10 scientifically proven benefits of meditation.
Been a bit stressed out? This might be for you. Meditation can take your body to an even more relaxed state than deep sleep. During meditation, your body does into a deep state of relaxation. This state of relaxation allows your body to heal and regenerate completely.
1. RELAXATION
The Harvard Medical School has been one of the pioneers in scientific studies of the benefits and healing impact of meditation. What they have discovered is that relaxation can change the chemistry of our bodies. A sitting practice helps to balance the body to its natural state with no stress or agitation. Do you think this kind of relaxation will have a positive effect on various aspects of our daily life? External stimulus distracts our body function, and it affects our mind and the chemical balance in our body. If stress is not managed correctly, it affects our adrenal glands. The adrenal glands produce cortisol. Cortisol is a steroid hormone. When produced excessively, it may harm our body. The extra cortisol in our body increases the blood sugar level and affects our immune system. This causes us to be less resistant to illness and disease. Having a regular meditation practice can help you cultivate a steady and continuous relaxed state. This state allows you NOT to be affected by external circumstances or conditions.
2. CONTROL OF EMOTIONS, LESS AGITATION
Meditation helps you gain better control of emotions. A relaxed mindset leads to less anxiety. As a result, there is reduces the intensity of mood swings and anger episodes. How good are you at dealing with your emotions? Anger affects the function of the frontal lobe in our brain. Anger shuts down the frontal lobe, and you lose the ability to act rationally. This leads to a lack of awareness and irrational acts. Have you ever woken up the next morning wishing you had paused before operating out of anger? When your angry, communication becomes difficult. Anger releases the neurochemicals that destroy the parts of the brain that control emotional reactivity. The more you meditate, the less reactive you become. Welcome to living a more balanced life!
3. DECREASED BLOOD PRESSURE
Do you know anyone who suffers from high blood pressure? I bet you do! High blood pressure has, unfortunately, become a widespread issue among people of all ages. This stressful life we are living in nowadays is contributing to it. How can we lower our blood pressure? We have the solution. Better than medication is meditation! The US National Institutes of Health has referred to the benefits of meditation to drop blood pressure as the most effective means for helping mild hypertension. Remember that, as mentioned above, meditation promotes relaxation. This decreases stress levels, as relaxation reduces the activity of the adrenal glands. Stress is one of the main reasons for high blood pressure. Adopting a regular meditation practice may allow you to get positive results in your next blood pressure test!
4. A DROP IN BLOOD CHOLESTEROL
Cholesterol is not as bad of a monster as the word echoes. It sticks our cell membranes together and helps in digestion, and in the production of vitamin D and sex hormones. But cholesterol can be a problem when there is an excess amount of it. If we consume too much cholesterol, it gets into our blood and clogs the blood passages. This builds up and causes various other symptoms. So here’s how the story goes with cholesterol. When we experience stress, the adrenal glands get activated and produce cortisol. (You remember what we said about cortisol. When produced in excess, cortisol destroys cells in our bodies. When cells get damaged, they are automatically patched up with cholesterol. The higher the stress, the more cortisol gets released, more cells get damaged, and more cholesterol needs to be built to take care of the damage. Is that something you would like to avoid? Yes! Right? Meditation naturally reduces stress. It also helps us to focus, become calm, and deal with negative thoughts in a better way. Regular practice of meditation allows you to handle outer circumstances in a more peaceful way. Meditation helps you to become less reactive. When you can maintain more balance in your emotions, you produce less cortisol, if you produce less cortisol, you produce less cholesterol.
5. INSOMNIA
Studies have shown that one of the huge benefits of meditation and mindful practices reduce insomnia. (https://www.sleepfoundation.org/articles/how-meditation-can-treat-insomnia) Meditation increases blood circulation helping muscles to relax. The practice of mindfulness and meditation brings your mind to the present moment. This daily practice will help you to let go of the stresses of the day and the challenges of tomorrow.
The practice of falling asleep faster includes:
– letting go of external worries
– being present in the moment
– doing some deep diaphragmatic exercises
– preparing yourself for sleep
Stress and worry make sleeping much more difficult! When you experience stress, the adrenal glands are working overtime to produce adrenaline. A relaxed body stops the release of adrenaline and other hormones that keep you awake. With consistent meditation practice, you will see experience deeper sleep very quickly.
