7 benefits of meditation

What is meditation?

Let me start by saying what meditation is NOT.

It’s NOT turning your thoughts and feelings off to somehow empty your mind.

Meditation is about exploring. You learn to observe your thoughts and feelings without judgment.

Meditation is about increasing awareness and gaining a healthy sense of perspective.

If you’ve been curious about meditation, check out the 7 great reasons to try it.

#1 Reduce stress

This is a big reason many have turned to meditation. Immediate, or perceived, threats to your body trigger the autonomic nervous system. This is the “fight, flight, or freeze” part of your nervous system.

During this process, the primary stress hormone, cortisol, increases. This process is usually self-limiting. This means that once the threat has passed, stress hormone levels return to normal.

When stressors are constantly present, the effect on the body becomes chronic.

Does meditation help reduce stress?

A review concluded that, yes, meditation does reduce stress (1). Another study found that meditation can reduce inflammation caused by stress (2).

#2 Ease anxiety

Since meditation can reduce stress, it’s probably no surprise that it can also reduce anxiety. One study found that the effect was more pronounced in those with the highest levels of anxiety (3).

In another study, participants with generalized anxiety disorder showed fewer symptoms. This was after 8 weeks of incorporating meditation. Additionally, the study found that participants coped with stress better (4).

#3 Improves focus

Meditation can improve focus and lengthen your attention span. This can be a huge benefit!

And you don’t have to sit and meditate for an hour at a time. One study found that meditating for 13 minutes a day improved attention and memory after 8 weeks (5)!

Another study found that listening to a meditation tape improved attention when completing a task (6).

#4 Support mental health

There are additional ways that meditation can support your mental health. Studies have shown that meditation can improve mental sharpness and memory (7, 8).

Studies have also shown that therapies that include meditation can help improve symptoms of depression (9).

#5 Improves self-awareness

Meditation enhances your self-awareness (10). Why is this important?

Self-awareness helps you develop a stronger understanding of yourself, your thoughts, and your reactions. It leads to making better decisions and increases self-control. It also allows you to see things from the perspective of others.

#6 Improves sleep

Do you ever suffer from insomnia? A 2019 study found that up to 75% of older adults do (11). And that was pre-pandemic! I can’t imagine what those numbers might be now.

Meditating can help you get the sleep you need. Maybe it’s because of the benefits listed above. Reducing stress and anxiety can have profound effects on your body. One study found that meditation helped participants stay asleep longer and improve chronic insomnia (12).

#7 Meditation is accessible

To practice meditation, you don’t need special equipment. It can also be done for a few minutes. Both of these are huge benefits of meditation.

Depending on the type of meditation, you can do it almost anywhere.

I imagine you may be wondering how to get started. There are many types of meditation. Check out this article for info on different types of meditation.

Have you ever tried to meditate? If so, how did it go? Comment below!

Sources:

1. Goyal, M., Singh, S., Sibinga, E. M., Gould, N. F., Rowland-Seymour, A., Sharma, R., Berger, Z., Sleicher, D., Maron, D. D., Shihab, H. M., Ranasinghe, P. D., Linn, S., Saha, S., Bass, E. B., & Haythornthwaite, J. A. (2014). Meditation programs for psychological stress and well-being: a systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA internal medicine, 174(3), 357–368. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamainternmed.2013.13018

2. Rosenkranz, M. A., Davidson, R. J., Maccoon, D. G., Sheridan, J. F., Kalin, N. H., & Lutz, A. (2013). A comparison of mindfulness-based stress reduction and an active control in modulation of neurogenic inflammation. Brain, behavior, and immunity, 27(1), 174–184. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2012.10.013

3. Orme-Johnson, D. W., & Barnes, V. A. (2014). Effects of the transcendental meditation technique on trait anxiety: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Journal of alternative and complementary medicine (New York, N.Y.), 20(5), 330–341. https://doi.org/10.1089/acm.2013.0204

4. Hoge EA, Bui E, Marques L, Metcalf CA, Morris LK, Robinaugh DJ, Worthington JJ, Pollack MH, Simon NM. Randomized controlled trial of mindfulness meditation for generalized anxiety disorder: effects on anxiety and stress reactivity. J Clin Psychiatry. 2013 Aug;74(8):786-92.

5. Basso, J. C., McHale, A., Ende, V., Oberlin, D. J., & Suzuki, W. A. (2019). Brief, daily meditation enhances attention, memory, mood, and emotional regulation in non-experienced meditators. Behavioural brain research, 356, 208–220. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbr.2018.08.023

6. Norris CJ, Creem D, Hendler R, Kober H. (2018). Brief Mindfulness Meditation Improves Attention in Novices: Evidence From ERPs and Moderation by Neuroticism. Front Hum Neurosci,. 6;12:315.

7. Khalsa D. S. (2015). Stress, Meditation, and Alzheimer’s Disease Prevention: Where The Evidence Stands. Journal of Alzheimer’s disease : JAD, 48(1), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.3233/JAD-142766

8. Gard, T., Hölzel, B. K., & Lazar, S. W. (2014). The potential effects of meditation on age-related cognitive decline: a systematic review. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1307, 89–103. https://doi.org/10.1111/nyas.12348

9. Jain FA, Walsh RN, Eisendrath SJ, Christensen S, Rael Cahn B. (2015). Critical analysis of the efficacy of meditation therapies for acute and subacute phase treatment of depressive disorders: a systematic review. Psychosomatics.,56(2):140-52.

10. Dahl, C. J., Lutz, A., & Davidson, R. J. (2015). Reconstructing and deconstructing the self: cognitive mechanisms in meditation practice. Trends in cognitive sciences, 19(9), 515–523. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2015.07.001

11. Nguyen, V., George, T., & Brewster, G. S. (2019). Insomnia in Older Adults. Current geriatrics reports, 8(4), 271–290. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13670-019-00300-x

12. Jason C. Ong, PhD, Rachel Manber, PhD, Zindel Segal, PhD, Yinglin Xia, PhD, Shauna Shapiro, PhD, James K. Wyatt, PhD, A Randomized Controlled Trial of Mindfulness Meditation for Chronic Insomnia, Sleep, Volume 37, Issue 9, 1 September 2014, Pages 1553–1563, https://doi.org/10.5665/sleep.4010