Meditation benefits everyone. In this article, studies show that meditation benefits can be mental, emotional, and physical in nature.
Everyone has heard about meditation, but what makes this practice so unique?
Well, I have got some answers. Scientists have been researching to find this answer. Below is an explanation of their findings on how meditation benefits your life. The results are absolutely fantastic. Meditation can impact your physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being.
This article explores scientific studies on meditation benefits.
National Health Interview Survey 2017
In 2017, a National health interview survey was conducted and later published in 2018. This study showed a comparison of individuals practicing meditation in the U.S. For instance, a more significant number of women practice meditation compared to men at 16.3% women versus 11.8% men.
14.2% of adults practice meditation, a 10.1% increase from the last survey conducted in 2012. This survey shows that 5.4% of U.S. children also practice this art compared to 0.6% reported in 2012. While this data may not seem like much, these are remarkable increases.
But Wait, There’s More!
Some other statistics that are found to be exciting and worthy of taking note of:
- Worldwide it is estimated that 200-500 million people meditate
- Meditation can increase your productivity by 120%
- 8% of Americans meditate once or twice a month
- Those who meditate frequently are 87% less likely to be hospitalized for coronary disease
- Those that have insomnia can reduce their wake time by 50% through meditation
- Meditating for at least 30 minutes a day can increase grey matter in the hippocampus
Miraculous Meditation Benefits Our Well-being
Meditation is much more than merely sitting still for a few moments. It grounds us in the present. While also encourages us to process our daily lives and promotes mental clarity. This shows that our quality of life can be improved!
Studies have been conducted exploring the possible benefits of sustaining this practice daily. As a result, data proposes that it can be used to practice control of our attention and regulation of emotions and increase our self-awareness.
Mental Benefits
Over the years, there has been an emphasis on maintaining healthy mental well-being. Moreover, we have made leaps and bounds in studying mental health. It is no longer taboo to speak about issues with our mental psyche.
Studies have shown that meditation positively impacts those suffering from anxiety, depression, and insomnia. One literature review from 2014 consisted of 47 research trials in which the programs had shown evidence of improvement in 3,515 participants with their anxiety and depression.
Through regular use of meditation, your own thoughts become much more apparent than before. Making it easier to stay calm under pressure. Your perspective of life and yourself will evolve, enticing you to receive more of its beauty.
The things that make you and your individuality will make more sense. The courage you have not felt before to embrace yourself makes itself present. Our frustration with ourselves tends to be from not understanding why we do the things we do. Meditation benefits you by helping you to know how you think and your mental processes.
Those that suffer from insomnia or difficulty falling asleep may notice that their mind is always active at times of sleep. This could be the leading cause for rest to be fleeting. Meditation will help you to be able to control your thoughts, so they are not running rampant.
In 2015, a study was conducted to determine if mindful meditation improves sleep quality amongst those with sleep disturbances. The results found that those who practiced mindful meditation once a week for 2 hours for 6 weeks total experienced less insomnia, fatigue, and depression than those who did not.
Emotional Benefits
This may seem farfetched to you. How could meditation improve my emotional state?
What if I was to tell you the premise of being self-aware and having self-reflection gave way to building a new emotional compass? Sounds simple enough, but it takes time and practice to develop.
Being able to self-reflect and understand yourself will not only allow you to accept your emotions but enhance your own ability to be empathetic to others. It is that realization of everything you had to find for yourself and the path you took to understand that it is not easy to come into your own.
You feel more connected to those around you and relish them much more. Actively practicing meditation helps to ground you and keep you in the present.
Any fears of the future or past will not have as strong of a hold on you as they once did. It is much easier to live your life and give and receive love to its fullest potential. There are no issues that will keep you from what you deserve.
Understanding yourself allows you to have a better understanding of how you function.
Your boundaries become established because you have learned about yourself and what makes you have specific reactions. Discover that you are less inclined to have an emotional response because you know how to handle yourself. Thus, you can avoid or remove yourself from anything that can be triggering.
This may all sound like a dream, but it is not. Everything is about your perception. By changing your perception, doors open, and new opportunities present themselves.
Spiritual Benefits
Spiritual can be interpreted in different ways depending upon one’s lifestyle.
To avoid any confusion, I am not speaking to any certain religious-tied spirituality. My reference to spiritual relates to the human spirit or soul, the wholeness of being, and its relation to life. No matter what you believe in, meditation will help you to develop more profound reflections.
What do I mean by more profound reflections?
Well, meditation helps to tune and align your thoughts with your soul. Whether you are religious-affiliated or not, your soul is you at its core.
It is everything that makes you, you. Our own experiences and perceptions keep us from ourselves. Especially when we are forced to think about the way society molded us.
When you have a spiritual awakening, you realize you are a part of something divine. We “stop to smell the roses.” Some may feel differently about it, and I will not say you are wrong.
Consequently, it is all about one’s perspective. Meditation encourages you to broaden just that. The meaning of life expands and deepens beyond what they perceive possible.
Physical Benefits
Studies have also shown the benefit of practicing meditation on an individual’s physical health. Believe it or not, your mental state is closely linked with your physical well-being. You have probably heard before that stress can cause a plethora of issues for your health.
