Close your eyes and try to empty your mind of any thoughts. Most likely within seconds you will start thinking about your weekend plans, what to do with that meat you defrosted last night, about the name of that kid you really hated in first grade, and so on. Our mental energy is drained every day by an endless stream of useless and unhelpful thoughts. Most of us are so used to it by now that we don’t even notice it while our mind bounces sound between these ideas at a speed faster than we can really process.
Meditation can help you develop a stronger control of your mind and allows you to consciously control what your mind focuses on and which information to process and which to discard. This, in turn, can help you handle stress thereby improving your mental and physical well-being.
Let’s take a look at the top 4 reasons how meditation may help you become healthier
Healthy Immune System
A well-functioning immune system can help us stay healthy and avoid illness. Excess and prolonged stress raises cortisol levels, and one side effect of raised cortisol can be a lowered immune system making you more susceptible to common infections and vulnerable to some diseases.
When you give your mind a wellness break through meditation, you can help disrupt the cycle of stress that you may be caught in, lowering your cortisol levels and reducing the stress you are under reducing the amount of cortisol being produced. Sleep is also very useful for reducing cortisol levels, but if you don’t have the time for an eight hour sleep, 10 minutes of mindfulness meditation can leave you feeling as refreshed as if you’d had a nap.
In addition to lowering cortisol levels, studies have shown that mindfulness meditation can also have an effect on gene expression. A study of 94 women at the Chopra Centre of Well Being in California showed that after six days of mindfulness meditation and relaxation, women showed a shift in the expression of genes related to wound healing, inflammation and stress. Those studied that had long term experience with meditation also showed a shift in the expression of genes related to fighting viral infection as well as increased telomerase activity.
Telomerase is an enzyme that builds telomeres. These are essentially caps at the end of chromosomes that keep them from unravelling. Typically telomeres get shorter over time, and shorter telomeres are linked to the development of numerous chronic illnesses. Although not proven, longer telomeres are thought to be an indicator that someone is more likely to maintain their overall health as they age.
Improved Eating Habits
Stress eating is a common response to prolonged stress. Food can give a quick burst of pleasure and energy to help get you through the day or give you a brief respite from what you may be experiencing. Unfortunately the more stressed we are, the more likely we are to turn to food for comfort. When one feels emotionally depleted, that’s when the craving for such comfort food or other unhealthy choices kicks in. You may suddenly find overeating hard to resist even if you are full.
Practicing meditation may help you make better eating choices and even help you lose weight. If you are trying to lose weight, you can start by maintaining a health and fitness blog allowing you to track and measure your improvements and better chart your weight loss journey. As part of this journey you should practice mindful meditation and breathing exercises. Mindful meditation can include guided meditation that emphasises healthy eating habits and resisting the urge to turn to food to relieve stress.
The basics remain that the more calmer you become, the lesser are the impulses to reach out and do something to recover from stress. You will be able to make a decision for a more healthy approach towards your body and make decisions that you won’t regret.
Improved Mood and Outlook Towards Life
Both anxiety and depression may lead a person to experience a number of dark thoughts, such as hopelessness, being worthless, fear or anger. While meditation is not a cure for mental illness, it may be able to help you curb or control some of these negative thoughts, improving your overall mood and outlook.
Meditation teaches you how to focus on and analyse your thoughts without passing judgement on them or yourself. Rather than having a thought and accepting it (willingly or not), such as “I‘m worthless”, meditation can help you recognise these negative thoughts for what they are, acknowledge that you’ve had the thought then let it go.
Meditation can also help make you more mindful of your emotions, enabling you to better recognise when you may be approaching a depressive or anxious period. Being able to recognise these signs in yourself means that you can better shift towards self-care during these times, potentially limiting the impact of the anxiety or depression .
A Good Night’s Sleep
By practicing meditation consistently you can enjoy better and longer sleep without any disruptions. Meditation involves breathing and bringing your mind to a state wherein you are fully in the present rather than thinking about the past or the future. Everybody has experienced trying to get to sleep but being kept awake by stray thoughts coming into your head for no good reason. By entering into a meditative state, you may be able to stave off these errant thoughts, enabling you to fall asleep more easily.
While meditation can be very useful for helping relieve stress, promote positive feeling and even improve immune response, it’s not a cure all for stress or mental illness. Practicing meditation can definitely help you improve your quality of life, but if you need help with stress or mental health, you should first see your doctor to get a Mental Health Care Plan .