What are the Benefits of Meditation?
Living in the 21st century can be a stressful experience. Everyday most of us are faced with stresses from all directions; at work, on the roads, at home with our family or being alone, even in the supermarket. Some are just small stresses, but they begin to build up and we continue to walk around with an increasingly stressed body and mind. Nature has planned it that when your body is faced with a life threatening situation it triggers a response of flight or fight – a stress reflex to help us survive, a rush of adrenaline. Your heart beats faster, hormones and chemicals are released into your blood stream, muscles tense and your breathing becomes faster. This is all useful in a very dangerous situation, but what is happening today is that we are experiencing numerous stresses which we don’t dissipate – just add to the pile. We end up perpetually stressed. This stress leads to physical, emotional, mental, and relationship problems which meditation has been proven to cure. Meditation produces a relaxation response in our body, easing and greatly reducing this stress, and increasing our ability to respond to stresses rather than react.
Some Physical benefits of Meditation
- Deeply restful sleep during which you have a lower pulse rate and decreased metabolic rate
- Dramatic increase in the production of a variety of brain chemicals leading to slowing the ageing process, and increased well-being
- Enhances energy, strength and vigor
- Lower blood pressure – helps to keep it normal
- Helps with P.M.T.
- Reduced cholesterol levels which reduces incidence of heart disease
- Increase in exercise tolerance in heart patients
- Helps reduce heart disease
- Increased brain wave coherence.
- Helps with weight loss
- Decreases respiratory rate - improved breathing – helpful to asthma patients
- Increase in serotonin which reduces depression. Low levels of serotonin are associated with depression, obesity, headaches and insomnia
- Helps with chronic diseases like allergies, arthritis
- Decreases muscle tension and tension headaches
- Reduced levels of cortisol and lactate - two chemicals associated with stress, and the more stress you have, the faster you age.
Some Emotional Benefits of Meditation
- Decreased anxiety attacks because of lower levels of blood lactate
- Release of dysfunctional mental and emotional behaviours such as anger, fear, sadness
- Increased happiness, bliss and joy
- Decreased feelings of lack of self worth
- Enhanced creativity
- Greater self confidence and emotional stability
- Greater intuition
- Reduces stress and tension
- Decreased irritability and moodiness because of increase serotonin which influences moods and behaviour
- Increased feelings of vitality, energy and rejuvenation and a state of deep relaxation and general feeling of wellbeing
- Meditation can help to resolve phobias and neuroses coming from stress
Some Mental Benefits of Meditation
- Increased learning ability
- Increased ability to concentrate and focus
- Improved memory
- Greater alertness
Continuous regular practice of meditation definitely brings these benefits – so why on earth wouldn’t you?