Not having control over your level of stress can lead you to develop risky health issues such as:
- Diabetes
- High Blood Pressure
- High cholesterol
- Stroke
- Heart Attack
- Other illnesses
Being able to control your stress levels will help to decrease the probability of developing these issues. Stress is no longer an issue by learning how to effectively meditate, thus reducing any stress-related illness.
Studies have shown that meditation can help to reduce pain. A 2016 study funded by the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health determined that meditation can help to control pain without the brain releasing any hormone to curb it.
When we experience pain, our muscles tense. Our nerves become more active in sending signals to the brain. Research has shown that while in the act of meditating, our strengths and nerves relax significantly.
This will decrease the amount of pain you feel. Next time you feel pain, try not to tense yourself and meditate. You may find the pain will subside much quicker.
Studies Show Amazing Meditation Benefits on the Brain
Our brain is one of the most critical organs in our body. It is literally the control system for our very bodies to keep functionality.
So, how does meditation benefit our brain?
This is a question many researchers have sought to discover through studies.
Much information has been studied and compiled about the everlasting effect meditation has upon a person’s brain. It is achieved through continuous practice and integration into daily lifestyle.
Studies have shown that those who meditate have increased grooves called sulci on their brain. The number of tracks is also related to grey matter. Naturally, as we age, the amount of grey matter diminishes. Those who meditate regularly long-term do not suffer from as much loss.
I will touch on some of the brain regions that are impacted below.
Corpus Callosum
The corpus callosum consists of myelinated (insulated) nerve fibers that allow communication between the left and right brain hemispheres. In anatomy class, you may have learned about the Dr. Sperry model in which there are ‘left-brained’ and ‘right-brained’ people.
Those who predominately used their left brain were considered more local and analytical. In contrast, those who used their right brain were more creative and intuitive. However, that is not necessarily true. Highly creative individuals tend to use their whole brain’.
How do we train ourselves to use our whole brain?
The answer to that is simple. Meditation.
According to a study conducted in 2012, the corpus callosum in those that practiced long-term meditation was thicker and more robust than in those who did not. Regularly Meditating balances the usage of both brain hemispheres, enhancing our ability to focus, memory, creativity, and thought process.
Hippocampus
The hippocampus is located within the temporal lobe and plays a critical role in learning and memory retention.
A study completed at Harvard under the supervision of Sara Lazar and her team concluded that meditation changes the brain’s structure by increasing the cortical thickness in the hippocampus. That is to say that meditation somehow improves an individual’s learning and memory.
As mentioned above, under the emotional and mental well-being section, meditation helps to deter depression.
In 1999, Washington University School of Medicine published a study that observed 48 MRI images of women’s brains. 24 of those images were from women that suffered from significant depression.
In those images, they found that the hippocampus was wasting away and looked much smaller than the women that were not suffering from depression. When combined with the findings that meditation can strengthen the hippocampus, it is easy to conclude that meditation can help those suffering from depression.
Amygdala
The amygdala facilitates our emotional behavior.
In short, it is best known for facilitating our “fight or flight” or fear response. Massachusetts General Hospital published a study in which researchers conducted MRI brain scans of 51 adults. The before and after completion of an 8-week meditation training were compared. They found their amygdala’s decreased in size tremendously.
This is a monumental discovery. The decrease in the amygdala size means a reduction in brain cell volume responsible for triggering our emotional responses to stimuli. All this happened in only 8 weeks!
Scientists Agree There Are Benefits to Meditation
Our daily lives may seem hectic from the time we wake up until the time we lay in bed, so we may avoid meditating because we feel there is just not enough time in the day. However, I recommend that you take the first step, give yourself time for your self-betterment, and try meditation.
Instantly start to feel calmer and more collected. Above all, the time you thought you did not have will readily become available. Indeed, this is all thanks to regularly meditating. Meditation benefits are vast and scientifically proven.
Research suggests that meditation may help people manage symptoms of conditions such as:
- Anxiety
- Asthma
- Cancer
- Chronic pain
- Depression
- Heart disease
- High blood pressure
- Irritable bowel syndrome
- Sleep problems
- Tension headaches
- And many more
Ideally, you would want to work up to meditating at least 40 minutes daily. This can be broken into two 20-minute sessions daily. I personally recommend starting with just 5 minutes daily to get used to the concept of meditating.
If you have not already, check out my article, The Ultimate Beginners Guide to 5- Minute Meditation. In this article, I broach the concept of meditating for 5 minutes and how to get started!
Which of these meditation benefits stuck out to you?
Here are the studies I used…
Mindfulness Meditation and Improvement in Sleep Quality and Daytime Impairment Among Older Adults With Sleep Disturbances: A Randomized Clinical Trial
Meditation programs for psychological stress and well-being: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Bridging the hemispheres in meditation: thicker callosal regions and enhanced fractional anisotropy (FA) in long-term practitioners
Meditation common across many U.S. religious groups. Pew Research Center
National Health Interview Survey 2017. National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health
Use of yoga, meditation, and chiropractic by adults and children: What the Science says. National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health
