What Are The Health Benefits Of Daily Meditation

By Doctor Paul Calladine (Chiro)

meditation

Our top 5 benefits of daily meditation

Meditation is a great way to calm an active mind and to provide balance and clarity to one's life. Meditation refers to the practice and technique that promotes relaxation by focusing on breathe, concentration and internal energy. Many people experience a sense of wellness and feel 'at peace' through meditation.

 

Meditation can be used to clear the mind and ease many health concerns such as anxiety, stress, depression and high blood pressure. 

 

Throughout history, people have reached out to spiritual leaders or gurus in order to achieve balance and internal peace; both within themselves and more outwardly to the world.

 

You can meditate in many different ways. From sound based meditation and 'mindfulness-based stress reduction' programs to zen and yoga. Even just sitting down quietly after a long day at work, shutting your eyes and breathing can have enormous benefit. What links all these variations together are their common benefits. Here are 5 of those benefits now.

 

Also, at the end of this article I link to a guided 24 minute meditation that you can do right now. This meditation is perfect for easing anxiety, worry and urgency. Try it now and let me know what you think.

1) Meditation reduces stress levels

Meditation helps to calm the mind and to block out stressful thoughts. By concentrating your thoughts solely on your breathe and the moment at hand, your mind starts to self-regulate in some way. It takes a degree of concentration to keep unwanted thoughts at bay. Over time, as your practice develops, the energy you put into concentration gives way to mindfulness. This allows you to take charge of your thoughts and to ultimately reduce stress.

2) Meditation treats social anxiety

meditation social anxiety

Social anxiety refers to the fear of social interaction with other people, in particular self-consciousness, judgement and being looked down upon. It's well know that mindfulness based stress reduction programs (that involve meditation, yoga and body awareness) are widely used to reduce stress and anxiety. The idea being if you increase relaxation and make improvements to quality of life, people suffer less from anxiety.

 

Several studies detail this concept including Goldin and Gross 2010. Their research, coming from the Department of Psychology (Stanford University), shows how mindfulness programs are effective in altering emotional responses by modifying cognitive-affective processes. Simply put, meditation helps relieve anxiety and depression symptoms in sufferers.

 

When you consider the increasing dependence on and use of anti-anxiety medications in modern society, it's hardly surprising that meditation - and other more natural, holistic therapies - are increasing in popularity.

3) Meditation makes you happier

meditation happy

Recent research (Lutz et al. 2004) shows how your brain changes and responds to meditation - in a good way. The left prefrontal cortext, the region of the brain responsible for positive emotions, increases in activity during a meditation session.

 

Why is this important? Research can now demonstrate a link between happiness and meditation in a way that induces short-term and long-term neural changes. Just as working out in the gym grows stronger muscles, it seems that certain brain-training activities including meditation 'grow' and strengthen certain regions of the brain.

4) Meditation improves your breathing

meditation breathing

Meditation improves your breathing in a number of ways.

  • You limit your thoughts to solely focus on your breath
  • You focus on breathing as an 'object of concentration'
  • It's easier to take deeper breathes that fill your lung capacity and increase oxygen to your body
  • The more you meditate the better your breathing becomes - you train yourself to breathe deeper

When you first start meditation it's easy for your mind to wander off. The discipline of breathing and meditation keeps your thoughts focused and grounded in the present. In time, as concentration gives way to mindfulness, your breathing will be longer, deeper and more relaxed.

5) Meditation boosts your mood

Meditation increases serotonin levels in the body. Serotonin in one of many neurotransmitters responsible for our emotions, including happiness. A consistent meditative practice decreases stress, increases well being and boosts mood. If you've meditated before you'll know that feeling of being 'blissed-out'. If you haven't meditated before, what are you waiting for?

Meditate Now: 24 minute guided meditation to ease anxiety, worry and urgency

Source: youtube.com

Are you feeling stressed out?

If you like this article, please share this page with your friends and family. Better still, meet up with a couple of friends and share the experience of meditation together using the above guide to help you. Also, check out this great infographic covering some more of the benefits of meditation!

