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Health Benefits of Meditation

What mindfulness meditation can do to improve your general well-being.

By Michelle ChristianPublished 3 years ago 3 min read
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Health Benefits of Meditation
Photo by Sage Friedman on Unsplash

Before you start…

It is becoming common knowledge of the mental benefits of meditating. Research is now suggesting that meditating may also help manage symptoms of some physical health conditions.

There are, obviously, precautions as any method that could alter your health should be thoroughly discussed between you and your healthcare provider. It is important to take your health seriously and any changes to your routine should be monitored closely. It is not recommended to begin any activity that could alter your health without speaking to a healthcare professional first.

The best advice I can offer is to research thoroughly and make plans. One month. Six months. One year. Be as specific as possible in your plans about any changes to your routine. Bring those plans to your healthcare provider to have a thorough discussion. They can offer expert insight into if your plans will work for your specific health conditions and may have other suggestions that may be more beneficial.

Stress does what?

Stress has an impact over every part of your health. It has a way of making you feel it, in every sense. It is frustration over tiny inconveniences, anger over small annoyances, sadness with no cause, and unwarranted physical pain.

Many health conditions can have worsened symptoms when one feels stress. It can cause worsening anxiety, depression, chronic pain, and sleep problems. It can exacerbate asthma and high blood pressure. Stress can wreak havoc on those with chronic health conditions.

The full scope of what stress is capable of doing to the body and mind are still unknown. What is known is enough to encourage me to lessen what I am able to increase my quality of life.

The health benefits of meditation.

Meditation is a practice that can help alleviate stress by building skills to help handle stress situations before, or much more quickly than, the stress can exacerbate any symptoms.

While the studies are not showing mind blowing results, the results are there. Mindfulness meditation especially has been showing improvements for those with physical and mental health conditions such as depression, chronic pain, and anxiety. It is believed that meditation reduces stress and therefore improves these and other conditions.

Meditation has also shown to improve the quality of sleep. The quality of sleep affects your health as much as stress does. I don’t know about anyone else but if I do not sleep well, I’m just miserable. There’s more pain, more irritability, more fatigue. Why wouldn’t I take 15 minutes a day to ensure better sleep and less stress?

Evidence also suggests that meditation may reduce blood pressure and improve symptoms of anxiety and depression. Reducing menopause symptoms? Check. Fatigue? Check. Reducing inflammation? Check.

Science is still catching up to all the benefits of meditation and other yogic practices but studies are there to show improvements to the health of those who practice.

Beyond Little Thoughts

Meditation has helped to lessen the symptoms of many of my chronic health conditions, including anxiety, fibromyalgia, and migraines. Between regular meditation and yoga sessions, both recommended by my primary healthcare provider and rheumatologist, I feel as though I have better control of how stress affects my health.

It took months after my providers suggested starting these practices that I actually did anything. Once I was able to talk my brain into changing my routine, I felt much better about incorporating these new practices whenever I was able to.

Some results were immediate, such as feeling positive about doing something good for my health and the small amount of exercise from yoga. A huge feat with fibromyalgia, at times. Other results, especially from meditation, took longer to really notice how my thought processes have changed to be able to handle the stressful situations better now.

What are your thoughts?

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About the Creator

Michelle Christian

Beyond Little Thoughts became a way for me to vocalize what I have learned and what I continue to learn about multiple topics, giving my own perspective, however flawed it may be.

@beyondlittlethoughts

@1LittleThought_

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