Get Your Zen On: Top 5 Benefits of Meditation!

Meditation is the very core and inner heart of yoga, and it can give you a sense of calmness, balance and poise that benefits all areas of your life. It is commonly used for relaxation and stress reduction, allowing you to focus your attention and eliminate the numerous useless thoughts we often have racing around in our minds. There are many types that can be used including guided, breathing, mantra, mindfulness, and so many more all of which have amazing benefits. Curious? Then check out Get Your Zen On: Top 5 Benefits of Meditation!

1. Reduces Stress

Stress carries many physical and mental effects, and is one of the most common reasons why people meditate in this current COVID pandemic period. Meditation has been scientifically proven to help alleviate the effects of stress. It reduces the levels of cortisol and epinephrine in the body, stress hormones that increase blood pressure and heart rate, and disrupt proper immune-system function.

Reductions of these hormones in the body counters the ‘stress response’ with a ‘relaxation response’ decreasing blood pressure and heart rate. This method also helps to focus the mind to become less reactive allowing you to better cope with stress.

2. Promotes Emotional Health & Reduces Negative Emotions

Meditation can lead to a more positive outlook on life. Some forms of meditation work to rewire the brain towards more positive thoughts and emotions.

It does so by reducing neurological connections to the medial prefrontal cortex which decreases the feelings of fear, stress, and anxiety. Whilst, strengthening neurological connections in the brain that promote focus and problem-solving. Grey matter in the brain facilitates our emotional regulation which is increased through the practice.

3. Enhances Self-Awareness & Presence

Deep inner concentration through meditation allows you to develop a greater understanding of yourself and increases the ability to perceive yourself in a healthy way. Through meditation, people can engage in inner exploration and reflection without influences from the hyper-stimulated world we are usually over-surfeited with. This gives us the opportunity to connect with our true selves, quieting that ever-busy monkey-mind!

4. Increases Attention Span & Creativity

Meditation for a short period each day improves the duration and quality of your attention. A key aspect of the practise is your breathing pattern, which releases the chemical, noradrenaline, increasing focus and curiosity. The daily practice of focus in meditation, enhances your attention span, preventing the mind from wandering into questionable or destructive pastures. When the mind is undistracted, we have a clearer view which brings about more creativity, energy, motivation, resolve and much more!

5. Improves Sleep

Engaging in meditation at night evokes a feeling of relaxation in the body and mind, releasing tension and allowing you to enter into a peaceful state where you’ll be more likely to fall asleep deeply. It reduces the chance of on other thoughts that may distract you from falling asleep and quiets the mind. Between 10% to 30% of adults suffer from insomnia, meditating nightly can reduce insomnia symptoms and promote overall calmness.

Meditation is highly recommended by wellness teachers for a reason. Vast amounts of research have proven the many positive effects that meditation can have on your life. Meditating for just 10 minutes a day can bring you improvements on an exponential order of magnitude. Try it and see the positives snowball! Don’t forget to tell us your experiences below or on FacebookTwitterInstagram. You can also find out more on; motivation, mindfulness and mindset here!

Shayo Audrey

Shayo is currently a 2nd year Psychology student at Warwick University, who is hoping to pursue a Masters in Nutrition. She is very passionate about health, the food we eat, and the link between physical and mental health. Her aim is to work in the nutritional field, combining nutrition with Psychology, focusing on how diet can impact mood, and behaviour, as well as the human body.

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