The Magic of Meditation! 10 Science-Based Benefits of Meditation
Meditation is becoming quite popular due to its potential benefits, but is there any research behind these claims? It’s good to know we should do something but it’s incredibly important to know why we should do something. Knowing why and the benefits can help motivate us to actually stick to habits that help us.
Keep reading to learn exactly why we should meditate, with the science-based benefits of a daily meditation practice. Find out how you can gain these benefits of meditation with ease as well in this simple guide here!
What is Meditation
Personally, I don’t do something unless there is an incentive. You can tell me meditation is good for me, but unless I know why I should be doing it, it’s hard for me to start. Plus, meditation is something that has benefits only if it’s done as a habit, meaning it’s something you should do more than once. So what exactly is this mental activity and how can it help us as individuals?
Meditation is an ancient practice that has been done for thousands of years. I’d compare it to exercising. Just like we work out to train and strengthen the body, we should meditate to train and strengthen the brain.
Purpose
The purpose of this mental exercise is to improve your mind, body, and spirit. No matter what you believe, there is something about humans that makes us, well, us. Meditation allows us to go deep into who we are, calming the mind, removing mental noise, and training awareness.
Along with self-awareness and self-reflection, meditation also has tangible effects on our physical health. There are science-based benefits of meditation that show that this practice, when done as a habit, can even change the way the brain looks.
Science-Based Benefits of Meditation
Without further ado, here are the science-based benefits of meditation. Use benefits help both our body and mind, making meditation a powerful tool and improving overall health and wellness.
1. Reduces Stress
Meditation has been found to greatly reduce stress. Chronic stress is the number one cause of many diseases due to its link to inflammation. Inflammation in the body can take a toll on joint health and heart health, plus can make you get sick often due to a compromised immune system. Too much stress can even irritate existing conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome, post-traumatic stress disorder, fibromyalgia, and others.
Meditation decreases the physiological markers of stress such as the stress hormone cortisol, adrenaline, and norepinephrine.
2. Improves Focus
Meditation can easily help us improve focus. This is because meditation supports increased tension span and an increased memory, both of which are needed to focus. For example, a focused attention meditation is like weightlifting for your mind. It trains the mind to concentrate on something for longer periods.
Plus, meditation has been found to improve memory due to physical changes in brain composition. Check out how meditation can change the brain here!
3. Boost Mood
This mental practice is a great way to boost your overall mood. This is because meditation can help calm the mind and body. The slow and deep breaths that you take when you are meditating contribute to inner peace and allow you to feel tranquility. Furthermore, certain types of meditation can lead to an increase in baseline happiness due to concentration on what we are thankful for.
4. Improves Brain Health
There’s also an increase in brain health when you meditate more often. This is because meditating leads to increased activity in brain regions. This mental habit has even been found to increase brain plasticity, which is how the brain can adapt and change neural connections.
5. Increases Self-Awareness
Self-awareness is increased in people who meditate often. Some forms of meditation help you understand yourself more because you can sit silently and calmly observe your own thoughts and reactions. Some forms of meditation involve asking questions that aim to help you learn about yourself and grow into a better version of yourself.
6. Increases Emotional Health
Along the same vein, meditating often and gaining that increase in self-awareness can help you become more emotionally intelligent. Overall, people who meditate tend to report a more positive outlook on the future. Plus, meditating even leads to an improved self-image and self-esteem.
7. Manages Pain
This mental activity has been linked to pain management. One study review found that mindful meditation helped reduce reported pain. This may also be due to how breathing techniques used while you meditate allow your body to relax.
8. Improves Heart Health
Some studies have found that meditation is incredibly beneficial to heart health. This can be in part due to the reduction in stress which can lead to a reduction in inflammation and a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease. Meditation also tends to lower blood pressure and heart rate, making it easier for the heart to do its job.
9. Boosts Kindness
Some forms of meditation lead to an increase in mood and kindness surprisingly enough. This is because this mental exercise tends to increase positive feelings and Outlook towards yourself and others. If you feel better, you think better thoughts, and take better actions, both towards yourself and towards other people.
10. Increases Quality of Sleep
One of the most important things that meditation can help with is sleep. People who meditate tend to report a higher quality of sleep. Developing a habit of meditating before bed can also help improve insomnia and other sleep disorders. This mental activity literally helps the body relax and release tension which will allow you to cultivate more inner peace, making it more likely for you to fall asleep and stay asleep. Check out all the awesome benefits of sleep here.
Extra Benefits of Meditation
So in the hopes of making this article shorter, some extra benefits of meditation include controlling anxiety, reducing depression, increasing inner peace, and boosting overall happiness. It can help protect against neurological diseases due to its impact on memory and attention. Some studies have even found that meditation can help reduce dependencies and decrease addictive behaviors.
And overall at the end of the day meditation is incredibly accessible. It takes no money to start, just yourself and your mind. This makes it a great option for basically anyone who wants to see some benefits in their life.
The Takeaway
The science-based benefits of meditation are incredible. If we really want to change our lives, we should start with our minds. The mental and physical benefits that we can gain just from a 5-minute practice of mindfulness/meditation are incredible. Try out a short and sweet meditation right now and see if you gain any new insight into yourself!
Remember that health comes from within. Eat nutritious food, exercise when you can, and take care of your mental health. The small daily habits you cultivate become the basis for overall wellness. Don’t forget about microbiota health too! Gut microbiota affects the entire body, from the skin to muscles, to immune and mental health! Get all the resources you need about microbiota health for free here!
