Regular meditation has been proved as a way of enhancing positive dimensions of mental health as it helps to reduce high levels of stress, reduce blood pressure, and improve concentration, among other benefits. Many people have adopted meditation as a way to reduce stress and stress-related conditions, and it improves the general well-being of individuals. The different techniques used in meditation initiate the use of the mantra while other techniques adopt the use of mindfulness to prevent the mind from getting disrupted in the process to reduce stress. Apart from stress reduction and preventing outer mental ailments, there are countless benefits associated with mediation, as discussed hereinafter.
Mindfulness meditation helps the mind focus on the current events as it boosts an individual’s concentration levels (Banks, Welhaf & Srour, 2015) . This kind of meditation has positive effects on the brain as it contributes to processing new information. Meditation causes an increase in the grey matter in the brain that is responsible for learning, memory control, and regulating emotions. This practice can help an individual to boost their concentration levels, and it as well improves the part of the brain that is responsible for the decision-making process.
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Meditation continues to be adopted as the best practice to improve self-esteem and self-awareness. It is through mindfulness meditation that one is encouraged to slow down and reflect more on themselves, and this can, in return, help an individual to discover positive attributes about themselves. Mindfulness can as well help in improving self-awareness as it increases one’s ability to take an in-depth examination of their feelings and thoughts without being judgmental. This kind of meditation can be used as therapy for individuals with social anxiety disorders as it boosts their self-esteem and decreases anxiety (Jazaieri et al., 2012) .
The best and easiest way of reducing stress is through meditation. Mindfulness meditation has been proved to the levels of the brain hormone known as cortisol, and this makes an individual feel more relaxed with less stress. There is a mild effect brought about through the repetition of words or phrases. The fact one is required to concentrate on the mantra enables them to shut out any distracting negative thoughts. The effects of meditation on the body are the opposite effects brought by high levels of stress. This sentiment is true because meditation triggers the body relaxation hormones and restores the body to a normal calm state, and this helps the body in repairing itself. The process calms the body and the mind by preventing the thoughts that induce stress to the brain. Additionally, meditation gives one the choice to decide on the valid demands that our bodies should concentrate on and what it should shut out.
Meditation can reverse the adverse effects of the stress response (Goleman & Schwartz, 1976) . An individual who meditates can control their mind by overcoming the noisy thoughts within the mind and re-directs it to a calm and quiet environment. This state provides the mind with adequate rest even though the mind remains fully alert and active. The healing effects that the body undergoes, which oppose the fight-or-flight stress response, decrease the heartbeat rate, and bring the blood pressure to the average level. Additionally, taking deep breaths prevents the production of stress hormones and increases the oxygen supply to the brain.
High levels of anxiety and depression can be managed through meditation. Mindful meditation helps one to train the mind on focusing on the present, and this prevents negative and anxious thoughts that existed in the past from reoccurring in the present. Mindful meditation has been approved to be part of the mental health treatment procedure as it has positive outcomes on depression and anxiety. Among the primary triggers of depression are stress and anxiety. Meditation can alter how the brain reacts to stress and anxiety as it trains the brain to become more focused on one thing and stick to the focus even though there is an intrusion of negative feelings, thoughts, or emotions. People who feel stressed and anxious go back to negative thoughts and events in their mind, but meditation helps to ignore such negative thoughts that mostly lead to depression. Meditation has been proved to change particular brain functions, especially the ones related to depression. For instance, depressed people have a hyperactive medial prefrontal cortex. This aspect is the part of the brain where an individual processes information about themselves, such as worries about the future or thinking about the past.
The other part of the brain that is associated with depression is the amygdala, commonly known as the “fear center.” The two parts of the brain overwork each other if an individual is depressed. The mesial prefrontal cortex reacts to stress, anxiety, and fear while the fear center boosts the levels of cortisol as a way of fighting the danger that has been detected by the brain. It is through meditation that the connection between the two parts of the brain becomes disconnected, and this helps the brain to ignore the negative vibrations of stress and anxiety. Additionally, meditation helps the brain by protecting the part of the rain that is involved in memory as it increases the grey matter in the hippocampus, and this lowers the chances of one suffering from high-stress levels due to the increased size of the hippocampus.
Regarding the fact that the brain is the part of the body where meditation takes place, the practice enables individuals to be in a better position to cope with stressful situations that enhance negative emotions. People who spend time to meditate do not hold on to negative emotions for long as it helps to change the mindset and the general perspective about stressors. (Jamieson et al., 2018) Meditation can as well alter the general functioning of the brain by connecting the thoughts towards positive emotions and distracting the negative thoughts. Meditation works in a way that it reduces the negative neurological connections to the part of the brain that processes information and gets rid of negative emotions such as fear, anxiety, and stress. Additionally, it builds up positive neurological connections to the part of the brain that is responsible for enhancing positive traits such as decision-making and focus. The part of the brain known as the amygdala, which regulates we react to stress, anxiety, and fear, shrinks as a response to meditation.
