The ability to concentrate one's attention on a certain object, feelings or emotions is not possible for every yoga and meditation practitioner. In the era of scientific research and the thirst for explanations of every concept and fact, many seek to find the answer to the question: what is yoga and how does meditation affect mental well-being and health.
Estet-portal.com collected 5 possible indicators of the impact of meditation on brain activity, mental state and health in general. You will be surprised how much daily meditation practice can change the brain and quality of life.
Meditation for health: 5 changes that will happen to you
To be a happy person and find yourself, you should understand what brings you pleasure, what makes your soul warm and wings grow for new achievements. Agree, it is important for a person to deal with his own thoughts, to control his emotions, to control desires and negative impulses. In all these matters, meditation – irreplaceable thing.
As for health, physical well-being is closely related to psychological comfort, so a good mood and a positive attitude ensures good health. Scientists from various countries are trying to find confirmation of the opinion that meditation is beneficial not only for knowing oneself from the spiritual side, but also improves health.
And here's what the scientists found out: the changes in the psychological and mental plan are amazing. What changes threaten the brain and consciousness, health and well-being, if you practice meditation every day?
Concentration increases, attentiveness improves and, accordingly, mental activity
Think about how inattentive and distracted we can be when the phone is distracting, we constantly have to check the mail, or there is a mirror on the desktop that attracts us like a magnet. All this reduces the productivity of the workflow. The ability to concentrate on an important object or work and not be distracted – this is not as easy a task as it might seem.
It's not just about kids who don't yet understand how to keep a certain object in view for a long time. The scientific journal Psychological Science published the results of a study in which scientists found out how much meditation is needed to improve their cognitive skills.
Read also: Exercises to train memory and improve attention
So, after just 2-3 weeks of daily meditation, concentration improves several times, and with it, mindfulness and memory.
Anxiety, fear of new living conditions are significantly reduced, social phobia recedes
Sociophobia – it is a state of fear associated with social action. For example: fear of public speaking, watching others from the side while performing tasks, fear of being in a crowd when there are a lot of people. These states are accompanied by strong feelings and accompanying anxiety. Meditation directs energy to curb your fears and fight them.
A study conducted at the University of Massachusetts found that it only takes 8 weeks of meditation practice to reduce anxiety levels, and with persistent practice, full healing from this feeling comes.
Read also: Simple Meditation Techniques for Absolute Relaxation
It becomes possible to control brain activity
No matter how easy and simple it may sound: calm down and stop the flow of thoughts – making this setup is very difficult. A lot of ideas and thoughts are rushing through the head, and the inability to stop them, switch over, makes it difficult to concentrate, fall asleep, and rest. Continuous mental activity drains the mind and takes too much energy.
Research at Yale University confirms that meditation can help you consciously control the flow of your thoughts, let them go to fully relax or switch attention from one subject to another. The results of the study show that mindfulness meditation reduces the risk of getting lost in your own chaotic thoughts and helps you clean up your head.
What does mindfulness meditation mean? When a person is absorbed by thoughts, he cannot return to reality, it is difficult to understand where the line between fantasy and awareness is. And meditation helps to concentrate, as well as to return to reality in a timely manner.
Read also: Interesting facts about the brain that will change your life
Qualitative changes in brain structure
What happens to the brain and how does meditation help for health?
In a study at Harvard University, scientists found that after 8 weeks of meditation, the cortical thickness of the hippocampus (responsible for memory and learning) increases several times. In addition, in the amygdala, which is responsible for the emergence of fear and anxiety, the number of cells decreases after meditation.
Significant slowdown of age-related changes in brain tissues
It is believed that the older a person is, the smaller his brain. At the University of California School of Medicine, it was found that people who regularly practice yoga and meditation have much better brain preservation than those who do not meditate. Of course, with age, each person's brain decreases in volume, but meditation makes such manifestations less pronounced.
Therefore, the importance of meditation for health is invaluable. Meditation for health helps to curb fear and strengthen brain cells, increase the ability to manage your emotions, mental activity, mindfulness, and even the flow of thoughts. So, such significant health benefits of meditation are a strong motivation to start such a practice with 10-20 minutes a day.
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