Meditation is becoming more and more popular as people are becoming more and more aware of the benefits. we are all addicted to it as it really is a life changer practice.
Meditation can be used to increase your own self-awareness, and your awareness of your surroundings. People use meditation to develop positive habits and feelings, including positive mood and outlook, healthy sleep patterns, self-discipline, and an increased pain tolerance. Here are some of the benefits of meditation.
Stress Reduction
One of the most common reasons people adopt meditation is stress reduction. Mental and physical stress can increase levels of the stress hormone cortisol. This triggers most of the harmful effects associated with stress, including the release of cytokines that cause inflammation. Stress also disrupts sleep, increases blood pressure, promotes depression and anxiety, contributes to fatigue, and stops us from thinking clearly. Studies have shown that meditation reduces stress and improves the symptoms of stress-related conditions.
Control Anxiety
If you have less stress then you have less anxiety. Studies have shown that meditation helped to reduce anxiety and the symptoms of anxiety-related disorders including social anxiety, phobias, paranoid thoughts, panic attacks, and OCD. Different kinds of meditation have all been shown to help reduce anxiety. Yoga is great for it because it offers both the benefits of meditation and physical exercise. Meditation also helps to control job0related anxiety for those working in high-pressure environments.
Promote Emotional Health
Certain kinds of meditation have been shown to improve self-image and establish a more positive outlook on life. One study showed meditation practitioners experienced a long-term decrease in their depression symptoms. Inflammatory chemicals known as cytokines are released in response to stress and can affect mood, leading to depression. Meditation is able to reduce levels of these inflammatory chemicals and boost emotional health as a response. Meditation has also been shown to boost positive thinking and optimism.
Improve Self-Awareness
Meditation can help you to develop a better understanding of yourself and grow into your ideal state of being. Self-inquiry meditation is specifically designed to give you a better understand of who you are and how you relate to the people around you. There are other forms of meditation that can help you recognize the thoughts that may be holding you back. As you become more aware of your thought patterns and habits, you can push yourself to more constructive patterns of thought. Meditation has also been shown to improve creative problem solving.
Lengthen Attention Span
Focused-attention meditation trains to attention span. It hopes to increase the strength and endurance of your own attention. Studies have shown that mindfulness meditation helped to improve the attention span of participants. People in the studies were also better at recalling the details of their work afterwards, as well as focusing on doing their work at the time.
One of the great things about meditation is that all of these benefits – and more – can be achieved by meditating for just a short amount of time. Try meditation out for yourself and see what it can do for you.
When you experience the benefits for yourself, you may be more motivated to continue meditating!