6. CURING ADDICTIONS
Many of us in the modern world face addictions: alcohol, tobacco, food, sugar, prescriptions, drugs, sports, social media… Pick your poison kind of thing, right? Not to worry, there are healthy and natural ways to overcome addiction, and meditation is one of them. When we feed our addictions, chemicals are released in our brains. The chemicals are dopamine, which creates a euphoric like state. Once we become addicted to it, the cycle to break that addiction becomes harder and harder. The urge, the need for this sensation of dopamine, is so overwhelming and intense. And once we get this fix, the lows sometimes become unbearable. Think about sugar and what happens to our bodies. We consume sugar and experience a spike in energy (and dopamine), but once the sugar leaves, we crash. This leaves us looking for another “”fix.”” Sound familiar? One of the benefits of meditation is that we naturally boost the dopamine level and save the sensation of euphoria to be produced naturally. Long-term meditation practice changes the structure of the frontal lobe of the brain. This part of the brain that is connected to happiness-. The euphoria levels are more likely to stay higher among those who meditate.
7. IMPROVES DIGESTION
There is an intricate connection between the brain and the digestive system. Have you heard of your gut being called the second brain? It is actually a thing! Our digestive system and inner organs are sensitive. Tension, anxiety, and stress affects it. (Are you starting to see a pattern yet?) Our stress level affects our digestion: many problems such as cramps, bloating, and gas. As a result these side effects are the way the body reacts to tension. Most of the serotonin produced in our bodies takes place in the gut. When that process is affected by stress, it causes a variety of symptoms, even food allergies. When the body relaxes as a result of meditation, blood circulation and blood oxygen levels increase. Digestion improves, and serotonin levels stabilize. Don’t worry, be happy! –guess the song was onto something!
8. SLOWING DOWN AGING
Have you noticed how people who live a more relaxed, stress-free life tend to look younger? Stress makes us look older, and that is because the “telomeres” in our DNA begin to fray. That happens naturally with time, but living under stress speeds up the process. Want to feel and look younger? Try meditating. Lab studies show that the stress hormone cortisol reduces the activity of telomerase. This is an enzyme that can replenish telomeres. Ergo! By decreasing the amount of cortisol in the body reduces the loss of telomeres in our DNA. This is one of the causes of aging. And as we have discussed above, a consistent meditation practice can reduce cortisol levels, which can, in turn, slow down the aging process. Well, let us start with sleep. How good is your sleep? Studies have shown that meditators have more telomerase activity in their blood cells. They have demonstrated that meditation increases melatonin in the body because of the brainwave frequencies in our brain during meditation. Melatonin is best known for memory, immune system, and restful sleep. This sleep hormone and its antioxidant power prevent telomeres from shortening. All in all, allowing you to slow down aging. So OOOMMM your way to better sleep, relaxation, and looking younger. Check out an interesting Noble prize-winning article on how meditation slows down aging.
9. Meditation Increases Libido
This one may do it for you. A benefit of meditation can have a positive effect on our libido. During this quiet time, endorphins are released during meditation. AND this leads us to feel good about ourselves. When we feel great, we are more interested in sex. Meditation also increases brain wave frequency releasing DHEA (dehydroepiandrosterone) hormone, which increases our sex drive by normalizing the testosterone levels. DHEA levels in our bodies decrease over the years, and there is no external boost, as the DHEA is solely produced by our body. The excellent news is DHEA is one of the substances that actually increase in the body as a result of the deep relaxation that meditation promotes.
10. REDUCING PMS
One of the many benefits of meditation is that it may help to decrease the symptoms of Premenstrual Syndrome, PMS, which many women usually experience before their cycle. PMS symptoms can show up once a month in the form of mood swings, food cravings, emotional sensitivity, vulnerability, grumpiness, and even insomnia. The way we manage our thoughts, feelings, and emotions in our daily life, and by creating positive emotions and optimistic thoughts by using meditation as a tool, can reduce PMS symptoms. Meditation can help in relaxation and better sleep due to ease in muscle tension. By relaxing the mind and body, reducing stress levels, increasing blood flow, the body can find its natural state and heal. Reaching a naturally relaxed state has been shown to help in cramping, bloating, and muscle aches. And don’t just take my word and the scientists’ word for it. The benefits of a regular meditation practice are now undeniable. If your friend’s testimony wasn’t enough reason before, you now have the science to tip you over your decision to give meditation a try. If you decide to start meditating, be consistent. Consistency is critical to be able to see results. Meditating just a few minutes a day every day is much better than meditating for 30 minutes once a week. To see the benefits of meditations, set a realistic time goal for you daily, and just go for it!
