Meditation often gets a bad rap by many, as an exercise for those with a flight of fancy or a religion which indicates that they do so, but the reality is that this is an amazing exercise which everyone should be looking to perform each day. Meditation is a relaxation tool which offers a huge array of benefits to every single type of person and if you don’t already meditate, it really is worth giving it a try. Don’t take our word for it though, science also supports the benefit which meditation can have, so let’s take a look at what you can expect.
How to Get Started
There are many guides online which will help you to get started with meditation and you can also use a meditation app on your phone which will help you to understand how to meditate and it will guide you through the process. This is tricky at first but after just a week or so you’ll find it much easier.
Stress Reducer
A recent study of 3,500 adults indicated that meditation is a great tool for stress reduction. When we get stressed our bodies produce a hormone called cortisol which is what produces the harmful effects of stress. The adults in the study had their cortisol levels monitors before the study and then 8 weeks after daily meditation and on average the cortisol levels were halved.
Anxiety Control
People who have issues with their anxiety actually have a problem in controlling their anxiety, and this is something else that meditation can certainly help with. Another 8 week study called mindfulness meditation found that different types of meditation approaches can help to reduce anxiety. The study of 2,464 adults who suffer from anxiety showed a notable reduction in panic attacks, paranoia and social anxiety following this 8 week study.
Enhances Self Awareness
Self esteem and self awareness are more benefits which people who mediate can count on and through a number of studies we have seen the improvement that many have made in this regard. Self inquiry meditation is a way of using this tool to get to know yourself better, to allow you to formulate and organize thoughts in a better way, and to help you recognize negative or self defeating thoughts. This can help in a great many ways in your private and professional life.
Attention Span
The same study which found that the participants displayed lower stress levels also found that the attention span in those adults also grew in length. Maintaining attention is key in so many ways, especially in this fast paced world were we have more reasons to be distracted than ever before. One stay which focused on attention in their participants found that its participants improved their ability to maintain attention after just 4 days of meditation.
These are just a handful of many health and emotional benefits which you can count on when you start to meditate, why not give it a try?
