5 Benefits of Meditation

Lately meditation has seems to have taken off, every health site going is telling people ‘you should be meditating!’. I’ve seen countless adverts for apps to help with meditation, and even owners of the Apple Watch are reminded to ‘take a breath’ for a minute each day. It seems that media at the moment is all about mindfulness and meditation, which is great. But why? You can infer from the sheer amount of apps, books and podcasts to guide meditation that it helps, but what does it help with?

It’s important to know all the ins and outs of something before you add it into your daily routine. So Psych2Go shares with you 5 benefits of Meditation.

1) Reduces stress

Pretty straight forward really but when you’re stressed your mind is reeling. You’re agitated, fidgeting and flustered. Sometimes stress can be really debilitating and stop you from completing every day tasks. Or it could lead to anxiety. The levels of stress that we feel need to be combated with some time where your brain and body is calm and void of tension. When you meditate, the goal is to clear your mind and let go of your stresses, to keep your breathing calm and just be still. Stress creates that agitation and restlessness, so to shut down that part of your mind for 10 minutes can be really beneficial. Regular meditation can keep your stress levels down and make you feel happier.

2) Decreases any tension-related pain

Tension related pain is when your muscles or joints hurt due to retained tension. When you’re anxious or stressed you could be holding your muscles rigid, doing this for prolonged periods can cause extreme pain. Some people might also find the pain so restricting and debilitating that it prevents physical activity, sometimes to the point of becoming bedridden. It’s also common to experience pain or cramps in any of the body’s muscles. These symptoms can also be experienced as muscle spasms, twitching, ‘clamping up,’ and persistent pain. Meditating offers you the time to unfold all your muscles and release any hidden tension. Releasing the tension for prolonged periods will ease the pain and hopefully remind your muscles to untense.

3) Improves concentration

Everyday life can get so stressful and sometimes. Because of everything on our plates, we don’t concentrate on each task to the full. Our minds are overworked and just like any organ, the brain needs time to decompress so that you can perform at 100%. Meditating gives your mind a chance to just be still and switch off for a while. Doing this regularly means overall your concentration will increase because your mind isn’t running on empty. Greater concentration is related to the increased energy meditation provides. It also trains your brain to be able to focus on tasks to the full and increases the spead your mind can process information.

4) Helps to improve your sleep

It happens to everybody, nights where your brain just won’t switch off. You can’t stop thinking about that one thing and you haven’t got the skills to control your thoughts. Nearly half the population will struggle with insomnia at some point. Becoming skilled in meditation may help you control or redirect the racing or “runaway” thoughts that often lead to insomnia. Additionally, it can help relax your body, releasing tension and placing you in a peaceful state in which you’re more likely to fall asleep. A variety of meditation techniques can help you relax and control the “runaway” thoughts that can interfere with sleep. This can shorten the time it takes to fall asleep and increase sleep quality.

5) Lowers high blood pressure