Seven Benefits of Integrating Meditation in your Daily Routine
Breathing is one of the essential functions of the human body. However, our breathing is dependent upon how happy, angry, sad, or excited we feel. So, if you think about it, practicing and controlling our breathing is vital to ensuring we remain in control of ourselves, right? It is where meditation comes into play.
Meditation is a body and mind practice that has been utilized for thousands of years to help with relaxation and calmness while achieving psychological balance. It aims to prevent our minds from wandering while being an anchor point to bring us to the present.
That said, the entire world knows of the many benefits meditation can bring. However, as scientists carry out more and more research on meditation, they continue to uncover the more profound impacts of meditation and how it affects our bodies.
So, if you’re someone struggling with stress, anxiety, and depression, then consider giving meditation a go, as it is less invasive than popping anxiety pills. Furthermore, there are a few ways you can meditate daily, including walking mindfulness, visualization meditation, silent meditation, to name a few.
That said, listed below are a few benefits of incorporating meditation into your daily routine. Keep reading till the end to know what they are;
Meditation helps with recovery.
Meditation dates back to as early as 500 BC. That said, since its inception, it has evolved into something more. It is now used for everything from psychological healing to addiction recovery. However, meditation for addiction recovery purposes, in particular, is common these days due to its positives effects on the individual going through life after rehab.
So, whether you just came out of rehab or searching for helpful resources to avoid falling into relapse, you will notice that the recovery process will be pretty stressful early on. Cravings will be at an all-time high, and you will have to face a new challenge every day.
Fortunately, mediation will allow you to tackle these addiction cravings and become less reactive towards stress, keeping on your path to recovery.
Meditation controls anxiety.
As meditation drastically reduces your stress levels, it means it will automatically lower your anxiety levels in the process, as both anxiety and stress are interconnected. According to a metanalysis, around thirteen hundred adults discovered that meditation decreases anxiety. However, such a thing was seen in individuals who had a high level of stress.
Another study that included forty-seven people suffering from chronic pain states that after completing an eight-week meditation program, these individuals showed a noticeable reduction in anxiety and discomfort over one year.
Moreover, research also says that meditation and mindless exercises can reduce anxiety levels tenfold. For instance, yoga, a popular way to meditate, can reduce anxiety. It is because yoga has both physical and psychological benefits.
Meditation improves concentration and focus.
Mindful meditation allows you to focus on the present, improving concentration and focus while performing everyday tasks. In fact, according to a Harvard study, there is a strong connection between mindful meditation and our brains processing new information.
In the study, Harvard researchers examined seventeen people’s brains when they participated in a meditation program.
According to their brain scans, there was an increase in grey matter in their brain’s part responsible for emotional regulation, memory, and learning. So, in the end, through meditation, we can train our meta-awareness and attention, which can help improve our focus and concentration levels.
Meditation improves self-awareness and self-esteem.
Mediation will allow you to slow down your nerves, leading to deeper self-reflection. Doing so will allow you to identify your positive attributes and work on them. In addition, through mediation, you will increase your ability to examine your feeling and thoughts without judgment, which will do wonders for your self-esteem.
According to a Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy study, fourteen people with social anxiety participated in a two-month meditation program. These individuals reported a decrease in their anxiety levels and showed improved self-esteem after the program was completed.
Meditation can help you manage pain better.
Many doctors recommend mediation to individuals who have gone through a painful surgery as part of their pain management program, along with pain medication, of course. For example, a study conducted in 2020 on sixty-four hundred participants across city trails shows that meditation reduces pain in individuals going through chronic, acute, or post-surgical pain.
That said, take this with a grain of salt as meditation isn’t a cure-all for everything, and it won’t make the pain go away entirely. Your pain will always be there. But, mediation won’t allow you to get affected by it. And such a thing will be of significant benefit when it comes to managing your pain more effectively.
Meditation will make you more loving and kind.
Meditation can foster compassion and kindness towards yourself and the people around you. It will strengthen your brain’s circuits and allows you to effortlessly pick up people’s emotions, decrease unconscious and implicit bias, and promote altruistic behavior.
To practice meditation to become more loving and kind, think about a loved one and wish them happiness and good health in your mind. You can then do the same for yourself and others around you! It can be something as simple as repeating a short phrase silently in your mind, and you will surely see it reflect in yourself when you develop a kind and loving behavior towards everyone in your life.
Meditation will help you sleep better.
There can be a few reasons we don’t sleep enough. For example, sometimes your mind will start to wonder when you lay down in bed, or you might start thinking about how stressful your life is. Whatever the reasons, you can always incorporate mediation into your daily routine to improve your sleep cycle. Do this by listening to a guided meditation program before you go to bed.
Doing so will dramatically improve your sleep quality. Moreover, mediation will allow you to tackle a ‘bad night’s sleep,’ which relates to waking up in the middle of the night for no reason whatsoever. Moreover, through meditation, you can learn to control your autonomic nervous system, which will allow you to sleep through the night without any disturbances.
Conclusion.
If you’re looking to give meditation a go, there are tons of online guides and Youtube videos you can view to take the first step. That said, as there are various ways to meditate, you will have to find one that works well for you.
So, don’t be frustrated if you have to go through multiple forms of mediation before you start to see its benefits. So, please give it a go today!
