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Can Meditation Help Reduce Stress?
The debate about the validity of meditation takes heated tones with people strongly advocating both sides of the coin.
However, to make an informed decision one must have the right knowledge and listen to what research and experts say about the practice.
Meditation is not a new concept. It has been practiced for thousands of years for different reasons. Initially, it was a medium to understand and harness the mystic forces of nature. Still, in recent times the practice has been highly recommended for reducing the stress and anxiety levels in people. What makes it popular and a preferred option is that just a few minutes can help the person calm down and experience peace, the practice doesn’t need any specific equipment and it can be done at the person’s convenience. Be it at home, in the workplace, or while traveling.
Table of Contents
ToggleWhat is Meditation?
Meditation is a practice that deeply engages the mind, body, and soul and helps to relax the person. During meditation, the person is required to focus on one thing. It could be an object, a thought, or even a process like breathing. The focus enables the person to clear their mind of any disturbing thoughts that lead to stress. The clearing of chaotic thoughts helps to calm the mind and help the person attain improved emotional and physical well-being.
What is the Right Technique?
This question is as old as the practice itself and has gathered momentum as more people are leaning toward the practice to seek solace.
“For me to focus on one single thing was a task. Though I tried my best for two weeks, I found it very difficult to settle down and concentrate,” shares Riaz Khan a stock broker from Mumbai.
Anaida Sharma a 19-year-old engineering student says she made the same mistake of forcing herself to focus on certain thoughts. Her teacher taught her that during meditation there was no need to focus forcefully on one thought but to let the multiple thoughts flow freely without restrictions.
The engineering student says she closes her eyes and just lets her mind wander and without much effort, she realizes that her breathing has slowed down and her mind begins to clear up.
Shalini Vohra a wellness expert who has been teaching meditation for a decade says there are many types of meditations and different people may find different techniques comfortable.
According to her the different types of meditations are:
- Guided meditation– This type of meditation involves guided visualization where a person forms mental images of places, people, or things that enable them to calm down. the visualization includes using all the senses with the help of an expert.
- Meditating with mantras– In this type a person can keep repeating a word or a phrase to take their mind off the unpleasant thoughts.
- Mindful mediation– This meditation involves being aware of the thoughts, and feelings and letting them flow without judging them or getting affected by them.
Other forms of meditation like yoga, taichi, and qigong involve the use of various postures and controlled breathing.
The prerequisites of meditation according to Vohra are a quiet environment, relaxed and slow breathing, and a comfortable position for more focused attention.
How Does Meditation Benefit?
- Reduces stress and anxiety– When stress increases, the body releases cortisol. The release of the hormone triggers harmful effects that disturb sleep, cause anxiety, lead to fatigue, raise blood pressure, and cloud the thinking abilities of a person. Studies indicate that mindful meditation reduces the inflammation in the body that causes stress-related symptoms and improves symptoms of conditions like irritable bowel syndrome, post-traumatic stress disorder, and fibromyalgia.
Furthermore, a study including 1300 adults concluded that meditation can reduce anxiety and help improve symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder through positive self-affirmations that help cope better with stress. People with job anxiety experienced a sense of well-being and low distress levels as compared to another control group after meditation.
- Decreases memory loss– Studies conducted on people with age-related memory loss have shown that meditation improves their performance in neuropsychological tests.
Research has further indicated that meditation can improve the attention span of a person, and enhance their memory and mental agility in older adults. Meditation has also proved to partially improve memory loss in dementia patients.
- Helps deal with addictions– Meditation can develop mental discipline that helps break free from dependencies. Studies reveal that through meditation people learn to divert their attention, control their emotions and impulsiveness, and realize the reason for the addiction. A study showed that people who received transcendental meditation for alcohol abuse experienced reduced levels of distress and cravings for alcohol. Another study revealed that meditation helps reduce food cravings through decreased urges of binge eating.
- Improves sleep patterns– Practicing meditation helps a person manage random runaway thoughts that cause insomnia. Research shows that meditation helps people sleep longer and more peacefully. Moreover, the practice also helps relax the body, release tension, and lead the person to a peaceful state of mind that induces better sleep patterns.
- Diminishes pain– The perception of pain is largely associated with the state of the mind of the person hence it can get aggravated in stressful situations. Meditation helps in controlling pain by reducing it and improving the life quality of the person.
A study with 47 people who had chronic pain revealed that there were significant improvements in their depression and pain after an 8-week meditation program.
To conclude it is important to note that although meditation is free-flowing, it requires practice. But one should not give up and panic if their thoughts keep wandering off. The idea is to gently and calmly allow the thoughts to flow and guide them back to where you want them to be.
One should also experiment as to which technique works best for them or consult an expert if they need further guidance.
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BY: Sukino
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