20 Benefits Of Meditation

By now you have probably heard many people say that meditation is good for us – and it’s true.

The act of regularly meditating is good for our mental and emotional health as well as our physical and spiritual health. It contributes to positive overall wellness.

But, are you receiving specific information about how meditation is good for you? If not, here are twelve benefits that meditating can offer you.

Increasing Self-Awareness

Lack of self-care can be inherently connected to not understanding ourselves and our needs.

Being aware of ourselves will improve every aspect of our lives. Have you ever struggled in a relationship but couldn’t quite identify why? Were you struggling to recognize the part that you played in contributing to the struggle? This is a pretty normal, human experience.

Most people haven’t been taught to be incredibly self-aware. Meditation can help with this. By increasing our awareness, we will improve functioning in our interpersonal relationships. Because connection is so important, this is very positive.

Stay Present

It is really easy to allow our thoughts to get out of control.

Sometimes, before I know it, I’m thinking about years in the future and stressing about events that haven’t occurred. Honestly, I’m thinking about events that probably won’t even occur.

But when I do this I’m really stressed about them. My thoughts get away from me and get the best of me.

Meditation helps us to stay in the present moment.

And in my example, if I am able to stay present I will feel much less future-related anxiety.

I know that I am not the only one who struggles this way and who benefits from using meditation to stay present and aware.

Stress Management

Feeling stressed is a universal experience. Everyone has busy lives and we all try to do more and more these days it seems.

This causes a lot of stress and that is difficult on our bodies. Many people manage their stress different ways, but meditation may be the answer for all.

Meditation focuses on breathing, relaxing into oneself, being open, and being focused.

All of these aspects help when we are stressed.

And if you practise meditation at your baseline, when you are stressed you will be more likely to calm quicker. You may even be less likely to become as stressed as if you do not practise meditating.

Reducing Negative Emotions

Having fewer negative emotions overall is a good thing. Nobody wants to feel sad or down because it hurts, so to have this reduced is very nice.

Meditation helps us to notice feelings and thoughts without judgement.

By not judging or making assumptions about thoughts, or not paying much attention to them, they are naturally reduced, or, they occur for shorter amounts of time.

Decrease Anxiety

When the body is stressed or anxious, not only does cortisol and norepinephrine flood our system, but our blood pressure skyrockets. In fact, this is what happens when we have panic attacks.

Not surprisingly, this is really hard on our hearts and creates even more anxiety.

It is its own self-fulfilling cycle.

Because meditation focuses so greatly on breathing, it has the effect of reducing anxiety.

Anxiety has physiological symptoms including racing heart, shallow breathing, hot flashes, and others.

Deep and thoughtful breathing directly decreases these symptoms. It is suggested that meditation may not directly replace treatment for mental health services, but in addition it can be very beneficial to managing anxiety.

Stronger Immune System

Meditation has been found to increase our immune system’s ability to fight off things that don’t serve us.

How often are we stressed or anxious because we’re fighting off a cold or flu? Especially in the winter this seems to be common.

Increased immune system strength will decrease stress and anxiety associated with sickness.

Depression Management

Similar to decreasing anxiety, meditating can be helpful in managing depression.

If nothing else, it is important to be intentional and take time to care for yourself – and meditation practice is a great example of self-care.

That being said, the brain does benefit from the continued focus on breathing, not judging your thoughts and feelings, and maintaining focus.

Depression may be reduced over time by adding meditation into your lifestyle.

Improved Concentration

While I have alluded to this, I haven’t specifically addressed how meditation can improved concentration as of yet.

Meditation has a strong focus on attention: attention on breathing, attention on staying present, and others.

So, it isn’t surprising that these benefits bleed into other parts of our lives as well.

The study found that individuals who meditate performed better on the Graduate Requirement Exam (GRE) standardized test. Now I’m thinking that I should have been meditating more during school!

Increases Attention Span

This is an exciting highlight of meditation’s benefits.

Because we spend so much time trying to multitask between screens and different media sources, to be able to disconnect and focus our attention on ourselves increases our attention span.

Studies show that individuals who meditate are able to focus on a single task for longer than someone who doesn’t meditate.

Increase Kindness And Love To Yourself

We could all use a little more love in our lives! This is a great benefit to talk about.

Meditation is found, from many studies, to increase compassion and kindness to yourself and others when you practise.

Metta, or loving-kindness meditation, focuses on positive feelings about yourself and then positive feelings about others.

If only everyone could be kind and loving to themselves and each other!

