Nowadays, the popularity of meditation is highly increasing due to its scientifically proven benefits for both health and beauty. Meditation is a habitual process of training our mind to focus and redirect our thoughts. Scientists have tested benefits of meditation and its correlation with the state of our mind and body. During meditation, people might experience a state of deep peace which happens when their mind is silent and calm.
Perhaps, the most renowned benefits of meditation are related to stress reduction and concentration development; however, there are still many other benefits for health that we often overlook. This article will show you scientifically proven health benefits of meditation. Just read on!
- It Improves Immune Function
A study showed that there are alterations in the immune and brain function produced by mindfulness meditation. Just a short program in mindfulness meditation offers positive effects on immune and brain function. In simple words, meditation increases the electrical activity in the human brain’s left side. This part acts as a command center for our immune system. Due to increased activity in this part, our immune system acts more efficiently and produces more defense cells.
- It Reduces Pain
Among scientifically proven health benefits of meditation, pain reduction is well-known. Our perception of pain is closely connected to our state of mind. This problem could be provoked in stressful conditions. According to a study, meditation has been thought to affect interactions among cognitive, sensory, and affective processes by enabling a non-evaluative representation of sensory events. As a result, practicing mindfulness meditation could diminish the perception of pain in brain, thereby helping treat chronic pain if used as a supplement to physical therapy or medical care.
- It Reduces Blood Pressure
Another reason to practice meditation is its ability to reduce strain on the heart. High blood pressure is the culprit making our heart work harder to pump the blood, thereby leading to poor heart function. Also, high blood pressure contributes to artery narrowing, atherosclerosis, which might result in strokes and heart attacks. By meditating, it helps relax never signals which coordinate tension in blood vessels, heart function and the “flight-or-fight” response which triggers alertness in a host of stressful situations.
Actually, blood pressure reduces not only during meditation, but also over time in those people who regularly meditate.
- It Offers A Good Nights’ Sleep
Insomnia is a common sleep issue with about 50% of the population worldwide struggling with it. Fortunately, meditation can help people fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer. If you practice meditation regularly and skillfully, it assists you in controlling or redirecting the racing thoughts that usually result in insomnia. In addition, it also relaxes your body, thereby releasing your tension and placing your mind in a peaceful state. As a result, you will be more likely to fall asleep faster.
- It Alleviates Age-Related Memory Loss
Believe it or not, you could actually grow more gray matter, which is the stuff that your brain is made of. When certain brain parts are stimulated over time, gray matter will grow. In turn, this helps accelerate your self-awareness and emotional regulation.
On the other hand, by meditating, you create improvements in attention as well as clarity of thinking, thereby keeping your mind young. These benefits could be beneficial in fighting age-related memory loss. In addition to combating normal age-related memory loss, meditation also partially improves the memory in dementia sufferers.
- It Promotes Emotional Health
Meditation has different forms and some of them can lead to an increased self-image and more positive outlook towards the life.
On the basis, mindfulness could help regulate emotions and reduces depression and anxiety by enabling your body to balance its neurochemical system. It also allows you to make better decisions, boost critical thinking, and improve communication with yourself. By practicing mindfulness meditation, you can stay in the present moment. People who meditate show measurable changes in terms of activity in the areas related to optimism and positive thinking.
- It Helps You Quit Smoking
It is estimated that nearly one third of the whole world smokes cigarettes. Due to the real dangers of smoking, finding a treatment for this addiction is important. Fortunately, scientists have found that a meditation practice could significantly assist you in quitting smoking.
In a study, people who took part in a program of mindfulness meditation were 36% more likely to get rid of smoking after about 4 weeks, in compared with 15% of those people who did not join in.
- It Helps Reduce Risk Of Heart Diseases
It is worth noting that more people die of heart diseases worldwide than any other ailment. A scientific study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association showed that meditation has the potential to decrease blood pressure; hypertension or high blood pressure is a main risk factor for heart disease. Experts reviewed many studies published over the past two decades and suggested the results that meditation might improve a number of factors linked to heart disease, including depression, poor sleep quality, stress, anxiety and high blood pressure. As a bonus, it poses no risk and is low-cost.
- It Reduces Inflammation
Inflammation in the body contributes to different autoimmune diseases as well as cancers. Thus, keeping your body from experiencing inflammation is crucial, and meditation could help in this case.
The 2016 study showed results that people who participated in a meditation retreat lasting for 3 days had lower levels of interleukin 6 (an inflammatory biomarker). It is amazing that this meditation program could improve our health so much.
- It Supports Self-Awareness
Practicing meditation might help you build up a stronger understanding of yourself, thereby helping you grow better.
Some forms of meditation even teach you to pinpoint self-defeating or harmful thoughts. When you gain better awareness about yourself, you could steer them towards the more positive, constructive patterns.
About the author:
Victoria Tan is a Health and Beauty expert who has more than 8 years of experience in Health Care industry. For more health care tips on healthy living, visit her at the website TrueRemedies.com. There, you will find posts on natural treatments, healthy foods, DIY recipes and so much more.