5 Benefits of Meditation

What are the benefits of meditating and why would I meditate? What are you going to get from meditation? Good health, a full night's sleep-every night, stronger mental health? Well, it turns out that there are benefits to meditation but perhaps not what it seems. Do you want a good reason to start a meditation practice?  Here are 5 benefits to meditating regularly. To take this seriously, bear in mind that everyone is different so these benefits may differ from person to person.  There is no one benefit that everyone obtains, it will be different for everyone. You must have a regular practice to benefit. You cannot meditate a few times or have only been meditating a few times. You must have a regular practice over a period of time. And - not everyone needs an ‘extra’ benefit, some people simply enjoy meditating.  

1. Meditation reduces stress & anxiety

Research: We think that meditation helps stress and researchers have been trying to prove this.  Medical researchers have looked into meditation and mindfulness for stress reduction, finding that people who practice regularly have a better response to handling stress than those who don’t practice. Celebrities often espouse that mediation helps with their anxiety (see Kendall Jenner’s story https://www.self.com/story/kendall-jenner-transcendental-meditation-anxiety) Personal experience: in more than 4 years of having a regular meditation practice I find that anxiety attacks have dissipated. I find a way to work through things and deal with situations rather than worry about a worst case scenario. Summary: if you believe research, personal opinion and professionals putting their reputation behind meditation, then a regular practice definitely reduces stress and anxiety. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0889159112004758

2. Meditation increases self-awareness and self-trust

Research: Meditation is though to increase self awareness, a sense of inner thought and being able to self-reflect.  To trust our own thoughts. Meditation and self awareness is considered by professionals to help with healing from emotional doubt.  Instead of believing the voice that tells you something negative, you can recognise that it is just a voice. https://vantagepointrecovery.com/5-ways-develop-self-awareness-meditation/ “Meditation. The very best way to to re-connect to our true selves while quieting the busy mind chatter, meditation is the key to super self-awareness.” https://eocinstitute.org/meditation/more-self-awareness-self-knowledge/ Personal experience: the first few month of meditating I found myself trusting my instincts, believing in my own worth and basically becoming much more confident in myself.  It’s weird but when meditating, things happen much more easily. Summary: meditation definitely helps with self-awareness to an extent that is supports and encourages self-esteem. https://www.davidlynchfoundation.org/veterans.html

3. Meditation supports cardiovascular health

Research: this may be a big call to make and is in no way medical advice, research is showing that meditation can be helpful for cardiovascular health and blood pressures.  The TM (Transcendental Meditation) Warrior Program for veterans trains US Veterans in meditation and results include decreased high blood pressure–on par with first-line antihypertensives and 47% reduced risk of cardiovascular-related mortality.  Have a look at the research here: Personal experience: This is a hard one to draw on personal experience without having done any research on myself.  However, I haven’t had any cardio-related problems (I also like to run long distance) and my blood pressure has always been in a normal range. Summary:  If this affects you, it may be worth doing some further research.  Meditation is simple, non-invasive and may help to give results. If not, then it’s still a good thing to do!

4. Meditation increases kindness and empathy

Research: Tibetan Buddhist practices that focus on empathy have been research ad found that those participating have actually been able to increase their empathy. The participants showed empathetic increase in tests and also in neural activity. “A compassion-based meditation program can significantly improve a person's ability to read the facial expressions of others, finds a study published by Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience” https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/10/121004093504.htm David Destino has also researched the connection between meditation and empathy.  He found that meditating increased the likelihood of benevolence. He has a great write up here: https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/07/mindfulness-meditation-empathy-compassion/398867/ Personal experience: I have found myself more likely to give up a seat on a bus or to reach out and help people crossing the street.  I’m actually more likely to go ahead and act on a kind deed, rather than think about it and not act. Whether this is due to meditating, or a coincidence that this ‘goodwill’ has increased since meditating is difficult to determine. Summary: Yes, let’s take a supportive attitude say that meditating does increase empathy.  The best way to tell for sure is to try it yourself!  

5. Meditation supports a healthy sleep pattern

Research: The benefits of meditation on sleep are well discussed in many articles.  Some of the top western universities have researched the connection between sleep and meditation for over 50 years. The extent of this to help people with diagnosed sleep problems, rather than irregular sleep, is also researched and proven to be successful. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2110998 Personal experience: Yes, absolutely!  I sleep soundly every night.  Prior to meditating regularly I had problems with waking up at night with anxious thoughts.  When I have lapsed with meditating I start to wake again. When I am regularly meditating I sleep soundly through the night.  I LOVE it. Summary: Regular meditation helps sleep patterns. To finish this article, the obvious ending is to encourage everyone to start a regular meditation practice.  If you’re already meditating, then you can know that you’re doing such a simple and satisfying thing that helps keep you relaxed, self-aware, empathetic, supports a healthy body and helps you to sleep soundly at night.