6 Benefits Of Meditation For Your Brain And Body

Meditation is a state of deep peace that occurs when the mind is calm and silent. It’s an ancient practice whose goal is to establish a unity of mind, body, and soul while letting go of all worries, problems, and everyday stresses. There is more to meditation than sitting still and being quiet; this practice provides some health benefits for your brain and body. Throughout this article, you’re going to see different effects of meditation on your overall health and wellbeing. At then, you’ll be inspired to start doing it as well.

1. Meditation preserves the aging brain

A study carried out by scientists at the UCLA discovered that long-term meditators had better-preserved brains as they aged compared to individuals who didn’t meditate. Findings, published in the Frontiers in Psychology, showed that participants who have been meditating for about two decades had larger gray matter volume throughout the brain than non-meditators. Although it’s natural for brain volume to decline during the aging process, those who performed this practice regularly had a lower intensity of brain volume loss than individuals who never meditated. Gray matter and brain size are essential for overall brain health.

2. Healthier skin

You’ve probably never thought that meditation could be beneficial for skin health, but it’s a fact. A research team from British Journal of Dermatology discovered that psychological treatments including mindfulness meditation could ease the physical symptoms of skin issues. Meditation was found to be helpful for sufferers who deal with psoriasis, eczema, acne, vitiligo, and others. How? It’s because distress, trauma, and other stressful events also have an adverse impact on one’s skin and aggravate one’s skin condition. Meditation has a relaxing effect, and peaceful mind is essential for healthy skin. It’s needless to mention that stress relief provided by meditation also eases under eye bags because they primarily develop as a sign of exhaustion, lack of sleep, stress, frustration, and other factors.

3. Better concentration and attention

There comes the time when you just can’t focus on your work, book, reports, or even simple chores around the house. We’ve all been there, and it’s quite frustrating. Well, meditation can help with that as well. Interestingly, one study revealed that just a few weeks of regular meditation helps people improve focus and memory. Since the primary aspect of meditation is learning to let go of background noises and distractions as well as different thoughts that might “come by” it’s not surprising why this ancient practice helps you concentrate on the task you perform and, thereby, improve your memory as well.

4. Arthritis relief

If you’ve ever wanted to find a natural joint pain relief, then meditation is your answer. A study of the journal Brain, Behaviour, and Immunity found that mindfulness meditation has a tremendous potential to help people with rheumatoid arthritis, asthma, and other types of chronic inflammation that are affected by psychological stress. Furthermore, research that appeared in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases discovered that a combination of meditation and yoga eases tenderness, pain, and stiffness in participants who have rheumatoid arthritis.

5. Meditation helps with addiction

A growing body of evidence suggests that meditation can be very effective in helping people recover from different types of addiction due to its effects on self-control regions of the brain. For instance, a research published in the Drug and Alcohol Dependence found that participants who learned how to meditate were more likely to quit smoking by the completion of the study than individuals who didn’t. This happens because meditation helps people control and reject their cravings, including addictions.

6. Better cardiovascular health

For people with a cardiovascular health problem (or those who’re at higher risk of developing it), meditation poses as a useful way of stress reduction and focusing on healthier lifestyle choices. Meditation teaches you to be more mindful, allows you to establish a much-needed balance in your life, which is why you’re more likely to pay attention to your body and its needs. The Ochsner Journal published a review of studies which showed that meditation has a beneficial effect on cardiovascular risk factors. In addition to decreasing mortality rates associated with cardiovascular diseases, meditation also proved to improve hypertension, Type 2 diabetes, dyslipidemia, and high cortisol levels.

Meditation is a practice that has been around for centuries. If we take into consideration all its spectacular effects on physical and mental health, it comes as no wonder why meditation is highly recommended by scientists, doctors, therapists, and so on. The benefits of medication include: reducing stress levels thus relieving inflammation, helping you focus and improve memory, tackling skin conditions and much more. If you’ve never meditated before, you should start today. It costs nothing, yet yields so many benefits.

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