For thousands of years, people have relied on the benefits of meditation to be more in tune with their bodies and environment. Meditation is the process of purposefully shifting your mind to focus and redirect your energy. It is well-known that meditation can be a peaceful way to begin your day. Meditation has several health benefits beyond mental ones.
Meditation is a meaningful practice that can shift your overall health. Health benefits of meditation include:
- Improved skin
- Enhanced Rest
- Reduced stress
- Decreased symptoms of depression
- Retraining the brain
While meditation has always been seen as a positive thing, the benefits of meditation go deeper than you think may think. On the surface, meditation provides a sense of peace and an overall calmness, but those who meditate reap the benefits way beyond that. Keep reading to learn more about the health benefits of meditation.
Article Contents
What is Meditation Used For?
Meditation is used to build discipline and clarity of mind. It is the purposeful habit of shifting your mind and redirecting your energy. Meditation is used for people to become both mentally and physically healthier. When people meditate, they are often clearing their minds, which can have physical health benefits.
5 Health Benefits Meditation Can Be Used For
If you’re struggling to prioritize your overall health and do not know where to start, look to meditation. Mediation is a healthy way to shift your thinking and change your body for the better. People usually meditate to:
- Reclaim their thoughts
- Unwind from the day
- Relax their muscles
- Build mental stamina
- Lower blood pressure
- Begin a workout
There are so many useful and practical uses of meditation to soothe the mind and body.
Reduce Stress
Meditation will allow you to clear your thoughts. Focusing on your breathing, a specific word or certain sound can help you begin to feel settled, slow your mind, and reset your thoughts. This meaningful connection to the world around you will help your body and mind relax and relieve stress.
Meditation also helps practitioners be in the moment, which can ease one’s anxiety over the future and regret about the past. Meditation can eliminate thoughts that bring both mental and physical turmoil. Overall, practicing meditation can reduce stress by increasing mindfulness. When your mind is calmer, you can rest better.
Different Kinds of Meditation
| Type of Meditation | What You Will Need | How To Do It | Why People Use It |
|---|---|---|---|
| Guided Meditation | • A video or app • A cushion or blanket to sit on | • Under the guidance of your video, follow the instructions for breathing and thinking • May be guided to visualize specific scenes | • A good place for beginners to start for effective meditation • Ability to be timed • A clear-cut goal and outline of thoughts and breathing |
| Mantra Meditation | • A comfortable place to sit | • Choose one positive word that has significance to you • Repeat the word aloud to yourself • Choose a sentence that brings you peace of mind | • Increase focus • Boost self-confidence • Enhances peace of mind |
| Sound Bath Meditation | • A gong, bowl, bells, or chimes | • Choose one instrument of sound • Play the chord/instrument • Focus on the waves or vibration of the sound | • Improve mood • Reduce stress • Become in tune with nature/sound |
| Yoga Meditation | • Yoga Mat • Loose-fitting clothing • A quiet space | • Focus your mind on the movement of your body • Take slow and deliberate breaths • Isolate one body part to stretch | • Strengthen the nervous system • relieve tension |
| Unguided Meditation | • A quiet and comfortable place | • You can freestyle this kind of meditation • Redirecting thoughts to good things about yourself and appreciation for life | • Retrain your brain and thoughts |
Enhances Rest
Meditation can enhance your rest. At night, the mind is often wandering to the next day or replaying the day that has passed. Meditating trains the mind to focus on what is in the current. Before bedtime, meditation can lower your heart rate, center your mind, and allow your body to relax. Typically, meditating twenty minutes before sleeping can allow one to fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer.
People who suffer from insomnia, a sleep disorder where people have trouble falling and staying asleep, have reported their insomnia symptoms decreasing after meditation. This does a chemical released in your brain when you meditate.
During meditation, melatonin is produced. Melatonin is a naturally occurring hormone in the body that regulates the body’s sleep cycles. People may take melatonin tablets to increase their sleep at night; however, if you meditate, your body will naturally produce more melatonin.
Meditation in the morning has almost the opposite benefit. It gets up and prepared to take on whatever challenges the day throws at you.
How to Meditate Before Bed
Before turning in for the night should be a restful time to unwind and reset. Meditating around bedtime can allow your mind time to let go of the events of the day and prepare for sleep. One way to ensure effective meditation is to set a specified bedtime. Approximately twenty minutes before that time, sit or lie on your bed to meditate.
