Meditation has never been something I have put great focus on doing, but I constantly hear from people around me about how beneficial it is to do. Meditation can benefit you both mentally and physically. I decided to dig down and figure out what is so special about meditation. I have asked others their opinions and did some brief research as well. Following my findings, I was surprised to see how much meditation does for an individual, and how it has been proven to improve physical health and mental health in a variety of ways.
1. Improves the immune system
One thing I always hear during classes, discussion, lectures, walking down State St, or echoing down the hall is how everyone is so sick and they hate their immune system. I am pretty sure everyone, and I mean everyone hates being sick at school, work, or just in general. Meditation has been proven to strengthen the immune system response due to decreasing the amount of stress encountered every day by handling it better. Sounds like a win-win situation to me.
2. Improves academics
When we reduce our worries and stress we allow room for improvement. As well, during meditation we activate the pre-frontal cortex region of our brain; therefore, activating our learning center. Meditating allows for growth in not only yourself but your academic standings. Just by meditating 10 minutes a day, you take the time to enhance your memorization and potentially improve your grades!
3. Strengthens self-awareness
Meditation can take you away from the world and allows you to focus on yourself. By doing so, Meditation allows an individual to take the time to make sense of what is going on in their lives and how to cancel out the negative energy around them. Who does not want to be happier and content with themselves?
4. Reduces stress
Cortisol is the main stress hormone that is released in your body. When this hormone is released it often leads to feeling anxious for no reason. Through meditating, the amount of cortisol that is released is drastic compared to those who do not meditate. Most of the time stress is bad for our mental and physical health, it creates unhealthy thinking patterns and ruins our sleep schedule, so why not try to eliminate and decrease it.
5. Increases attention
Growing up and being diagnosed with ADHD at a fairly young age, I had a difficult time focusing and keeping my attention during classes and on simple tasks. I constantly felt the need to be moving and doing something. Although I have been successful in finding techniques that help keep my attention during classes and lectures, I have found meditating helps a tremendous amount. For one, we all have days where we would rather not be in class; however, meditating daily helps us think about what is important and helps us remember details.
6. Increases positivity
People who meditate have been shown to be more positive in situations and towards themselves and others. They are more content with their lives, as well as forgive more easily.
7. Improves sleep patterns
Sleep is something a lot of adolescents, teenagers, and adults lack. We often stay up longer than we should, and wake up earlier than we want to. This would not be a problem if we did not have responsibilities piling up on our plate constantly. Since meditating eliminates stress and makes our body feel more at ease due to tension release, it allows an individual to fall asleep easier and faster- and yes, it has been proven to help those with insomnia.
8. Improves emotional health
Those who have depression, phobias, ADHD, OCD, etc, can immensely benefit from taking some time out of their day and set it aside to meditate. Meditation decreases stress and allows one to think through their problems. In our daily life, we release inflammatory chemicals that alter our moods sometimes leading to the development or worsening of depression and other mental health problems.
9. Improves cardiovascular health
Stress increases you heart rate and puts a lot of pressure on your arteries and heart. Last time I check, that equals up to nothing good. Throughout this entire post I have talked about how meditation decreases your stress levels by thinking through problems and decreasing the release of stress hormones circulating throughout the body. In which, reduces the amount of stress and pressure your put on your cardiovascular system, resulting in a slower heart rate. This leads to a healthier heart and body.
10. Increase in grey matter
Grey matter is composed of neurons, and a recent study has shown that those who meditate often have an increase in grey matter and increase in productivity due to the strengthening of neural pathways.
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