Why you should meditate every day
We think our lives are busy and productive. What we don’t realize amidst this productivity is how stress-filled our lives are. Stress is a silent killer. It can seep into your mind and body. Obesity, depression, anxiety, heart diseases, blood pressure, and diabetes are just some issues caused by stress. While we can’t change the world, we can change our ability to tackle stress. One of the easiest ways to handle and reduce stress is with meditation. The benefits of meditation are so vast that it is considered a life-saver by many. You should be meditating everyday if you aren’t already.
Meditation is a habitual process of training your mind. Through meditation, one learns to focus their negative and positive thoughts. You can redirect your mind and energy towards better things. Meditation trains you to be aware, conscious, and it increases your ability to concentration. It relaxes your mind. Meditation acts as an immunity booster, improves sleep patterns, increases pain tolerance, and reduces your anger and anxiety. Thousands of studies are available which show that practicing mindfulness, meditation every day can empower you, and improve your health.
Meditation has many mental and physical effects. It can reduce your blood pressure. By reducing the strain on your heart, it can improve your health and immunity. High blood pressure makes the heart work harder to pump blood. This can lead to poor heart function. High blood pressure is one of the leading causes of attacks and strokes. Studies have found that people who meditated daily by chanting verbal mantras have reduced blood pressure compared to those who don’t. It relaxes the nerve signals that coordinate heart function, tension in blood vessels, and fight-or-flight response that increase alertness in stressful situations.
Stress reduction is one of the most common reasons people turn to meditation. Mental and physical stress leads to the excess production of a stress hormone called Cortisol. This leads to other harmful effects including the release of inflammation-promoting chemicals called cytokines. This can disrupt sleep, cause fatigue, depression, cloudy thinking, and lead to anxiety. Research has proven that mindfulness and meditation can reduce stress and its inflammation response. In fact, individuals suffering from the highest levels of stress had seen the most notable effects. Meditation can also improve stress-related conditions such as poor immunity, digestion, fibromyalgia, and post-traumatic stress disorder.
As it reduces stress, meditation effectively also reduces your anxiety. Anxiety disorders such as social phobias, social anxiety, paranoid thoughts, obsessive-compulsive behaviors, and panic attacks were reduced after regular meditation. A variety of meditation strategies and practices help people suffering from anxiety. It can reduce their anxiety levels and ensure you have a way of handling it when you suffer from anxiety attacks or paranoia related symptoms. Yoga is an ideal combination of meditation, mindfulness, and exercise. Yoga has known to benefit people suffering from anxiety, stress, and other stress-related diseases. People working in high-pressure jobs suffer from work-related anxiety. Meditation programs or yoga retreats conducted at work have been known to be effective for them.
A lot of us struggle with insomnia or poor quality of sleep. Some people have trouble getting 7-8 hours of quality sleep daily. Meditation can remedy that for you. Studies have shown that people who practiced meditation fall asleep sooner and stay asleep longer than those who don’t. Meditation gives you the skills to relax, let your mind shut down, and concentrate on sleeping. It releases tension and places you in a peaceful state. Improve quality of sleep is linked to a boost in immunity, weight loss, mental clarity, and overall positive energy.
Meditation is also used as a means of improving memory or fighting age related memory loss. Meditation methods which include repetitive chants, mantras, and motion are suggested to focus thoughts. Regular practice can improve your ability to remember things and slow down age related memory loss. Meditation increases attention span, ability to remember tasks, and mental quickness. Improved memory then leads to improve physical health, less stress, stronger immunity, and sharp awareness. Meditation is also used for dementia patients to try and improve their mental abilities.
Most of us have problems with security or confidence in our abilities. Meditation can teach you kindness to others and to yourself. There are types of ‘loving-kindness’ meditation which begin with developing kind thoughts about yourself. People learn to forgive themselves, their friends or family, and let go of grudges or negative thoughts. Positive feelings developed through meditation can benefit people in relationships and families. Conflicts get resolved peacefully and mutually if people meditate or engage in meditation together. It is also very helpful as an anger management tool. Meditation reduces the external pressure and thus clears your body of stress and everything negative. Your body is now strong, conscious, and ready to absorb positive energy. The result is a strong immune system, and empathetic mind, and a very optimistic mindset.