One of the most common meditation practices before bed is mantra meditation. Mantra meditation may be the most useful mediation before bed because you are in a relaxed position and a comfortable environment.
Guided meditation is also a great form of meditation to practice before bed. This is because your meditation will have a specific start and stop time as well as a focus. Often, guided meditation can help people ease into sleep because it is deeply rooted in visualization, which can translate into dreaming.
Retrains Your Brain
The brain is a complex pathway of neurotransmitters that control our body and mind. Your brain is directly affected by the thoughts and responses you have to situations in your life. If you are prone to stress, anxiety, or anger, these negative emotions can alter your brain in a negative way, increasing memory loss and feelings of depression.
When your brain has more balanced hormones, it can form new connections and function more clearly.
Meditation increases serotonin and melatonin, which are chemicals that the brain and body need to feel more energized and positive. When meditation is continuously practiced, it can reduce the aging effects that negativity and stress can have on your brain.
Cortisol is a hormone that must be balanced to have a healthy brain. Cortisol is responsible for triggering your fight or flight response. Cortisol may also affect how self-aware you are. Through meditation, one’s cortisol levels are lowered and can be trained to produce less cortisol.
By using your energy to shift your thoughts and energy, you are altering the response your brain has to difficult situations and sleep. Thus, your brain is retrained into responding to stress with patience and healthy coping mechanisms instead of going into survival mode.
Meditation not only slows the aging of your brain but can slow the aging process of your skin.
5 Ways to Actively Shift Your Thoughts Using Meditation
If you are hoping to improve your mood and outlook on life, meditation is a great way to shift your thinking. Retraining your brain happens because of controlling your thoughts and responses.
- Choose one calming or positive word for the day. Go back to this word when you are feeling overwhelmed, confused, or angry. By restating this word in your mind, your body and brain will begin to associate negative feelings with feelings of positivity. This can be included in your meditation by repeating the word in your mind or aloud during times of emotional upset. This is also called mantra meditation.
- Meditate on a schedule. Meditating on a schedule will condition your mind and body for a reset at a specific time of the day. For instance, meditating every day after meetings or during lunch can give your mind a work-day refresh and allow you to think more clearly.
This will also train your brain to become more relaxed before meditating because your body will begin to anticipate the brain break. This meditation can be timed and guided.
- While meditating, if your mind begins to drift, allow it. Meditation is a time to give into your feelings and then let them go. You may have thoughts and feelings about your day and your emotions; the most important part is to allow yourself to let it go and relieve your mind of the mental weight during meditation. Consistently practicing acknowledging emotions and releasing them will train your mind to look at difficulties with more acceptance instead of insecurity.
- Actively combat your thoughts. When your mind because scatterbrained, anxious, or clouded, try to focus on the art of meditating-speaking positively over yourself, deep breathing, focusing on a specific sound. The energy used to fight off clouded thinking will become second nature to your brain after repeatedly redirecting your thoughts.
- Remember why you meditate. Do not get caught up in how you look or what kind of meditation you are doing. Focus on your meditation goals. If you are looking to achieve more peace, clarity, and calmness, it does not help if meditation becomes another thing on your list to “perfect.” Your brain and body will thank you when you give into the meditation.
Improve Skin
Your skin can be improved through meditation. Meditating often involves deep breathing, which increases the oxygen level in your brain and cells.
This consistent meditation practice can boost the body’s immune system and help your body replenish essential cells needed for a smoother complexion and fewer wrinkles. Conditions like oily skin and acne are reduced when skin cells receive the adequate repair.
Decrease Symptoms of Depression
Depression is the constant feeling of sadness that can lead to being stressed, tired, fatigued, and weakened sleep. When you meditate, hormones are pumped into your brain, such as serotonin which makes you feel happier or more at peace.
Symptoms of depression include memory loss, weakened brain cells, higher levels of cortisol, and anxiety. Meditation can improve your memory and carry more blood and oxygen to your brain, enhancing the cell-making process. Meditating can lower your levels of cortisol and therefore help elevate feelings of fear, nervousness, and hyperactive thinking.
Depression can also be caused when the body is under too much stress; another health benefit of meditation is reduced stress. Stress occurs when your mind is cluttered, overwhelmed, and lacks focus.
Outro
Meditation has endless physical, mental, and emotional benefits for your body. Meditation needs to be utilized daily to have noticeable long-term effects on your body. However, even occasional meditating will produce immediate results like feeling clearer. The health benefits of meditation are endless.
