Mediation: A holistic Boon

In the modern world which is forever busy, meditation is that one spot where many of the individuals who are acquainted with it, find peace and serenity in life. There are quite a lot of individuals who practice meditation, not just as a spiritual activity, but rather as a positive step towards enhanced mental health and overall wellbeing. With its holistic enhancing approach, meditation always proves to be the one of the methods to adopt for a healthy life in terms of body, mind and spirituality. Most of the individuals who practice meditation on a daily basis testify that they have experienced immense positive energy and better immunity after they started practicing meditation.

There is indeed a popular notion that meditation is always a spiritual exercise. But the fact remains that mediation and Yoga can be extremely effective for both physical and mental health too as it is an all-enhancing practice. Mediation do have its roots in religion and religious practices but today it is mostly used by medical practitioners to treat various ailments pertaining to both body and mind. There are many types, including loving-kindness meditation, mindfulness meditation, and transcendental meditation.
There are quite a lot of research based evidences for the positive effects of meditation and they are as follows:

1. Resilience to stress
There have been a considerable number of researches which prove that individuals who practice meditation and mindfulness experience lesser amount of stress with increased rates of coping potential. Consequently, it has had a positive effect on cardiovascular diseases, blood pressure, depression, obesity and insomnia.
A study conducted by Center for Wellness and Achievement in Education in San Francisco, CA, found that people who practice transcendental meditation have less stressed during the working hours than colleagues who did not meditate.
Transcendental meditation style involved chanting and concentrating on the mantras to in order to achieve serenity of the heart. The meditation practice involves the use of a mantra for 15-20 minutes twice per day while sitting with the eyes closed.

2. Improved self-control
Improved self-control attained through mindfulness and meditation helps as a powerful tool against addiction, obesity, extreme sexual tendencies, anger issues etc. Mediation helps one to be aware of the situation one is in and subsequently helps in taking the steps necessary for being healthy in body, mind and soul.
One study conducted by Dr.Richa Sood looked at the effects of mindfulness on women who experienced depression, anxiety, and mood swings following menopause. The authors found that this practice helped the participants minimize the effects of these emotional and psychological symptoms.
Robert Wright former visiting lecturer at the University of Princeton in New Jersey in his most recent book, Why Buddhism Is True, states the importance of mindfulness meditation in stress management and self-control.

3. A tool against addiction
Research finds that meditation and mindfulness techniques can help a person to resist unhelpful impulses and gain more self-control. In a 2015 study, researchers found that people could quit smoking after practicing daily meditation.
Similarly, research published in the International Journal of Neuro psychopharmacology in 2017 shows that people can reduce the intake of Alcohol after mindfulness training. It is also found that Mindful eating is the greatest tool to reduce weight.
Last year study proved that participants mindful eating could reduce 6.6 pounds (3 kilograms), on average, over 6 months, while others who attended fewer sessions of mindful training can only lost around 2 pounds (0.9 kilograms), on average.

4. A healthier brain
Brain functioning has also been proved to have improvements with the daily practice of meditation and mindfulness. Researchers have found biomarkers of better functioning of brain in individuals who practice meditation and mindfulness.