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Why I Meditate Every Eight Hours for Decades

I eat once but meditate three times to reap seven health and well-being benefits.

By Dr Mehmet YildizPublished 2 years ago 11 min read
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Why I Meditate Every Eight Hours for Decades
Photo by William Farlow on Unsplash

Some people eat six times a day and meditate once or none. I am just the opposite. I eat only once with no snacks to improve my health. However, I meditate three times a day and supplement with short sessions similar to snacking.

It might sound unusual to my new readers when I point out that I don't believe in frequent eating, but I do in repeated meditation daily. I explain the reasons in this article.

Meditation is not a new-age idea or practice anymore. Yet, while the eastern world reaped the benefits of mindfulness practices such as meditation for centuries, the western world resisted not using these valuable tools.

However, in the end, a remarkable shift happened in the last few decades. Finally, meditation entered the mainstream after the thought leaders saw the benefits and articulated it to the public.

As a result, the resistance against meditative practices significantly dropped, and many people embraced it.

Understanding the nature of meditative practices became the major contributor to this shift.

People understood that meditation was not exclusive to spiritual or religious people anymore. Secular people could also practice and reap benefits from meditating regularly.

Of course, some people still see no value in meditation, see it as abnormal, and even condemn it. It is natural. Throughout history, humans even denied the most fundamental facts of life. Still, some people see the earth as flat.

Even though some perceive meditation as a psychological construct, it has a noticeable physiological aspect. Thus, meditation is a psychosomatic process covering the body and mind.

I experienced numerous benefits of meditative practices in my life. Regular meditation supported my personal and professional growth. Therefore, I desire to pass along my tacit knowledge.

The brain as a Special Organ

The brain is a very active organ. It never stops working. Even during sleep, it works. For example, dreaming is a type of work for the body.

During sleep brain process sensory information and sends many signals using hormones and neurotransmitters.

The brain affects every organ in some ways. It serves as a control center. Even though the brain looks like a single organ, it has multiple parts performing different activities.

However, all parts of the brain are connected in intricate ways and constantly communicate. I see the brain as a large orchestra.

Some scientists think the neocortex is the orchestra's leader, and some think the old brain. They all have valid reasons.

However, I believe our consciousness is the leader of the orchestra. This perspective is only a hypothesis as the scientific method cannot study consciousness empirically yet.

My Inspiration to Start Meditation

In my younger years, one of my hobbies was reading historical, anthropological, and classical literature to learn from the previous generations.

When I analyzed the lives of successful people in all walks of life in history, the typical success pattern was the use of meditative practices.

They all used different methods, but the primary purpose was to silence the mind by observing thoughts methodically.

Unlike perceptions of associating meditation with religions and spiritual practices, my findings depicted that scientists, inventors, artists, and philosophers leveraged the power of meditation.

With this inspiration, I explored many meditative practices. The most interesting one, in the beginning, was Sufism which gave me a unique perspective on the spiritual domain.

Then I discovered transcendental meditation, which created a bridge between the eastern and western worlds.

By reviewing various meditation methods, I customized them to suit my needs. Different methods might work for different people. Even though approaches might vary, every healthy person can meditate if they learn the principles, in my opinion.

Here are my seven reasons to meditate three times a day.

1 - Reset the neocortex.

I see meditation as a reset button for the brain. It is like the metaphor of turning off lights when we want to save energy.

The neocortex is a highly busy part of the brain, with billions of neurons firing every second. It receives and sends signals non-stop to control bodily and mental functions.

The neocortex is a biological, chemical, and electrical machine. Thus it requires rest and digestion like other organs. If left unchecked, for the sake of survival by design, the old brain never stops worrying and keeping the neocortex busy.

Unless we reset the neocortex with deliberate intervention like meditation, it will continue running at a massive speed frenetically, causing stress and anxiety to the body.

Meditation is an intervention to reset the activities by slowing the speed of thoughts. During meditative practice, the input to the neocortex diminishes; hence the process slows down.

