Improve Your Health Today – The Benefits of Meditation

Since starting a daily meditation practice, I have noticed many positive changes in my health and wellbeing. It has positively impacted on my mental health, reduced stress and anxiety and given me an overall sense of calmness in my life.  Meditation is known to have other benefits as well, like helping to reduce blood pressure, and increasing our ability to maintain focus on tasks.

Are you wondering if your health and wellbeing could improve from a daily meditation?

Here are 9 reasons how you might benefit from incorporating a meditation practice into your daily routine.

1. Daily Meditation Can Improve & Relieve Stress & Anxiety
2. Meditation Improves Emotional stability
3. Daily Meditation Can Improve Happiness, Clarity and Overall Wellbeing
4. Improved Focus & Attention – a Benefit of Meditation
5. Meditation Can Help to Reduce Age-Related Memory Loss
6. Daily Meditation Improves Sleep
7. Meditation Helps to Control Pain
8. Meditation Can Decrease Blood Pressure
9. Another Benefit of Meditation – It Can be Done Anywhere

Daily Meditation Can Improve & Relieve Stress & Anxiety

Meditation is great at improving stress and anxiety. We all know that stress is bad for our health and wellbeing.  Stress can disturb our sleep, contribute to depression and anxiety, increase blood pressure and impact on fatigue and brain fog.  Regular meditation can help to reduce stress.  In addition, research has shown that meditation might also improve symptoms of stress-related conditions, such as post traumatic stress disorder, fibromyalgia and irritable bowel syndrome.

Meditation also can reduce the symptoms of anxiety and anxiety disorders, such as phobias, social anxiety, paranoia, obsessive-compulsive disorders and panic attacks. One study has shown that meditation can actually help to reduce the density of brain tissue associated with anxiety and worrying. Mediation also can help to reduce job-related stresses and anxiety.

Meditation Improves Emotional stability

Daily meditation can help us to become more self-aware, calm us emotionally and help us manage difficult emotions. Some forms of meditation can also help with depression, improving our self-image and creating a more positive outlook on life.   

Meditation can also develop our resilience and patience, allowing us to cope more effectively in challenging situations. This improvement in our emotional stability, also means we will be less likely to be influenced by negative people in our lives.

Daily Meditation Can Improve Happiness, Clarity and Overall Wellbeing

Meditation helps us to grow into the best versions of ourselves.  It helps us observe and become aware of our own personal thought patterns.  We gain a better viewpoint of ourselves, and can implement changes that will allow for positive growth.  We become aware that we are in control of your own happiness, in turn, creating a positive mood and wellbeing.  In turn, this can improve the quality of relationships.   We become more able to empathise and pick up on cues about how others are feeling and their needs.  

Sources: Annals of Behavioral Medicine, ResearchGate, US National Library of Medicine,  ResearchGate, ScienceDirect

Improved Focus & Attention – a Benefit of Meditation

Research shows that meditation improves cognition and increases our ability to perform tasks which require us to maintain focus.  It increases our memory skills and our ability to store and consolidate new information that we have received during the day.  Our brains function better, and will also help in our ability to make decisions.

Meditation Can Help to Reduce Age-Related Memory Loss

The improved focus, and increased memory we can gain through regular meditation can help fight age-related memory loss and dementia and help keep our minds young.  In addition to fighting normal age-related memory loss, meditation has the benefits of partially improving memory in patients with dementia.

Daily Meditation Improves Sleep

A good night’s sleep is important for good health. A benefit of meditating regularly is that it improves our sleep quality, helping us to fall asleep sooner and stay asleep longer.  Meditation also helps to relax our body, releasing tension and placing us in a calm state in which we are more likely to fall asleep. 

Meditation Helps to Control Pain

Meditating can help to lessen the awareness of pain in our body.  Our perception of pain is connected to the state of our minds, which can be higher in stressful situations. People who meditate regularly have a greater ability to manage pain and can experience a reduced sensation of pain in the body.

Meditation Can Decrease Blood Pressure

Blood pressure decreases while meditating, and it also decreases over time in people who meditate regularly.  In the long term, this reduces the risk of  heart disease, atherosclerosis, or narrowing of the arteries, which can lead to heart attacks and strokes. 

Another Benefit of Meditation – It Can be Done Anywhere

We only need to put aside a couple of minutes each day to reap the benefits of regular meditation.  There are many different forms of meditation, most of which don’t require any special equipment.  So, we can practice anywhere, anytime. Find a quiet spot at home or maybe even consider a class.  There are also guided meditation apps like HeadSpace and InsightTimer (my personal favourite) to get you started.

With positive benefits to meditating like these , there really is no reason why we all shouldn’t be taking 5 to 10 minutes out of our days to meditate, and improve our health and wellbeing.