Scientific Benefits of Meditation

Meditation is an art of training your mind to focus and redirect your thoughts. Scientific Research has shown that 13 minutes daily for 8 weeks can change the physical structure of your brain.

Jerry Seinfeld in his famous analogy ones said "Meditation is like you have a cell phone and someone gives you the charger, and you go Ah... now I can use it forever"

Here are some benefits of meditation that can motivate you to start your journey of self awareness and mindfulness. Some of the scientific research based benefits are

1. Elevates Focus and Concentration

2. Reduces Stress and Anxiety

3. Improves Self Awareness and Self Esteem

4. Increases Tolerance of Pain

5. Helps Fight Substance Addiction

6. Improves Sleep

7. Lowers Blood Pressure

Meditation is not a new concept, it's been practised by humans for centuries but now with modern scientific research the benefits can be well articulated.

Mental Health Benefits

1. Elevates Focus and Concentration

Regular meditation leads to an increase in grey matter in parts of the brain responsible for learning, memory and emotional regulations.

Meditation increases the connectivity between parts of the brain responsible for attention, consider it as weight-lifting for attention span.

Helps in performing better visual tasks and greater attention span.

Age related memory losses can also be minimised. (A,B)

2. Reduces Stress and Anxiety

Stress is the main reason people try meditation, in stress the body secretes cortisol (stress hormones) which increases blood pressure, disturbs sleep and induces fatigue.

It’s been found out that meditation helps in lowering the levels of stress hormones cortisol.

Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) is an evidence-based 8 weeks program developed by the University of Massachusetts in 1970 by professor Jon Kabat-Zinn to assist people with stress, anxiety, depression and pain. (A,B,C,D,E,F)

3. Improved Self Awareness and Self Esteem

Humans are social creatures, driven socially but for some social anxiety can become hindrance to their well being.

Decreased social anxiety helps in improved self awareness and self esteem, the want to stay and focus on present can be achieved by habitual meditation. (A,B,C,D)

4. Kind and Loving

His Holiness Dalai lama once questioned about the suppression faced by him, by the Chinese authorities in Tibet.

What were you most feared about?

He replied “I was fearful that I will lose compassion towards my enemy”

Compassion towards yourself and others can be developed by regular meditation, which further promotes altruistic behaviour.

Meditation also helps in decreasing implicit or unconscious bias, to gain a positive feeling towards yourself. Kindness and forgiveness increases first towards yourself and then towards others. (A,B,C)

Physical Health Benefits

1. Helps Fighting Substance Addiction

Brain receptors associated with drugs and alcohol addiction can be altered with regular meditation which further reduces the craving for these substances and also helps in reducing relapses.

Once mental discipline is achieved, which helps in self control and awareness of triggers for addictive behaviours.

Something as small as Food Cravings can also be controlled. (A,B,C)

2. Controls Pain

Perception of pain depends on state of mind, if stressful than it elevates pain. Meditation enables you to recognise the presence of pain but not get ensnared by it.

It increases your ability to coupe up with pain and reduces the sensation of pain.

3. Lower levels of Blood Pressure

Narrowing of arteries due to frequent high blood pressure can lead to heart attack and strokes.

Over time high blood pressure increases strain on the heart and the chances of poor heart condition increases.

Meditation helps in relaxing nerves signal that coordinate with heart functions which leads to reduced blood pressure.(A,B,C)

4. Improves Sleep

Meditation relaxes your body, releases tension and makes it easier to trance into a peaceful state of mind, more likely to fall asleep.

Habitual meditation helps in fighting the severity of insomnia and falling asleep for a longer duration of time.

The Bottom line

Meditation is a very effective way of improving your Mental as well as your physical health, it can be done anywhere and does not requires any equipment or memberships.

So If you like to improve your focus, reduce stress, or fight with addiction, depression and pain just give it a try, you might never know that this is the only piece missing in the puzzle.

For starters, Here is the beginner’s guide to Meditation.