I am sure you have heard this from at least one person in your life,'Have you tried meditating?' or 'You should give it a try, heard it helps with anger.' Something along those lines. Here are my five top favorite reasons you should finally listen to those people and give it a try.
According to the website verywellmind, meditation is defined as a set of techniques that are intended to encourage a heightened state of awareness and focused attention. Meditation has seen a boom since the covid-19 pandemic hit. Everybody is suddenly interested in mastering the art of meditation. Want to know why? Read on...
In these stressful times, we are always in search of a reprieve from the chaos of the outside world. Rushing to jobs, college, classes and to reach our deadlines. We are always in a hurry.
And we all need a set of few calming things that let us reset before we get back to the grind. It may be exercising, meditating, cooking, dancing, painting or any such recreational activity.
Now, lets get to why specifically meditation?
1: Manage your stress.
I mean who wouldn't want to reduce their stress right? Especially in times of such uncertainty in the world.
According to the national library of medicine, meditation lives up to its recognition as a stress reliever.
Increase in stress levels raise the production of cortisol in the body which in turn disrupts a huge array of normal bodily functions like sleep, blood pressure and cognition.
Meditating on a regular basis for a period of two months has been observed to reduce the imbalance in hormones caused by stress.
2: Control anxiety
Currently one of the most talked about and discussed topics. And for a valid reason. Anxiety has various long term and short term effects on the health of the person experiencing it.
A research study conducted by John Hopkins reveals that the benefits of meditation rival the benefits of antidepressants.
A mindful meditation practice has been seen to tremendously affect the mood of a person. And hence meditation can be seen as an active form of training the brain.
3: Improved concentration
As a student, this has often been one of my personal struggles. Sitting down for long periods of time to focus on one task.
An article by E. Baron and Samot Kose reads that meditation affects the prefrontal cortex of the brain, which actually means that it affects a part of the brain responsible for higher order brain function.
This part of the brain is responsible for increased awareness, concentration and decision- making.
4: Increased energy levels
People with a habitual practice of meditation are reported to have higher energy levels. A lot of which can be contributed to the balance in hormone production and reduced levels of stress.
An increased awareness of the present moment and rational decision-making reduce your tendency to spend energy on the unwanted.
Meditating increases the levels of the "feel-good" hormone a.k.a. dopamine, same as after exercising or dancing.
5. Anger management
This is my personal favorite, as a person with a quick temper. I can personally vouch for this fact guys. Anger is a given emotion when dealing with difficult people and difficult situations in life.
Practicing meditation helps calm the mind and be present in your emotions. Washam says, 'Just the simple act of turning toward your breath creates a kind of relief in the mind. [Source: Forbes]
A lot of people have this idea that meditation means sitting down and doing nothing, but that's not true. Meditation is the active training of the mind to increase awareness.- Goyal [Source:Forbes]
Now that you know the immense benefits that meditation brings into our lives, what do you think? Will you give it a try?
very well written!