5 Health benefits of meditation

Meditation was originally thought to belong to Eastern culture, but now it is very popular all over the world. In Western countries, you can easily find meditation centers in many cities. Recent scientific studies have demonstrated the great health benefits of meditation. Don’t skip this free and effective remedy.

1. What is Meditation?

✅ Meditation is understood in simple language as the combination of body and spirit in the present to recognize things, phenomena, and ideas. Meditation is to calm the mind, remove all misconceptions, realize clearly the ego, and see the world around it properly and wisely.
✅ Meditation is simple in that you do not need any equipment to practice. It is best to meditate at a certain time each morning. By doing so, you will create a habit and after a short time, you will see meditation in the morning just like you brush your teeth every day. To start meditation, try taking meditation classes of different types to see which technique is best for you. Besides, having a teacher nearby to guide you on techniques will make meditation easier for beginners. Here are the notes when you practice meditation:

• Find a place dedicated to meditation: You should choose a quiet place, this allows you to focus completely on meditation, without interrupting the mind by external factors. For beginners to meditate, not being bothered during the process of meditation is the most important thing that makes it easier to focus your mind. So turn off the TV, the phone, and all the other audio equipment. You can turn on the music, type gentle, mellow, repetitive melodies.
• Dress comfortably: When you meditate, you have to be really focused, so wearing tight or uncomfortable clothes will make it impossible to concentrate and it is best not to wear shoes.
• Sit comfortably: Traditionally, you can sit on a mattress in the style of a semi-elderly style, Japanese style… Whatever position you sit in, sit comfortably and upright, the spine in an upright position, neither leaning to the left nor leaning to the right, neither leaning forward nor leaning back.
• You can meditate with your eyes open or half-closed, but the advice for beginners is to close your eyes to minimize the effects on you through your eyes. Once you get used to meditation, you can practice opening your eyes when meditating and focusing on the object you have chosen.
• Breathe slowly, deeply, and gently. Keep your mind focused on the interior of the object selected. If you start to lose focus, skillfully focus your mind again. Breathe in a stream of clean, relaxed, and still air so that it enters into your heart and mind so that you can feel the body receiving a source of energy. When you exhale, imagine your breath as a river or a wave sweeping away toxins, making your body light and relaxed.
• Meditation time: Meditators recommend sitting for 20 minutes a day, for beginners it could be 10 minutes a day. You should also try to meditate at about the same time each day, such as 15 minutes early in the morning and 5 minutes before lunch. Practice meditation regularly if you want to calm down. Meditating for about one to two weeks, you may have noticed a positive change in your mood and stress level. You will begin to feel your inner calm and balance even when your life is busy.
• And finally, remember, meditation is a journey. The purpose of meditation is to achieve peace, relaxation in the soul, and reach the highest realm when everything becomes impermanent, the thinking person focuses on what you are trying to accomplish. However, it takes many years of practice to reach that level. But the most important thing is that you choose the destination you need to achieve on this long journey. Maintain meditation as often as possible. Whenever you feel calmer, happier, and more peaceful in yourself, then you have succeeded in meditation.

2. 5 Health benefits of meditation

2.1 Health benefits of meditation: Reduce stress and control anger

✅ Stress relief is one of the main benefits of meditation. When the mind becomes calm when meditating, you will focus on breathing and relax, leading to reduced feelings of stress. Controlled, deep breathing allows the body to produce higher levels of nitric oxide. This substance helps to canalize blocked blood vessels and lower blood pressure. Life becomes much more beautiful and meaningful when you are not stressed.

✅ Anger is harmful to your health. When you’re angry, your nerve cells are destroyed and blood pressure goes up, so the nutrients are depleted, many toxins are produced, making you more susceptible to aging. But you can control anger if you meditate regularly.

2.2 Health benefits of meditation: Sleep well

✅ Meditation is the best natural remedy for treating disordered sleep. When we meditate, the body produces more dopamine and endorphins. While Dopamine has been linked to pleasant feelings, enhanced ability to learn new knowledge, memory, and motor skills, then Endorphins are natural pain relievers your body produces to relieve stress, nervous discomfort. Traditional Chinese doctors still say that the mind goes to sleep first then the body can sleep, this is the best way to prepare for sleep.

2.3 Health benefits of meditation: Improve cardiovascular health

✅ Meditation is the best natural cure for people with high blood pressure. When meditating the heart rate will drop, results in decreased blood pressure. Along with managing stress and negative emotions, you will reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke.
✅ Research shows that meditation can positively affect a heart health measure of heart rate variability (HRV). HRV is the number of changes over a given period of heartbeats. HRV is associated with a range of risks such as stress, depression, diabetes, heart disease, sleep disorders, and abdominal fat. One study found that those who practiced 5 minutes of meditation daily for 10 days had a better HRV than those who did not meditate. Several other studies have also shown that meditation can help lower blood pressure – on average, meditation lowers systolic blood pressure by 4.7mmHg and diastolic blood pressure by 3.2mmHg.

2.4 Health benefits of meditation: Meditation improves the brain

• There are many views that meditation is the best way to hold back the aging process, not only on the outside, on the skin, but in your brain. It helps brain cells repair lesions.
• Meditation improves concentration, helping you to think about only about one problem. In addition, stress is a major cause of poor memory and short-term memory loss. So, being relaxed and meditating regularly can help you improve your mental capacity.
• Some types of meditation have a positive effect on your ability to create and think. People who practice this type of meditation seem to perform better in the tasks in which they are required to come up with new ideas in creative ways.

2.5 Health benefits of meditation: Strengthen immunity

✅ When you meditate on a regular basis, you will breathe deeper and get more oxygen, your body will also rest and recuperate, you will improve the body’s immunity. Here are the mechanisms that help improve the immune system of meditation :

• Reduce stress, increase emotional regulation: Scientific studies have confirmed that stress, negative thinking can have a negative impact on our immune systems, creating an increasingly easier environment get sick. Meditation focuses on happy emotions, relieves stress, and eliminates negative feelings. In this way, practicing meditation can prevent a weakened immunity.
• Increasing brain and immune system communication: Another link between meditation and the immune system is the direct effect of meditation on the brain structures responsible for relating to the immune system. More specifically, research shows that meditation increases activity in areas of the brain that act as centers of our immune system. When these parts are stimulated through meditation, the immune system works more effectively.
• Activation of the second brain (intestines): Meditation can enhance immunity through the intestinal microflora. The human body consists of trillions of microorganisms, most of which reside in the intestines, called intestinal microbiota. The intestinal microbiota is a major factor in the development and maintenance of the immune system; These bacteria in the body help distinguish between bacteria invading from the outside with endogenous bacteria. Studies have shown that stress suppresses the balance of bacteria in our bodies, putting us at risk for intestinal disorders. At the same time reduce stress based on meditation helps maintain healthy gut bacteria diversity.