Benefits of Mindfulness & Meditation
There are many benefits of meditation, with most having been scientifically proven which certainly accounts for the rise in popularity of meditation and mindfulness in the Western world.
Most people seek out meditation to help with stress and other mental health challenges, which is a good motivator. There are other benefits of meditation that might surprise you.
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We are all seeking some kind of happiness, and in the absence of wealth, material objects and various vices, meditation could just be the answer.
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Find out what some of the benefits of mindfulness and meditation are below.
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Stress Relief
When we are stressed, the sympathetic nervous system is dominant, we are in survival mode and our heart rate and blood pressure may be elevated, with chemicals such as cortisol and adrenalin flooding our bodies.
Meditation can help to reduce the activity of the sympathetic nervous system and allow the parasympathetic nervous system to become dominant.
This essentially helps to relax us and stand the body down from survival mode, improving our mood and ability to exist more in the present moments.
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Anxiety Relief
Anxiety is typically a response to stress, although it can arise of its own accord. When anxious we are typically stuck in fight, flight or freeze mode.
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This could arise due to something happening in the present moment, but more often in the modern world, it is our imagination that fuels anxiety as we create images and videos in our head based on what has been, and what may be, then experience them as though they are actually happening.
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Breathing deeply in the belly tells the mind everything is okay, and through meditation, neurotransmitters such as GABA and serotonin are released which helps to combat anxiety.
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Inflammation
Inflammation seems to be the buzz word at the moment. Meditation can help reduce inflammation by lowering stress levels, a known contributor towards inflammation.
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When the immune system is overly activated, the response is for white blood cells to rush around the body, often releasing inflammatory chemicals and also damaging the surface of blood vessels and organs, causing inflammation.
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If this carries on, even once the threat has passed, this can weaken your immune system further, a condition caused by stress. Your gut may also be affected which exacerbates the issue.
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Meditation can help reduce stress, improve the balance of immune cells and their function, whilst improving gut health.
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Emotional Balance
A key aspect of meditation is to promote wellbeing through emotional balance, giving you the opportunity to regulate your own emotions.
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You are able to have a greater control over your reaction to emotional experiences by allowing thoughts to arise in meditation, and having the space and time to practice witnessing them.
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In the field of neuroscience, the belief that we can effectively re-wire our brain has gained significant ground, and meditation can help you make new neural pathways.
Studies have shown that regular meditation can increase the size of the hippocampus which is part of the brain that is involved in the regulation of emotions.
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Regular meditation can also increase the thickness of the prefrontal cortex which is the part of the brain that is involved in decision making and self-regulation.
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Pain Management
As well as the benefits of reducing stress, improving mood and emotional regulation, meditation can help you become aware of thoughts and emotions attached to physical sensations.
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We too often view pain as something that we wish to avoid. In contrast, meditation focuses on the physical sensations. By doing so, you may find the body releases natural opiates such as endorphins and GABA for example which all help to moderate pain.
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A study by the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) found that mindful meditation can actually reduce pain sensations in the body without using the brain’s natural opiates (Cherkin et al., 2016).
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During a meditation practice you can sit with the pain and explore how it really feels. In time, with using a body scan meditation you can hone in on the areas that 'complain' the most.
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Vagus Nerve
Another area of growing interest is the importance of the vagus (wandering) nerve which is the longest cranial nerve, running from the base of your head down through to the base of your spine, and is responsible for regulating the body's relaxation response, amongst other things, as part of the parasympathetic nerve system.
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Meditation can stimulate and activate the vagus nerve leading to an increase in activity as part of the breathing vagal stimulation hypothesis.
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This links in nicely with the deep breathing part of meditation, which can help to change the body from being in fight-flight mode to being in a state of calm and relaxation, most notably by gradually releasing the diaphragm.
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