Meditation and Its Health Benefits

Meditation and Its Health Benefits

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Introduction

Meditation has its roots in various religious practices; however, since its spread and popularity to different cultures worldwide, it is equally used in other aspects of life such as health and business. In recent years, the practice of meditation has become more popular due to its ability to promote mental clarity and promote overall calmness. Moreover, through its techniques, individuals learn to their awareness and attention, thus promoting a more positive and stable state of wellbeing. Though meditation has its roots in religion, its spread and popularity across different cultures worldwide has made this practice applicable to different non-religious practices. Overall, it is apparent that the techniques used in this practice are beneficial to one’s mental health, and they help promote physical health and emotional wellbeing. Meditation helps promote general wellness; hence, frequent practice promotes health and overall stability.

Mental Health

Meditation promotes mental health as it helps in relieving stress and anxiety. One of the techniques of meditation is mindful meditation. This form of meditation has been proven to reduce stress levels by lowering cortisol released in the body (Moral, 2017). By reducing stress levels in the body, one can feel more relaxed and thus improve the mental state of an individual. Moreover, mindful meditation involves repeating mantras and phrases, which has proven to calm the mind and reduce feelings and thoughts of distraction. Other than mindful meditation, transcendental meditation has also proven to have similar results; hence this form of meditation also increases a sense of stability in an individual. Other than reducing stress levels, individuals that frequently practice meditation experience reduced levels of burnout and depression, factors that further enhance the mental health of individuals.

In instances in which individuals already suffer from anxiety and depression, mindful meditation has helped manage the symptoms of these diseases. As meditation involves training minds to focus on the present, individuals who suffer from anxiety and depression can use this technique to ground themselves and avoid thinking about stressors that trigger anxiety and fuel depression (Payne, 2013). In addition to calming minds, this technique can also help people suffering from depression and anxiety improve their mood and sleep, further enhancing mental wellbeing and health. Therefore, the practice of meditation is not only useful to healthy individuals, but it can also complement existing mental health treatments to treat and alleviate the suffering of individuals battling various forms of mental health diseases.

Physical Health

Other than mental health, meditation is also helpful in promoting physical health. Meditation incorporates physical activity by promoting meditative exercises such as Yoga, Tai Chi, and Qigong (Strowger, 2018). These exercises involve the body’s movement, focusing on body positioning, breathing, and a clear state of mind. Therefore, unlike other exercises, meditative exercises promote mental clarity and encourage people to move their bodies, enhancing physical fitness. Moreover, these exercises promote a deep sense of relaxation, encouraging harmony between the body and mind.

Meditation also improves physical health by helping people fight addictions. Meditation has proven to alter brain receptors associated with addiction; hence frequent practice can help alcoholics and drug addicts fight off their addiction urges (Varma, 2018). Through techniques such as mindful meditation, individuals struggling with addiction also become more aware of their cravings hence are better able to control themselves and ride out their cravings. Besides controlling urges, studies have also shown that mindful meditation is a useful tool in preventing relapses. In addition, the calming effect meditation provides people can further help recovering addicts avoid substance use as their brain receptors are altered with time. This practice produces a healing effect that helps regulate how the body and brain experience pain and pleasure.

Emotional Health

Lastly, meditation also has a positive effect on the emotional wellbeing of an individual. Part of an individual’s emotional wellbeing is tied to their ability to associate with other people lovingly and harmoniously. Meditation helps people become more compassionate and understanding by reinforcing the brain circuits that focus on other people’s emotions. Therefore, an individual who practices meditation can achieve a state of calmness and become more aware of other people’s emotions, hence avoid causing harm to other individuals.

Another way that meditation improves emotional wellbeing is by promoting self-awareness and self-esteem. As meditation encourages people to reflect on themselves, individuals increase their self-awareness and can therefore focus on their positive attributes, a factor that helps boost self-esteem (Totzeck, 2020). Moreover, the mantras used in mediation are positive and encouraging; hence, one focuses more on becoming better, further boosting self-awareness.

Conclusion

As highlighted above, meditation helps promote general wellness positively affects one’s mental, emotional and physical wellbeing. The frequent practice of meditation should be encouraged to promote a state of calmness and overall stability and wellness.

References

Moral, A. (2017). Guided meditation: A regimen for mental health. Indian Journal of Health and Wellbeing, 8(2), 180.

Payne, P., & Crane-Godreau, M. A. (2013). Meditative movement for depression and anxiety. Frontiers in psychiatry, 4, 71.

Strowger, M., Kiken, L. G., & Ramcharran, K. (2018). Mindfulness meditation and physical activity: Evidence from 2012 National Health Interview Survey. Health Psychology, 37(10), 924.

Totzeck, C., Teismann, T., Hofmann, S. G., von Brachel, R., Pflug, V., Wannemüller, A., & Margraf, J. (2020). Loving-kindness meditation promotes mental health in university students. Mindfulness, 11(7), 1623-1631.

Varma, P. (2018). Mindful meditation for addiction disorders. Indian Journal of Positive Psychology, 9(1), 202-204.