Potentially Assisting With Memory Loss As Related To Aging

Being clearer about our feelings and beliefs can help to maintain the brain’s functioning. It is also suggested that meditation can assist with slowing down age-related memory loss.

Meditation may also be able to assist patients experiencing dementia by losing their memory at a slower rate than they were prior to practising.

We Can Organize Our Priorities

Some of the mental benefits of meditation are internal.

As I said earlier, our lives are busy, but meditation allows us to sit with and connect with ourselves about what really matters.

We might think stressing out to make sure our house is perfect to host on Friday night is really important until we realize in the long run it doesn’t matter as much as we thought.

Mediation is what brings us to some of these conclusions, thus decreasing our stress and anxiety and feeling clear and having more intentional direction.

Slow Down Alert Systems In The Body

When we are stressed or anxious, cortisol and norepinephrine flood into our systems. This is that “freeze, flight, or fight” response we have all felt.

When we regularly meditate, or begin to meditate when anxious, the effects of this calms down.

For example, we may begin to slow our breathing down after it’s been rapid and shallow, or we may begin to feel a normal temperature after becoming hot and dizzy when anxious.

Nobody enjoys feeling this way, and meditation helps to decrease these difficult symptoms in the body.

Structural Changes In The Brain

A study at Harvard found that just eight weeks of meditation increased cortical thickness in the hippocampus, which is responsible for learning and memory as well as emotional regulation.

The study also found decreases in volume of brain cells in the amygdala, which is responsible for fear and anxiety triggers.

Meditation is literally and biologically changing the brain! How weird and great is that!

Helps With Wandering Minds

Mindfulness was found in a study to decrease the brain from having wandering thoughts.

However, meditation can assist with decreasing the amount of wandering “me” time.

Management With Addiction And Substance-use Disorders

Meditation works to increase self-control and to notice the triggers for engaging in destructive behaviour.

If someone is struggling with substance use, meditation may help them to recognize the desire to use but to deny themselves the behaviour.

Managing impulses is very important in dealing with substance use, which is another benefit.

This could include people who are struggling with gambling, food cravings, or binging and purging behaviours.

If someone is feeling triggered or has a desire to engage in behaviour they feel isn’t healthy, meditating instead can redirect them.

Sleep Is Improved

Studies have shown that individuals who meditate are able to sleep longer and fall asleep sooner than those who do not.

How many of us have laid awake at night with racing thoughts or obsessions about what happened in the day, what we have to do tomorrow, or some other kind of intrusive thought?

Meditation or mindfulness practice, even while laying in bed, can assist in falling asleep and improve sleep by working to decrease such racing or stressful thoughts.

It also helps to generally relax the body, which helps with sleep hygiene.

Pain Management

It is no secret that chronic pain can be debilitating. Even the average headache can have negative effects, including missing school or work.

For those experiencing pain, this can lead to financial problems, relationship difficulties, and other lifestyle struggles.

Adding meditation to your life can help with pain management.

A study found that patients who meditate when they have pain have more activity in the centre of the brain that controls pain. These patients also stated that they had less sensitivity to the pain when compared to patients who were not meditating.

Increased Pleasure And Joy Being Derived From Life

If you have experienced chronic sadness or depression, you know what it’s like to not feel happy or experience joy from things that used to bring you joy.

It is extremely painful to notice that you aren’t doing well, and this in itself can create stress and anxiety. Especially if family and friends start to notice and worry about you.

Meditation helps us to derive more joy and happiness from life. It teaches us to accept and be kinder to ourselves.

If we are experiencing more joy and happiness, then we may experience less anxiety and less stress. Or, we may care less about the anxiety or stressors that pop up.

Decrease Blood Pressure

High blood pressure is difficult for the body to manage. Our heart has to work harder to pump blood when blood pressure is high and this can lead to a stroke or heart attack.

These health problems drastically change lives.

Meditation is found to reduce blood pressure by relaxing nerves. When the body is relaxed and feeling less stress, blood pressure reduces. When the body is used to meditation daily, blood pressure decreases consistently over time.

Conclusion

These are all great benefits of meditation, but which will be the most important for you?

Regardless of why you are meditating, I hope that you will find a calm, nice place to settle down and connect with yourself. Obviously there are many physical and emotional benefits to doing so.

Additionally, you simply deserve to treat yourself and your body with such kindness.

Remember that meditation is an investment in yourself, your well-being, and your overall health.

May your meditation practice be full of life and love and wellness!

Additional Resources

These are suggestions for those who wish to delve deeper into any of the above:

1. Guided Breathing Exercises
2. Meditation For Beginners
3. Mindfulness Course