Meditation has been practiced for at least 3000 years. It originated as a Hinduism practice. Perhaps this is why when most people think of meditation, they see someone sitting in a lotus stance with their legs crossed, hands lifted, and eyes closed.
What this preconception lacks is an appreciation of how much meditation has evolved into a diverse practice of improving mental control, clarity, and relaxation. Although some people continue to meditate as part of their religious practice, the vast majority of those who meditate do so to reap various health advantages.
This is unsurprising considering how little time it takes to meditate daily (approximately 20 minutes — less time than most people spend on social media).
Let’s look at the six scientifically proven health advantages of meditation.
It Makes the Immune System Stronger
You will be surprised to know the effect of meditation on your immune system. It turns out that consistently relaxing your thoughts can help you build resilience to a variety of ailments. That is not to imply that meditation will protect you from having the flu in the future. Nonetheless, medical research suggests that it can greatly minimize your risk of getting ill.
An experiment was conducted to test the benefits of meditation. There was a control group that did not make any changes to their everyday life, an exercise group that completed a series of daily activities, and a meditation group that practiced meditation daily.
The meditation group had 30% fewer respiratory infections after eight weeks when compared to the control group. Furthermore, the severity of diseases that did arise in the meditation group was much lower than in the exercise or control groups.
It Decreases Psychological Stress
Everyone is vulnerable to stress. You will experience tension if you are conscious. Some stressors are enjoyable, such as getting married, planning a vacation, or moving into your ideal locality. Many sources of stress are unpleasant, such as being fired from a job, losing a loved one, or having to pay to have your automobile fixed.
Stress, regardless of its cause or whether it is pleasurable or unpleasant, may drain your mental and physical reserves. As a result, learning good stress management techniques is critical for living a full and meaningful life.
Meditation is one strategy that may be utilized to achieve this aim. This has been demonstrated in several experiments. Cara Geary and Susan Rosenthal, for example, compared stress levels in two groups of individuals over eight weeks. The first group got meditation therapy (and subsequently practiced it consistently), whereas the second group dealt with stress in their normal way.
Unsurprisingly, after eight weeks, the meditation group experienced much less stress. What is more striking is that the meditation group’s stress levels remained lower a year later as well. Furthermore, they assessed their general sense of well-being as higher than those who had not undergone meditation therapy.
It Enhances Your Sleep Quality
Everyone has had the experience of how a lack of sleep affects their mood and capacity to perform properly. A good night’s sleep lays the groundwork for the day ahead. Similarly, a night of tossing and turning becomes an impediment to moving on with your goals the next day.
Meditation can help you maintain a healthy quality of sleep.
One research that backs up this theory had a group of volunteers who were observed for a year. All of the subjects had highly disrupted sleep. The group was separated into two subgroups by the researchers. Simple meditation methods were given to one. The other group was advised on how to achieve a better night’s sleep.
These two groups had significantly different sleep qualities at the end of the year. The meditation group had significantly better sleep, which is similar to what is seen in people who use medicine to address sleep issues. They discovered that the ability of meditation to enhance sleep quality was nearly equivalent to that of medicine or cognitive behavior therapy.
The second group, who received sleep education, showed just a little improvement in sleep.
Summing Up
Consistently practicing brief periods of meditation can result in a variety of advantages. Despite this, it requires very little work and costs nothing more than a few minutes of your time. It is simple to learn and maybe done at home, at work, or while traveling.
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