The popularity of incorporating meditation into people’s weekly or even daily schedules is rising year after year as more people realize the benefits it has to offer. It is a habitual process of training your mind to focus and redirect your thoughts. Meditation can be used to increase your self-awareness and your surroundings. People also use it to develop concentration and reduce stress. Other beneficial habits and feelings people use this practice to help develop are to obtain a positive mindset and outlook, self-discipline, healthy sleep patterns and even increased pain tolerance.
One of the main reasons people start to meditate is to reduce stress. Mental and physical stress cause increased levels of cortisol, a stress hormone. This produces many of the harmful effects of stress, such as releasing cytokines which are inflammation promoting chemicals. Many styles of meditation can help reduce stress. Meditation can also reduce symptoms in people with stress-triggered medical conditions. Going off that, less stress translates to less anxiety which is another benefit in practicing meditation. An eight-week study showed that it can reduce symptoms of anxiety disorders, such as panic attacks, obsessive-compulsive disorders, paranoid thoughts, social anxiety and other phobias.
Overall, meditation helps and promotes mental health, which is crucial for everyone as we get older. Certain forms of meditation can lead to an improved self-image and more positive outlook on life. Two studies showed that mindfulness mediation found decreased depression in over 4,600 adults. Those who meditated showed measurable changes in activity in areas related to positive thinking and optimism. Other benefits of practicing meditation are enhanced self-awareness, lengthens attention span, reduce memory loss, generates kindness, help fight addictions, improves sleep, helps control pain and decrease blood pressure.