Take Action Today!

Are you suffering from stress, tight muscles or poor posture? To book a chiropractic consultation at Lyons Road Family Chiro please phone or email us today.

 

(02) 9819 6182

new patients


About Dr Paul Calladine B.Sc.(Biol.), B.Sc.(Anat.), M.Chiro. (Gonstead Diplomate) and Lyons Road Family Chiropractic.

Lyons Road Family Chiro and Dr Paul (Chiro) have been serving the health care needs of Sydney's Inner West and Drummoyne communities for over 26 years. Paul is originally from Canada and has obtained high levels of tertiary qualifications from both Canada and Australia. Paul is a wealth of information on all things natural, on fitness, long term health, nutrition and of course, chiropractic.

Follow us on Facebook, Youtube, and Google+.


Related Articles

pregnancy and lower back pain
back pain and chiropractic
headache and migraine treatment

References

  • Goldin PR, Gross JJ 2010. 'Effects of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) on emotion regulation in social anxiety disorder' Emotion Feb;10(1):83-91.
  • Lutz et al, 2004. 'Long-term meditators self-induce high-amplitude gamma synchrony during mental practice' PNAS vol 101 no.46.

Write a comment

Comments: 3
  • #1

    Matt (Friday, 05 May 2023 04:02)

    My name is Matt. I'm here to say a very big thanks to Priest Salami and his great Oracle for saving my marriage. No one would have believe that I and my wife will ever come back together again as lovers. But this great spell caster reunited us in just 48hours. Priest Salami is truly a real and honest online spell caster. Contact him now on: purenaturalhealer@gmail.com. Whatsapp number: +2348143757229

  • #2

    Linda Anthony (Thursday, 09 November 2023 11:31)

    GET RICH WITH BLANK ATM CARD, Whatsapp: +18033921735

    I want to testify about Dark Web blank atm cards which can withdraw money from any atm machines around the world. I was very poor before and have no job. I saw so many testimony about how Dark Web Online Hackers send them the atm blank card and use it to collect money in any atm machine and become rich {DARKWEBONLINEHACKERS@GMAIL.COM} I email them also and they sent me the blank atm card. I have use it to get 500,000 dollars. withdraw the maximum of 5,000 USD daily. Dark Web is giving out the card just to help the poor. Hack and take money directly from any atm machine vault with the use of atm programmed card which runs in automatic mode.

    You can also contact them for the service below

    * Western Union/MoneyGram Transfer

    * Bank Transfer

    * PayPal / Skrill Transfer

    * Crypto Mining

    * CashApp Transfer

    * Bitcoin Loans

    * Recover Stolen/Missing Crypto/Funds/Assets

    Email: darkwebonlinehackers@gmail.com

    Email: info@darkwebonlinehackers.com

    Telegram or WhatsApp: +18033921735

    Website: https://darkwebonlinehackers.com

  • #3

    Jonny Abeque (Tuesday, 14 November 2023 09:41)

    I contracted Herpes (hsv-2) in 2015, my doctor said there's no cure for Herpes. I saw someone post about Priest Salami ,so many people was talking about him ,so decided to try ,so i contacted him ,so he replied me, and told me that he will cure me within 2 weeks and then i purchased the herbal medicine and he sent the herbal medicine to me , and I took it for 14 days after then I went for check-up and I was totally cured. The medicine has NO SIDE EFFECT, there's no special diet when taking the medicine. He also cures , HEPATITIS B,ALS,MND,EPILEPSY,LEUKEMIA,ASTHMA,CANCER,GONORRHEA, HIV,EMPHYSEMA,GENITAL WARTS, ES, and lots more. I will recommend Priest Salami to you if you having Viruses, Infections and Diseases challenges.YOU CAN CONTACT PRIEST SALAMI FOR YOUR CURE. Email: purenaturalhealer@gmail.com or Whatsapp +234 9117657847 You can also reach him https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100086517444734