Meditation continues to increase in popularity but some people remain naturally skeptical. What are the benefits of meditation and why should I give it a try?
If you have your reservations then you’ll be glad to know that meditation works. It has many benefits beyond the spiritual. Numerous studies have shown that it can improve mental, emotional and physical health.
Meditation produces a number of positive changes that includes reduced stress, better sleep, improved focus and greater self-esteem.
The key benefits of meditation include:
- Improves focus
- Reduces stress and anxiety
- Promotes emotional health
- Improves sleep
- Controls pain
- Reduces risk of disease
- Increases kindness and altruism
Backed by science
Meditation has long had its sceptics but the body of evidence supporting it continues to grow. There are thousands of published studies that have proven meditation can positively impact mental and physical health. Here’s what the research has found.
Improves focus and concentration
Mindfulness meditation encourages you to focus on the present moment, which can improve your ability to concentrate on other tasks in daily life. A 2016 study from researchers at Carnegie Mellon University demonstrated how mindfulness meditation can improve concentration and decision making.
Reduces stress and anxiety
Mindfulness meditation activates the parasympathetic nervous system, which reduces our heart rate and blood pressure and, in turn, reduces our neurophysiological experience of stress. In a 2013 review, researchers analyzed more than 200 studies of mindfulness meditation among healthy people and found meditation to be an effective way to reduce stress.
Improves self-esteem and self-awareness
Meditation encourages self-reflection and gives us the space we need to discover our own positive attributes. According to a 2013 study, participants demonstrated an increased level of self-esteem and an increased level of adaptability to the school environment.
Improves sleep
Mindfulness mediation can improve the quality of sleep for those with sleeping difficulties. Meditation stimulates the relaxation response, which dramatically decreases stress and increases the likelihood of a good nights rest. A 2015 study, showed how mindfulness meditation improves sleep quality and reduces secondary health outcomes of insomnia symptoms, depression symptoms, fatigue interference, and fatigue severity.
Controls pain
Research has shown that meditation can support pain management. For example, a 2020 study of more than 6,400 participants across 60 trials found that meditation could reduce pain in those who suffered from post-surgical, acute, or chronic pain.
Reduces risk of disease
The American Heart Association has stated that meditation can help reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. Given the low costs and low risks of meditation it is promoted as a supplement to guideline‐directed cardiovascular risk reduction.
Makes you kinder and more loving
Meditation has been shown to foster compassion for yourself and for others. It can improve communication in relationships and improve satisfaction in romantic relationships. By strengthening circuits in the brain that pick up on other people’s emotions, meditation promotes altruistic behaviour, and decreases the implicit or unconscious bias.
How to get the benefits of meditation
As you can see, the benefits of meditation are numerous and quite profound. These outcomes can be experienced and cultivated by anyone who practices regularly.
Just like a flower. The more you cultivate it, the more it blossoms.
Meditating once or twice won’t cut it. Neither will inconsistent or infrequent practice. Regular meditation over the long-term is the best way to bring about these positive changes.
See for yourself
Meditation is something that we all can and should do daily. It doesn’t require any fancy equipment or expensive memberships, yet it has the power to impact every single area of our lives.
It improves clarity and focus, it reduces stress and anxiety, it gives us time and space to get closer to our true selves.
We can practice alone or in a group and there are a number of different types of meditation that benefit our minds and bodies in different ways.
To get started, check out our beginner’s guide on how to meditate.