Benefits of Meditation
Overview
Meditation can benefit our every day lives in ways we can't clearly exonerate whilst our thoughts are focused on our daily tasks. It taps into our subconscious mind and allows both our minds to be transformed into a higher consciousness, without us even realising most of the time. There are tons of ways that meditation benefits our lives, therefore on this page, you will find a couple of them here to give you a general and overall perspective on exactly that.
Immunity
Meditation benefits and increases the efficiency of our immune systems. Mindful meditation decreases stress in the mind and body and increases emotional regulation. Meditation also effectively increases antibodies in our immune system; increasing the efficiency of the protection that antibodies can provide when a pathogen (harmful organism) is present in the body.
Meditation helps to regulate pro-inflammatory genes, which are present in the immune system to regulate their expression - which cause inflammation in the body. This is extremely important because inflammation is a significant quality in hosting disease and illness such as cancer, arthritis, diabetes, and even Alzheimers disease.
Meditating can help to prevent these illnesses and diseases and increases the chance of a healthier and more content life.
Endorphins
Meditation gives us a way to hack into our system of hormones called Endorphins. Endorphins are neurotransmitters that help your body resist and deal with pain, and also alleviate anxiety and depression. They make you feel happier, reduce the risk of disease, and reduce blood pressure in the body. They are also released during exercise and are known as a "Runner's high".
Scents and aromatherapies have also been shown to increase the number of endorphins released into the body with smells such as vanilla, lavender, chamomile and sage. Even some scents like dark chocolate do the trick just fine. This is why some people burn some incense or light some scented candles whilst trying to be productive, doing exercise such as yoga, meditating or even studying. The endorphins help you to feel more energised during the day as well.
Gratitude
Gratitude is an extremely significant part of meditation that is enhanced almost immediately during or after the first meditation. Meditation enables our capacity to express gratitude for things we never thought we would be expressing gratitude for ; such as our breath, the trees, having a roof over our head, having easy access to food and water, a way of educating ourselves - being in full time/part time or home education, or even learning simple skills from the internet. There is so much to be grateful for that you'll never run out whilst you get the hang of it. Being grateful is so essential to being happier because it opens our eyes to things we never even realised we had before they are gone. Even bad experiences are something to be grateful for because each and every thing that happens has something to teach us - which is why we should use meditation to assist us with finding out the lessons.
Deepening your Empathy
Empathy and compassion are two very great things to be able to gain use of every day. Empathy allows you to sympathise with others and put yourselves in their shoes to really connect with others' experiences deeper. Compassion enables us to gain an understanding of other people's emotions and be more aware of how to help others with your use of words and actions. Meditation helps us do these things because, during meditation, we understand things deeply about ourselves, which therefore makes it easier to resonate to other people more effectively and intuitively. It helps us become more in tune with our bodies and what's going on within us, and that allows us to gain more gentle control over how we feel and react to things. Empathy and compassion are things that should be mindfully monitored, and meditation is a source that helps us to do this.
Grey and White Matter
Meditation increases both the grey and white matter in your brain. Your brain's grey matter is associated with processing information and can enhance intelligence and use of skill to be more effective. The decrease of grey matter in the brain has shown signs of memory loss and short-term memory damage with the elderly, and meditation can help to reduce this risk.
White matter in the brain makes up multiple bundles of nerve cells that transmit signals from grey matter areas. It is the part of the brain which carries nerve impulses throughout. White matter influences the efficiency of signals through the brain and sometimes decreases with age.
Meditation helps to maintain the white matter dense, numerous and more insulated - which results in more rapid signals of the nerve signal transmission in the brain.
Well-being
Meditation increases your sense of well-being greatly. During meditation, it is likely you will experience a shift in perspective or a realisation of some sort, which will then enhance your longing to better yourself and improve the quality of your life. Meditation influences your decision-making to be quicker and more on the spot; resulting in being less occupied with things not worth stressing about. Well-being is an all-around improvement. Physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well-being can be improved with meditation. It is an extremely personal experience with every person, every meditator I've encountered with have all said they had an increase in their wellbeing after meditating.
Meditation also allows you to gain more self-love, compassion and confidence, leaving you to feel a yearning for self-improvement in all aspects of life.