Meditative practices give a chance to the cognitive brain to rest. However, paradoxically the reflective process also serves as a workout for the neocortex strengthening the focus and attention muscles.

In my perspective, this metaphorical workout is the biggest benefit of meditation. However, this process also causes a problem for beginners. For example, some people feel more stressed when meditating, so they give up seeing it as useless.

Unfortunately, some meditation teachers sell it only as a relaxation method. It is partially correct, in my opinion. Yes, it relaxes the brain to some extent, but it also puts significant pressure on the brain.

The pressure from meditative practices is good stress for the brain for this growth. We only get the benefits after a while, which I discuss in the next sections.

Using the power of the neocortex, I managed to tame my amygdala and reduce the effects of its sneaky hijacks.

2 - Manage stress.

The immediate benefit of meditation is managing stress.

First of all, meditative practices create stress awareness. The intention to meditate creates a purpose to observe the stress in the body. This approach is an excellent start for beginners.

Then during the meditation, the body gets a chance to relax. Our thoughts never stop. They keep coming from our consciousness. However, when unchecked, these thoughts can affect bodily functions.

One of my reason for meditating three times, approximately every eight hours, is to observe my stress, process it, and reduce its pressure and effects on the body and mind.

Stress affects our sleep as I struggled with sleep problems when experiencing chronic stress and brain fog in my younger years. However, after starting meditative practices, my sleep quality significantly improved enhancing my mental clarity.

Fat loss and healthy weight management are fewer known benefits of meditation. I learned that the stress hormone cortisol has a significant role in our metabolism, and meditation can contribute to fat loss.

3 - Reduce anxiety.

Anxiety is related to stress and causes damage to our physical and mental health. As we get older, anxiety can increase.

The old brain generates fear and anxiety to survive. Even though there is no real threat to survival, it fabricates to prepare for future events. The old brain cares about our survival, but it adversely affects our prosperity.

Anxiety is a feeling created by thoughts of the neocortex and sensations fabricated by the amygdala. Negative and pessimistic thoughts might turn into concerns and create anxious feelings amplifying the fabrication of the amygdala.

The body feels under threat even though there is no threat. This is natural and can happen to anyone. Before meditating, my anxiety was high. I used to worry about my future a lot.

Since we reduce thoughts and change their meaning neutrally during meditation, we face less anxiety.

It is not possible to stop thoughts, but it is possible to reduce their effects through meditative practices.

4 - Increase cognitive flexibility.

Meditation gives me mental clarity.

Cognitive flexibility is a less spoken aspect of meditation from my observations. However, it is as important as other factors and benefits.

As mentioned before, meditation creates a paradoxical situation. Those who don't understand this paradox give up meditation. They assume it is useless and even harmful for them.

I have empathy and compassion for those people as I initially found meditation difficult. Like many beginners, I experienced side effects like boredom and agitation.

However, despite the initial challenges, I did not give up because I firmly believed in its benefits. Thus, I managed to reduce the side effects with commitment and persistence.

By leveraging the knowledge of people who successfully used it in the past, I convinced myself the painful side effects are temporary and symptoms of biological, chemical, and electrical shifts.

As a principle, biological entities need to adapt. For example, our muscles do not grow unless we stress it with exercise. The cognitive brain is also a biological and physical entity.

Inspiringly scientific studies proved that the cognitive brain gets stronger with meditations by enhancing focus, attention, working memory, task switching, and problem-solving using MRI scans.

I wrote several articles about cognitive flexibility.

5 - Regulate emotions.

Like cognitive flexibility, emotional regulation is another benefit of meditative practices.

Meditation can increase emotional intelligence by creating cognitive flexibility. Our thoughts significantly impact emotions and feelings.

While the central premise of meditation is to observe thoughts which can reduce emotional fluctuations, we can also watch emotions and feelings similar to thoughts.

Initially, I only focussed on thoughts which helped me regulate emotions. However, when I learned to observe my emotions and feelings, I gained better control to regulate my emotions.

