What is meditation? 12 health benefits of meditation

Anyone can practice meditation every day, anywhere. This is a simple activity that does not require any equipment, but offers many benefits for physical and mental health. Let’s learn more about meditation through the article below!

What is meditation?

What is meditation?

Meditation is the practice of focusing attention on the breath and the self, and at the same time removing cluttered thoughts from the mind, retaining inner peace. In the past, meditation helped people delve deeper into the mystical world. Today, meditation is considered a natural remedy for relaxation and stress relief.

So, to balance your emotions, you should take a few minutes out of your day to meditate. In addition, meditation also helps increase positive emotions, relieve pain, and practice discipline and patience.

There are 7 most popular types of meditation in the world including: Mindfulness meditation, mindfulness meditation, body scanning meditation (progressive relaxation), breath awareness meditation, kundalini (physical activity meditation combined with deep breathing). and mantras), meditation meditation and transcendental meditation.

12 health benefits of meditation

Reduce stress

Reduce stress

According to the Mayo Clinic Medical Center of America, meditation has a great effect on managing emotions and reducing stress effectively. This is also the most common reason that many people turn to meditation. When under mental and physical stress, our bodies secrete the stress hormone cortisol and release inflammatory chemicals called cytokines – CRS.

These effects cause sleep disturbances, increased blood pressure, fatigue, negative thinking, increased anxiety and depression. Mindfulness meditation is one of the ways to help reduce the inflammatory response caused by stress.

Many studies also prove that meditation has the ability to reduce symptoms caused by stress such as irritable bowel syndrome, sleep disorders, fibromyalgia.

Anxiety control

Meditation can help reduce stress levels, helping to reduce anxiety.

Meditation can improve symptoms of anxiety and stress. Many studies have also shown that people with generalized anxiety disorder after practicing meditation and practicing positive thinking about themselves, they improved their ability to cope with stress in their lives. live and work.

Promote emotional health

Promote emotional health

Meditation also helps you to improve your self-image and think more positively about life. There is a study done on 3,500 adults that proved that meditation helps to improve symptoms of depression.

Some other studies also show that people who practice meditation are less inclined to think negatively than others. Meditation also reduces the release of inflammatory chemicals called cytokines.

Raise self-awareness

Raise self-awareness

Certain meditation methods can help you focus more on yourself, understand yourself, and how you connect with the world around you. Mindfulness meditation helps you reduce feelings of loneliness, increase social contact.

Meditation is also one of the ways to help you realize your limits, become more aware of the thoughts that are present in your mind and direct it in a more positive direction. Not only that, practicing meditation for a long time also helps you increase your creativity and problem solving.

Extend attention span

Extend attention span

Meditation is an effective method to train concentration and attention. According to a study, the group of people who listened to a meditation tape were able to concentrate better than the other group. Every day, you only need to spend a short time to practice meditation, after a period of persistence, you will notice a significant improvement in your ability to concentrate and pay attention.

May reduce memory loss in the elderly

May reduce memory loss in the elderly

The kirtan kriya meditation method has the potential to improve dementia in the elderly. This is a meditation method that combines mantras or chanting with repetitive finger movements that help the mind to think.

Besides fighting dementia, meditation also improves memory in people with age-related dementia. In addition, meditation also aids in stress management and increases positive emotions.

Can create kindness

Can create kindness

Mindfulness meditation is a method to help people increase their positive thoughts and actions. By practicing meditation, we will learn to forgive ourselves and others.

Compassion will be cultivated through meditation over a long period of time. Practice loving-kindness meditation 3 times a week to increase your positive emotions, empathy and tolerance for those around you.

Can help with addiction

Can help with addiction

Alcoholism, food addiction, etc. can be improved through the practice of meditation. Those who persist in meditating every day will learn the virtue of discipline, which is very helpful in controlling cognitive abilities and combating addictive factors.

A study in 60 subjects undergoing treatment for alcoholism found that psychological stressors and cravings for alcohol were improved after 3 months of meditation practice.

Improve sleep

Improve sleep

Insomnia will be improved if you practice meditation. Many studies have shown that people who practice meditation have better sleep quality and improved insomnia symptoms. In addition, samadhi also helps to relax the body and release tension, helping you to fall asleep comfortably.

Pain control

Pain control

The pain can be worse when you are stressed, meditation is believed to be one of the effective ways to manage pain. A review of 38 studies found that mindfulness meditation helped reduce symptoms of depression in people with chronic pain.

Another study on 3500 people also concluded that meditation helps reduce pain effectively. Both meditators and non-meditators experience similar pain, but meditators have better pain control, resulting in less pain.

Can lower blood pressure

Can lower blood pressure

People with high blood pressure should practice meditation to improve the symptoms caused by this disease. Meditation has the ability to improve physical health, reduce stress on the heart and improve high blood pressure.

When stress or emotion is excessive, blood pressure increases and can affect the heart, meditation is a way to control blood pressure by reducing stress in blood vessels and regulating heart function.

Can be done anywhere

Can be done anywhere

It’s great because meditation can be done anywhere with just a quiet space where you can be alone, sit down and relax. If your living or work space is hard to come by, you can take a class on meditation.

This will help you get support and guidance from experts, so you can progress faster. Besides, you can also take advantage of waking up early in the morning to have some quiet time and practice meditation to start the day positively.

You can start your meditation practice today with mindfulness meditation (focusing your thoughts on a single object: the breath, a sound, or an image) or open-supervised meditation. (expand your perception of the world around you).

There are also many other meditations that you can practice, don’t be afraid to try and find the method that works for you, you will feel a significant improvement in your quality of life with just a few minutes of meditation a day. .

The above article has introduced you to detailed information about meditation and its benefits. Hope the above information is useful to you. Don’t forget to visit lassho.edu.vn’s website to read more useful information!

Source: Vinmec International General Hospital

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