Having a hard time staying present these days? All that idle time got you reaching for your phone again? Sounds simple, but staying in the moment can be a tough task for many of us. This can actually be harmful, especially during stressful and anxious periods. So, what’s the solution? Try meditation. It’s a great tool to help us stay focused on here and now, and it can boost your mental and physical health in surprising ways.
Let’s chat about some cool benefits meditation offers:
1. **Chills out stress**
We all know stress isn’t good for us, right? Well, constant stress really messes up our bodies – from messing up sleep and causing overeating, to thinning out our hair. If we let it run wild, stress can even damage our hearts and digestive system. Sounds scary, but by reducing stress, you can really transform your life. Here’s where meditation helps: it counters all those nasty effects stress dumps on us. Studies show that mindfulness meditation – focusing on the now – can lower stress-triggered inflammation in our bodies. If stress has been knocking you around, meditation could be your comeback tool.
2. **Manages pain better**
Roughly 50 million Americans deal with chronic pain. If you’re one of them, you know even basic tasks can be excruciating. Doctors have been moving away from prescription painkillers due to addiction risks and are looking at other options like cognitive behavioral therapy, acupuncture, and physical therapy. And guess what’s joining the list? Yup, meditation. It’s been found to actually increase pain tolerance and even provide short-term relief, especially for lower back pain. Remember though, always chat with your doctor before getting your meditation game on for pain management.
3. **Fights depression**
Depression can turn life grey and suck the joy out of things you once loved. Often, it emerges from a messy combo of anxiety, stress, and destructive self-thoughts. But, meditation helps you gain control. It trains your brain to snap out of damaging thought patterns and get back to focusing on now, which can help you give depression a real fight.
4. **Lowers blood pressure**
High blood pressure makes your heart work way too hard and over time, bad things happen – heart attacks, strokes, and other cardiovascular diseases that are a leading cause of death worldwide. But guess what, meditation, along with a healthier diet, can help lower your blood pressure. Just by helping you relax, types of meditation like transcendental and mindfulness make your blood pressure drop and reduce inflammation, making your arteries take it easy.
So why not give it a go? There are tons of instructional videos online to get you started with meditation. You just might be amazed at how it changes you.
Categories: General |
Tags: Benefits, Meditation, Mental, Physical Health
