Meditation: What is It and Why You Should Care…5 Health Benefits

Meditation is a buzz topic these days but do you actually know what meditation is. The answer might be different then your initial thoughts. Meditation is generally thought to be comprised of sitting on the floor with your legs crossed chanting “ohm”. While meditation may be this for some people there are numerous forms of meditation and a large number of ways that you can incorporate the practice into your life.

Meditation can be defined as training your awareness and opening yourself up to a healthy perspective. Generally, people think that in order to meditate properly they need to clear their head of all thoughts, but meditation is actually more about observing the thoughts that you have and looking at them without judgement. Learning to meditate is a skill that must be developed and for a lot of people it is something that requires a lot of practice to get good at. I know for myself, I usually feel like I’m doing meditation all wrong…but the truth is that there really isn’t a “wrong” way to meditate. The more consistently you engage in the practice the more comfortable it will become.

Although meditation can be a difficult thing to get started with and it can feel very weird at first there are numerous health benefits that result from meditation and today we are going to talk about 5 of the most common ones.

Reduces Stress

For many people they take an interest in meditation practices because they are looking to help reduce stress and anxiety in their lives. High levels of stress hormones in the body can cause a host of issues like fatigue, negatively impacted sleep, anxiety and more. When stress is long-term (chronic) it can cause increases in blood pressure, heart rate and cholesterol levels, negatively impact your immune system and energy levels. With meditation we can help the body relax by stimulating our parasympathetic nervous system (think rest and digest system). This decreases the stress hormones levels in our body’s and helps us manage stress more effectively. It has been found that those using meditation consistently have seen a decrease in cortisol levels and experience reduced stress levels overall.

Enhances Self-Awareness

Some forms of meditation may help you develop a stronger understanding of yourself and enhance your self-awareness. Using meditation practices you can learn to better understand how and why we think the way you do or feel the way you do. Becoming more aware of though patterns that may be more harmful to us can help us transition these thought patterns to a more positive outlook and can help us develop a healthier relationship with yourself overall.

Increases Happiness

It’s very common for individuals who begin incorporating meditation into their daily lives to feel happier overall. Including meditation in your life regularly will decrease stress, increase patience, acceptance and compassion…all of which can lead you to living a happier, healthier life overall. This can also help to improve relationships with those in your mood.

Improves Sleep

With the decrease in stress and anxiety that comes with a regular meditation practice you will also likely sleep better. Many meditation techniques promote relaxation responses in the body which shifts the body away from the stress response and can help combat stress related symptoms. Sleep is something that can be negatively impacted by this increased stress so helping promote the relaxation response can help to improve length of sleep as well as sleep quality.

Can Improve Overall Health

Our first point was that meditation can decrease stress and anxiety. This can be a key aspect of maintaining overall health. Reducing stress helps to lower blood pressure and heart rate which is typically elevated in times of stress (and in chronic stress may remain elevated over long periods of time). Reducing stress can also be an important component of managing many physical symptoms that may come with chronic conditions like heart disease, cancer, diabetes and more. Evoking the relaxation response can improve sleep quality and duration and helps your body function better throughout the day. All of the benefits of meditation listed above are going to improve your overall health and wellness which is a winning situation when it comes to health.

The biggest thing to keep in mind with all of these benefits is that they will occur with consistent meditation practice. I know for myself personally consistently practicing with the hardest part. If you are looking to start incorporating meditation into your life regularly start by setting aside just a few minutes each day to practice it consistently. Once you are able to develop this habit then you can start to expand the practice to fit into your lifestyle. The benefits of meditation are numerous and there are many ways that meditation can improve your overall health and wellness. If you are interested in making changes try a few minutes of meditation daily and watch the changes that start to take place in your life.