Can Meditation Improve Your Health?

There’s little doubt that meditation is good for you and that mindfulness can help you feel better. But how?

 

 

I remember the first time hearing the word ‘meditation’. I initially thought of it as sitting cross-legged with my eyes closed-breathing deeply and trying to clear my mind.

 

While it is true that meditation often involves quiet and focused contemplation, I came to realize that the concept of “emptying your mind” and “sitting cross-legged” are misconceptions.

As Dr. Judson Brewer states, “meditation is not about emptying our minds or stopping our thoughts- which is impossible,” he says. “It’s about changing our relationship with our thoughts.” 

Doing so can help us to mitigate stress-related health concerns and conditions, as well as those related to the gut. Here’s what we need to know about meditation and what you can expect from the practice:

 

The practice can help you with your emotional intelligence— the ability to better recognize and understand what your emotions mean, or what they may be trying to tell you and let them go— instead of becoming embroiled in worry or rumination. 

 

What is meditation anyway?

The practice of meditation dates back more than 2,000 years and comes in many forms. The specifics of each practice differ, but they all tend to have one thing in common. According to Miles Neale, a clinical instructor of psychology at Weill Cornell Medicine and the author of Gradual Awakening, a book about Tibetan Buddhist Meditation— all the various practices train or cultivate our attention and awareness. 

There are three main types, Neale says. 

1. Single-pointed meditation: this is where you try to anchor your mind to one point of attention (i.e. your breath, a candle, a mantra)
2. Open-focus meditation: this involves recognizing any thoughts, feelings, or sensations that pop into your head as they arise without passing any judgment on them — a big component of mindfulness, he says
3. Cultivation meditation: you try to develop specific habits of the mind such as loving-kindness which emphasizes openness and compassion for example. 

What are the health benefits? 

When it comes to meditation, research shows that a little seems to go a long way. A 2018 study in the journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience found that by engaging in just 10 minutes of mindfulness meditation training, people’s reaction times and accuracy scores on a computer-based attention test improved. Since all types of meditation cultivate awareness and attention, research shows that meditation can help to bolster focus and concentration. Not only that but since our brains are constantly being bombarded with information from the internal and external world, our attention is constantly being impacted.

 

Whether it is from our own minds, thoughts of work, or worries about an upcoming event, attention acts like a filter and the gatekeeper of the mind. Sometimes, this can be a lot for us to process. According to Michael Mrazek, director of research at the University of California, Santa Barbara, Center for Mindfulness and Human Potential, “where you direct our attention is the best predictor of our experiences.” 

 

Another important benefit that has been linked with meditation is enhanced thinking and memory, Mrazek adds. The practice has been beneficial in helping people better recognize and understand their emotions— and letting them go instead of worrying or ruminating about events that may never happen. This ability to recognize, feel and regulate one’s emotion may be one reason why many are starting to turn to meditation to help with depression and anxiety. 

 

Meditation can also help with alleviating stress. One study from Massachusetts General Hospital found that the practice helped with easing symptoms associated with Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Inflammatory Bowel Disease. Research has also linked meditation to improvements in people dealing with chronic pain.

 

How does meditation achieve all this? one may ask. Meditation appears to increase activity in brain regions involved in pain regulation. When it comes to stress and its associated disorders, some research finds that meditation activates the parasympathetic nervous system or the body’s relaxation response which is, the opposite of the sympathetic nervous system— the fight-or-flight state that fuels anxiety and stress.

 

Are there health risks associated with meditation? 

Like most things in life, meditation is not without its own risks. Among people who have experienced trauma or who have a predisposition to mental health issues, intensive practice can be “destabilizing”, Mrazek says. Meditation can also lead people to troubling personal insights, especially for those who are just starting out. If they throw themselves into it too intensely, they might find that some painful memory could be kicked up. Meditation instructors are often not trained to deal with this. Like exercise, meditation requires a slow and gradual buildup, a long-term commitment, and regular practice. And as Neale says, “if you want the benefits to persist, you need to stick with it.”

 

What is the most effective way to meditate? 

There is no best way to meditate. The most effective way to get started with meditation is to try a number of different practices and find out which one most resonates and connects with you personally. Being open-minded is the best way to find the right practice for you. So explore. 

 

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