The act of meditation is thousands of years old. It has been associated with religious and
philosophical teachings for a good portion of that time. However, in the last fifty years or so, it
has progressively become more mainstream.
That is due in large part to the medical and scientific community
beginning to test the results of long-term practices of meditation.
What these studies suggest is that there are
psychological, emotional, and physical effects that come from a regular
practice of meditation, but even more surprising is how quickly some of these
effects begin to occur even after only a few days or weeks of consistent
meditation.
One of the most obvious developments that happens from
meditation is a reduction in stress levels.
It isn’t only stress from daily situations that are improved, but
meditation seems capable of reducing levels of anxiety and depression along
with helping to ease some other mental health issue symptoms as well. People who practice meditation regularly seem
to be able to handle higher levels of stress and also be able to remain calm in
the middle of extremely high anxiety inducing situations.
Certain studies have shown that meditation can also help
some people when overcoming addictions with smoking and also other more intense
addictions like drugs and alcohol.
It has been shown to improve memory by organizing
information stored in your brain in a more efficient way. As well as helps to strengthen your ability
to concentrate and focus on tasks, which help in all areas of life.
The impact is not just about how it can help you in
the current phase of your life, but also seems to have the ability to improve
the future of your life as well. Studies
have indicated that it can help keep the brain elastic during the aging process,
as well as, actually helping to reduce the loss of grey matter which occurs as
we get older.
It also has been found to increase your empathy and
compassion for others through helping you feel more connected to the world at
large. Connected to this, studies indicate that meditation can rewire the part
of the brain that helps you relate to others which can help with relationships
and family dynamics not to mention work place stressors.
It isn’t just mental and emotional ways that
meditation has been found to help people.
Because your mind, body and emotions are all connected it has been shown
to help people with their physical health as well. There have been several studies that have
shown that it can improve your heart health as well as enhance your resistance
to illnesses through increasing your immune system’s ability to protect
you. Research has been done recently
that shows that meditation can even help people deal with pain better than some
medications.
These have been just a few of the many results recent
studies into meditation have found about the ancient practice. Indications seem to point to there being even
more benefits that will be uncovered in the future.
