arises.
05. Improved emotional health
Both physical and mental health is dependent on an individual’s emotional health. When one is emotionally unhealthy, it usually becomes difficult to conduct basic activities. An emotionally unhealthy individual finds it hard to maintain both social and work relations which can be detrimental in the long run. Mediation helps you find inner peace as a result of consistent self-assessment. Once you commence your meditation journey, you will be in a position to come to terms with various situations in your life. That is, you will understand that some things are beyond your control which is important in finding closure and accepting yourself as you are. Emotional stability improves your mental health by significantly reduces your stress levels.
06. Meditation improves sleep
At some point, almost everyone will struggle with insomnia either due to stress, anxiety or other causes. If you don’t want to prescribe to sleeping pills, then you should consider meditation. Insomnia arises due to increased stress or anxiety levels which consequently lead to overthinking. When you overthink, your brain finds it hard to focus on sleep which eventually leads to insomnia. Unfortunately, insomnia can lead to unwanted health outcomes and even drug dependency if one resorts to the use of sleeping pills to solve the sleeping problem. By practicing meditation, you will train your brain to overcome stress and anxiety levels which hinder sleep. Individuals who meditate sleep longer and faster than their counterparts who do not engage in active meditation.
07. Increased self-awareness
Meditation helps improve self- awareness. As is obvious, there are different forms of meditation whereby each has a specific improvement purpose. Once you start meditating, you will realize a host of positive changes in your life. For instance, you will better understand your purpose and how you can achieve your goals. By increasing self-awareness, you will be in a better position to different what works for you from behaviors that derail your progress. Over time, your increased self- awareness will help improve your mind and body coordination which is vital to your mental health. A good mental frame will rub off on your physical health and ensure you maintain positive habits that lead to growth.
