Meditations are enshrined in many cultures and religions as an ancient practice. In recent decades, meditation has also increasingly become the focus of research and the anecdotal benefits began to be put to the scientific test. The results speak for themselves: meditation is an effective tool for alleviating various ailments and calming a troubled mind. You can hope for these scientifically proven benefits if you make a regular meditation practice part of your health routine.
7 scientifically proven benefits of meditation
1. mediation helps manage stress and minimize anxiety
2. meditation improves self-awareness
3. meditation promotes mental health and extends attention span
4. mediation improves sleep
5. meditation can reduce the sensation of pain
6. mediation reduces inflammation levels
7. mediation relieves depressive symptoms
1. mediation helps manage stress and minimize anxiety
Meditation can lower stress levels, which translates into less anxiety (Anxiety). MBSR or Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction is one of the most well-known methods for stress management in this field. It was developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn, an American professor emeritus of medicine and founder of the Stress Reduction Clinic and the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Several studies (1, 2) have demonstrated the effectiveness of his program in managing stress and reducing anxiety.
2. meditation improves self-awareness
Some forms of meditation can help us develop a better understanding of ourselves. For example, self-exploration meditation explicitly aims to help us get to know ourselves better and develop our relationships with those around us in a positive way.
Other forms teach us to recognize thoughts that may be harmful or self-defeating. The idea is that we become more aware of our thought habits so that we can direct them into more constructive patterns. (1, 2, 3)
3. meditation promotes mental health and prolongs attention span.
Studies of people with age-related memory loss have shown that meditation improves their performance on neuropsychological tests.
In addition, one study circumstantial evidence that various forms of meditation can improve attention, memory, and mental speed in older participants.
In addition to combating normal age-related memory loss, meditation can improve memory in dementia patients at least partially improve.
But meditation also scores well when we want to improve our attention span: studies (1, 2) show that people who meditated regularly performed better on a visual task and had longer attention spans than people without meditation experience.
4. mediation improves sleep
A study examined the effect of yoga nidra, another type of meditation, on patients with chronic sleep disorders. The study concluded that after yoga nidra practice, sleep, total wake time and subjective sleep quality improved.
Another study concludes that mindfulness meditation is a suitable treatment option for adults with chronic insomnia and is an alternative to conventional treatments for insomnia.
5. meditation can reduce the perception of pain
How intensely we felt pain depends greatly on our mental state. Scientific findings suggest that mediation plays an important role in minimizing subjective pain perception.
In this context, a Studythat mindfulness meditation reduces pain and depression symptoms and improves quality of life.
6. mediation reduces inflammation levels
An 8-week study showed that mindfulness meditation inhibited the stress-induced inflammatory response in the body.
7. mediation alleviates depressive symptoms
A meta-study showed that people who participated in meditation therapies had fewer depressive symptoms compared to a control group.
Our conclusion.
A meditation and mindfulness practice is a fundamental part of a healthy and balanced lifestyle. Regular meditation brings with it quite a few physical and psychological benefits. That's why we've included mindfulness and meditation in our health pyramid. Together with sufficient rest, a positive social life, exercise and the appropriate nutritional supplements meditation is one of the cornerstones for a long, healthy and balanced life.