Another positive attribute of meditation is that it helps to boost an individual’s memory, especially for the people who forget quickly. Mindfulness Meditation has positive impacts on the part of the brain responsible for memoy loss. It is a kind of meditation that enkahnces high levels concentration. The high levels of concentration that result from meditation improve the concentration levels of an individual, and this puts one in a better position to keep information active in their mind. Meditation helps the brain to work more efficiently. Meditation has been a recommended therapy in individuals who were fighting memory loss. It helps to increase blood flow to the brain hence boosts memory levels, especially in people who have memory loss problems.
Additionally, meditation reaches out through the subconscious part of the brain where memory is stored and helps one to be able to remember the things that they quickly forget. It harnesses the power of the subconscious mind by retrieving information that could have been forgotten for an extended period. It is through meditation that the associated memory parts of the brain become stimulated. Both the hippocampus and the frontal brain lobe lighten up during the process of meditation. Meditation makes it possible for the brain to store new memories for long.
Meditation can physically heal the body because it balances the body’s systems, and this improves the functioning of the mind, heart, and body in general. Meditation has been used to ease chronic pain, improve heart health, boosting immunity, and resolving the problems associated with pregnancy complications. All conditions that are related to high levels of stress, such as heart conditions, can be improved through meditation. The fact meditation puts the mind in a relaxation state helps to reduce metabolism, lowers blood pressure, and boosts the heart rate, breathing, and brain waves.
Better sleep is one of the significant attributes of meditation’s benefits to the physical well-being of an individual. Most people who suffer from sleep issues are often advised to indulge in meditation as a quick strategy to relieve stress. Those who practice daily meditation are more likely to enjoy long hours of quality sleep. Research has it that ten minutes of meditation daily could enhance the quality duration of sleep due to the relaxing aftermath of meditation. Additionally, regular meditation sessions can boost one’s immune system, and this enables the body to fight diseases and protects it from foreign and harmful organisms. Mediation has been attributed to the positive aspect of reducing body pain sensations without having to use the brain’s natural opiates.
Doctors advocate for mediation practices that are combined with medication in the treatment of severe pain conditions such as headaches and the pain that results from chronic conditions. Irritable bowel syndrome is another disorder that has indicated to improve through meditation. Studies indicated that women who suffered from severe IBS syndrome indicated a reduction in the symptoms when they practice mindful meditation for a while. The process of meditation helped in reducing the anxiety brought about by the disorder and improved the patients’ general quality of life.
Another positive aspect attributed to meditation is that it prevents the brain from aging. This is because individuals who meditate for over the years develop an additional grey matter in the brain. Daily meditation slows the rate at which the brain ages, and one could end up having a brain that is eight years younger than its average age. Engaging in mindfulness meditation is a sure way of boosting cognitive performance in elderly individuals. Another positive attribute that meditation has to the brain is its ability to reduce activities in the part of the brain known as the “Me Center.” It is through mindfulness meditation that activities in the part of the brain called the default mode network get controlled. An individual’s thoughts activate this part of the brain, and such thoughts are more often associated with sad situations. The unhappier an individual becomes, the more likely they are to sink into deep thoughts. The subtle effects that meditation has on the brain prevents massive negative thoughts from penetrating the brain. Meditation has proved an effective way to deal with addiction. The fact that it has positive effects on the self-control part of the brain makes it an effective remedy for those people fighting addiction.
In conclusion, meditation has many positive effects on the physical and psychological health of individuals. It helps in reducing stress and anxiety by preventing negative thoughts from accessing the brain. It is through meditation that an individual’s levels of concentration are improved because it boosts oxygen flow to the brain. Meditation protects the brain from early aging by up to eight years. The physical benefits of meditation include the fact that it enhances the general well-being of individuals who have chronic ailments such as heart disorders. Most physicians advocate for meditation as therapy for individuals with such medical conditions.
References
Banks, J. B., Welhaf, M. S., & Srour, A. (2015). The protective effects of brief mindfulness meditation training. Consciousness and cognition , 33 , 277-285.
Goleman, D. J., & Schwartz, G. E. (1976). Meditation as an intervention in stress reactivity. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology , 44 (3), 456.
Jamieson, J. P., Crum, A. J., Goyer, J. P., Marotta, M. E., & Akinola, M. (2018). Optimizing stress responses with reappraisal and mindset interventions: An integrated model. Anxiety, Stress, & Coping , 31 (3), 245-261.
Jazaieri, H., Goldin, P. R., Werner, K., Ziv, M., & Gross, J. J. (2012). A randomized trial of MBSR versus aerobic exercise for social anxiety disorder. Journal of clinical psychology , 68 (7), 715-731.