6 - Balance hormones and neurotransmitters.

One of the most significant benefits of meditative practices is balancing hormones and neurotransmitters. This point proves that meditation is a psychosomatic process.

Emotions play a significant role in our hormonal profile. Our thoughts also affect neurotransmitters. For example, our thoughts can change the amount of dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin.

We can impact our hormones and neurotransmitters when we observe our thoughts and reduce their emotional impacts, such as anxiety, excitement, anger, or grief.

For example, scientific studies observed that meditation significantly reduced cortisol (stress hormone) in stressed individuals. The less stress the body perceives, the less cortisol it releases.

7 - Create cognitive reserves.

I leave this to the end because this is a long-term benefit of meditative practices from my experience. Previous points cover the benefits of meditation in cognitive reserves.

My reason for paying attention to cognitive reserves is to function when I face neurodegenerative diseases (dementia like Alzheimer's) as I get older.

But unfortunately, as the brain is a biological machine controlled by genes, we cannot prevent aging and degeneration as we age chronically.

However, by creating cognitive reserves, we can reduce the effects of neurodegenerative diseases and still perform in old age using the functions of our cognitive brain, such as focus, attention, memory, task switching, and problem-solving.

Meditation can increase BDNF (Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor).

As meditation can strengthen cognitive functions, it is an excellent tool to enhance cognitive reserves. The earlier we start, the better it gets.

Final Words

Meditation and mindfulness practices are excellent tools in my mental health kit. I used them for short-term and long-term health and well-being benefits. I made meditation a hobby.

Eating and snacking thrice gave me many health problems, but meditating three times and supplementing with short sessions like five to ten minutes in between gave me many benefits.

Therefore, I see meditation as important as food in my life. After practicing meditation for decades, I haven't seen any side effects except, in the beginning, some boredom and agitation, which disappeared after years.

Still, meditation puts pressure on my brain, but it is good stress strengthening neurocircuits, enhancing my focus, attention, memory, task switching, and problem-solving enhancing cognitive reserves.

Meditation helped me gain desired hormonal and neurotransmitter balance improving my physical health. In addition, regulating my emotions increased my creativity and productivity and improved my relationships.

I use meditation in my work for innovative and inventive pursuits. It helps me enter the flow state easily and remain as long as I want.

There are many meditative practicing that might appeal to different people. Moreover, some methods might work better for some people and might not work for others. Therefore, it is wise to try different approaches until finding the right one for yourself.

However, like any good thing in life, meditation might not suit everyone, especially those who experience mental health conditions.

Therefore, those people must discuss with their qualified healthcare professionals and gain support before starting meditation.

Takeaways

Based on my experience and observations, I offer seven simple takeaway points that you might consider, including meditation in your daily activities.

1 - Start small, like five to ten minutes sessions.

2 - Gradually increase as you tolerate but consistently and regularly do it.

3 - Focus on the breath to observe thoughts and let them go as they arrive at your consciousness.

4 - Start observing emotions and feelings by labeling them but not judging.

5 - Consider various meditation types such as including compassion meditation.

6 - Remain optimistic by believing in the benefits.

7 - Show gratitude to your body and mind for allowing you this opportunity.

Meditation is a disciplined process that requires specific protocols. However, we can always use mindfulness in all walks of life, including amid chaos.

A mindful approach to life can bring significant health and well-being benefits from my experience.

Thank you for reading my perspectives. I wish you a healthy and happy life.

I share similar stories on EUPHORIA, which is my personal publication for health and well-being stories. The original version of this article was published on another platform.

If you enjoy writing and storytelling, you can join Vocal as a creator to find your voice and reach out to a broad audience. I also write on Medium and NewsBreak.

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About the Creator

Dr Mehmet Yildiz

I'm a writer and published author with four decades of content development experience in business, technology, leadership, and health. I work as a postdoctoral researcher and consultant. My background is at https://digitalmehmet.com.

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