How Meditation Calms the Mind and Body
Meditation Calms the Mind and Body: Do you need a stress-relieving break? When we are worried or irritated, it is difficult to let go of particular thought patterns and remain calm. You can attest to this if you’ve ever found yourself bringing up even more nasty notions while upset. When we are under a lot of stress, our bodies are thrown off balance. The procedure causes the body to produce a lot of cortisol (the principal stress hormone).
Did you know that when stress hormones take hold, your brain and body can go out of sync? A single obsessive thought in the mind may set off a chain of events that causes the body to go into survival mode. Meditation is a simple practice to do if you want to start functioning from a more relaxed and tranquil state. Let’s have a look at how this technique can help you relax both your mind and your body.
Meditation Has an Impact on Certain Brain Chemicals
If you are consistently stressed, your body will continuously release cortisol. While this stress hormone is required for short-term survival, no one’s body is designed to operate in this state for an extended amount of time. Meditation can help to reduce cortisol production in the body. In this manner, you can lessen your body’s fight or flight response when it isn’t needed. Consider being in a stressful situation, such as completing a difficult task at work. If you continue to operate in this mindset by bringing up additional stressful concepts, your body will react. Meditation trains and prepares the mind to slow down and be fully present in the present moment. As simple as it may appear, decreasing cortisol helps you maintain a more balanced mental state.
Meditation also has the soothing effect of increasing the flow of ‘feel-good’ hormones in the body. Meditation can help you change your mood, which affects serotonin production. This feel-good hormone improves your mood as it circulates, making it a two-way street [1]. Meditation can also help boost the sleep hormone melatonin, which helps with mood management [2]. There is little doubt that we experience a sense of serenity in our lives when we work from a more positive state.
Managing Stress
Many people turn to meditation to help them cope with daily stress. Stress levels caused by the mind and the external environment are harmful to both mental and physical health. Headaches, fatigue, and physical tension are all symptoms of stress [3]. Because we have a mind-body connection, positive mental outcomes can lead to better health. When you meditate, you feel a sensation of calm. You begin to develop heightened levels of mental and bodily awareness, which helps you stay in the present moment. This relaxation response contributes in the regulation of respiration and heart rate. Even more recently, research has shown that meditation has an influence on brain waves. You can nurture the ability to be calm by focusing on your breath or specific areas of your body.
Changing the Frequency of Brain Waves
Depending on our current state, our brains are constantly engaged in some type of electrical activity. When we are awake and aware, we mostly operate in the beta range, which spans the spectrum from low to high. When we are in the low beta range, we are aware of our bodies and surroundings yet remain calm. High-range beta, on the other hand, is a state of arousal caused mostly by stress. Today, many of us are always functioning in high-range beta, which causes us to live in a constant state of tension, aggravation, and wrath. Meditation allows us to shift our brain wave frequencies to alpha and theta, resulting in deeper levels of relaxation [4]. You increase your chances of experiencing tranquil states by diverting your attention away from the exterior world and into your inner world.
In conclusion
We can find a significant association between meditation and calmer moods through personal testimonies and extensive scientific research. You have the potential to recover control by transitioning from frustration to calmness. Daily meditation can help you manage stress, change the frequency of your brain waves, and feel better overall.
Medication is preferable to meditation.
When our bodies fail us and we begin to suffer from a specific condition, it may appear that there is no other option to fight back other than through drugs. What if there is another option? Rather than using mood stabilisers, sleeping pills, pain relievers, muscle relaxants, and other medicines on a regular basis, what if we could practise focusing our attention on the present now and muting our brain’s pains?
Anxiety
Mediation can be used alone or in tandem with medicine. Meditation has been found in studies to relieve anxiety symptoms as well as or better than benzodiazepines, a type of anxiety medication. Because the majority of anxiety medicines result in addiction and physical reliance, meditation is seen as a superior solution. As a result, for people who do not want to rely on medication, meditation is a more effective way to manage anxiety.
Furthermore, mindful meditation has been shown to engage brain regions important for mood regulation, cognition control, and the reduction of negative thinking processes. Anxiety medication did not benefit half of clinical anxiety disorder patients who did not meditate while taking the prescribed drugs, according to a 2014 study. After completing a 20-minute meditation session, the other half reported a 22% reduction in anxiety. This suggests that by practising meditation on a regular basis, our brains may acquire emotional resilience and adapt to environmental changes.
a sleeping disorder
Sleep is essential for stress management, cognitive function, healthy eating, and weight loss. If you’re having trouble sleeping, you might want to look into meditation. Meditation has been proven in studies to improve sleep efficiency, latency, and insomnia.
Inflammatory disorder
Inflammatory disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis, muscular neck pain, osteoarthritis, muscular low back pain, and fibromyalgia cause severe discomfort, making daily chores difficult. If you suffer from any of these ailments, you should think about including meditation into your treatment plan. Meditation has been proven in studies to improve cell-mediated immunity, certain indications of inflammation, and biological ageing.
Depression
Meditation can be just as effective as antidepressants, especially for people who relapse into depression after being on medication for a long time. According to research, those who are striving to maintain their remissions do not take antidepressants. They utilise narcotics instead of meditating. This suggests that mindfulness is just as effective as drugs in preventing the recurrence of depression.
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (PTSD)
A study was carried out in which 74 military personnel suffering from PTSD were separated into two groups. The first half of the group engaged in a 20-minute session of transcendental meditation, while the second half did not. Individuals who meditated gradually became more peaceful and active, and by the end of one month, the majority of subjects had quit taking their medication. There was a 21% difference between the two groups after six months, and those who did not participate in the meditation had more severe PTSD.
Reducing Stress
Stress can be harmful to our health, which is why it is vital to manage our stress. Rather than utilising medicines to relieve stress, spend some time relaxing your mind through meditation. This will make you feel better prepared to deal with day-to-day stress. According to studies, it takes around eight weeks of meditation to lessen the negative effects of psychological stress and to reduce the “fight or flight” response.
In general, evidence suggests that meditation is beneficial to human health and can help reduce symptoms related with insomnia, stress, depression, weight gain, and inflammatory illnesses. Despite the fact that the majority of this study has methodological problems and limitations, high-quality research must be undertaken. However, there is no harm in meditating while taking your medication.
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References
[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2077351/
[2] https://askthescientists.com/brain-meditation/
[3] https://www.everydayhealth.com/meditation/how-meditation-can-improve-your-mental-health/
[4] https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100319210631.htm
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