Why You Should Meditate
People have this idea that meditation is best reserved for those folks who prefer to lead solitary lives, more like the monks of Tibet. With the growing number of people showing interest and becoming active practitioners of meditation, it’s hard not to recognize what this practice can bring to one’s life. In general, meditation is all about calming the mind so that you’re better equipped to handle everyday stress. Here are 10 reasons why you should be meditating right now.
1. Improve Symptoms Of Depression
Around the globe, at least 300 million people are suffering from depression. In the US alone, there are at least 16 million adults who are suffering from depression. While meditation will not eliminate depression, it can help you process your negative thoughts so you don’t get depressed. Studies show that meditating at least 30 minutes every day can lead to an improvement in the symptoms of depression. Meditation empowers you to take full control of your thought processes, leading to better management of depressive thoughts.
2. Alleviate Anxiety
We all live in a very stressful world. Anywhere you go or any activity that you engage in, stress seems to follow you. When you meditate, you gain control of that part of the brain that is responsible for stimulating the release of stress hormones. This allows you to feel less anxious and gain a more positive outlook on life. Recent evidence shows that 25 minutes of thrice-weekly meditation can already alleviate anxiety by as much as 40 percent.
3. Relieve Headaches
Everyone can have a headache at any point in their lives. For some, it can be an everyday occurrence to the extent that they have grown dependent on pain medications. Skip the bottle of analgesics and try meditating for half an hour at the slightest sign of headache. It’s like self-hypnosis, allowing you to relax and not mind the pain. There are studies that show meditation has almost the same effects as muscle relaxants. They’re perfect for managing tension headaches.
4. Boost Memory
Many of our activities of daily living require a good working memory. From doing the household0 chores to picking up the kids to performing our tasks in the office and many more. We rely on a fully-functioning brain to keep up with our commitments. Unfortunately, there will always be instances when we forget something like the keys to our home or the light switch in the living room. Meditating every day can help clear your mind of distracting thoughts. It allows you to remember the more important ones.
5. Aid In Getting More Out Of Your Workout
If you’re following an exercise regimen, you can use meditation to help hasten the speed of muscle recovery. By reducing your stress levels, you’re able to promote faster healing and regeneration of the muscle tissues. This allows you to ramp up your exercise routine several notches. There’s another reason why meditation is useful among bodybuilders and athletes. It reduces your sensitivity to pain. This means you can push yourself beyond your physical limitations.
6. Protect The Heart
Stress and tension can lead to a host of cardiovascular and related problems. For instance, stress elevates your blood pressure, which can make the heart work harder than normal. Over time, this can tax the heart and lead to problems like cardiomyopathy. For people who are at risk of heart attack, meditation helps reduce the risk of coronary heart disease. It facilitates the more efficient flow of blood to the heart muscle itself. This may also prevent stroke and kidney failure.
7. Improve Creativity
Freeing your mind of worries can help unlock your imaginative and creative potential. It is easy to see how this can translate to more creative works for those in the arts. What you may not realize is that it can also work for you. In fact, there are studies that show meditation increases the problem-solving skills of a person. When presented with a complex problem, people who meditate every day tend to come up with more possible solutions than those who don’t meditate.
8. Improve Quality Of Sleep
There’s compelling evidence that meditation may help address insomnia. This is inherent in meditation’s ability to reduce stress. By ensuring that the mind is free of stressful thoughts, the brain is able to go into sleep mode a lot faster. Improving your quality of sleep can do a lot of good things, not only for your body but also for your mind.
9. Achieve A More Youthful Look
Too much stress can make you look older by several years. You may only be in your mid-20s, but stress can already be making you look in your 40s. Meditation gives you the chance to get rid of negative and stressful thoughts. You also get to control the release of stress hormones, which can have an effect on other processes in the body.
10. Make Better Life Decisions
Increasing one’s awareness of thoughts, emotions, and actions can lead to better decision-making skills. This can have substantial implications in the different aspects of your life. For starters, you’ll never be rushing into things. You know what you want. You’re able to comprehend the implications of your decisions. Meditation can give you such an advantage.
These are only 10 of the hundreds of reasons why it’s a good idea to start meditating right now. It’s not very difficult to perform. There are no complicated techniques to execute. And the benefits are all worth it.
Sources:
- 10 Reasons You Should Meditate Every Day – Lifehack
- 10 Reasons You Should Meditate – Personal Excellence
- 20 Reasons Why Meditation is the Best Thing You Could Be Doing Right Now – A Lust for Life
