Meditation: From Stress Reduction to Improved Brain Function

Meditation has been practiced for thousands of years. Meditation originally was meant to help deepen understanding of the sacred and mystical forces of life. These days, meditation is commonly used for relaxation and stress reduction. Meditation is considered a type of mind-body complementary medicine. Meditation can produce a deep state of relaxation and a tranquil mind. During meditation, you focus your attention and eliminate the stream of jumbled thoughts that may be crowding your mind and causing stress. With the advent of technology, online chat platforms have provided a new avenue for individuals to explore and deepen their meditation practice.

Types of Meditation

1. Zen Meditation: This ancient Buddhist tradition involves sitting upright and following the breath, particularly the way it moves in and out of the belly, and letting the mind “just be.” Its aim is to foster a sense of presence and alertness.

2. Mantra Meditation: This technique is similar to focused attention meditation, although instead of focusing on the breath to quiet the mind, you focus on a mantra (which could be a syllable, word, or phrase). The idea here is that the subtle vibrations associated with the repeated mantra can encourage positive change maybe a boost in self-confidence or increased compassion for others and help you enter an even deeper state of meditation.

3. Transcendental Meditation: Transcendental meditation is a spiritual form of meditation where individuals remain seated and breathe slowly. The goal is to transcend or rise above the person’s current state of being. During a session, a person should focus on a mantra. If they are working with a teacher, they will determine the mantra based on a complex set of factors. This more contemporary version is not technically transcendental meditation, though it may look substantially similar. A person might decide to repeat “I am not afraid of public speaking” while meditating.

4. Spiritual Meditation: Spiritual meditation is the mindful practice of believing in and connecting to something that is greater, vaster, and deeper than the individual self. In this meditation you are trusting that there is something bigger out there and that everything happens for a reason.

Benefits of Meditation

Meditation is the habitual process of training your mind to focus and redirect your thoughts.

1. Reduces Stress

Stress reduction is one of the most common reasons people try meditation. One review concluded that meditation lives up to its reputation for stress reduction. Normally, mental and physical stress cause increased levels of the stress hormone cortisol. This produces many of the harmful effects of stress, such as the release of inflammatory chemicals called cytokines. Furthermore, research has shown that meditation may also improve symptoms of stress-related conditions, including irritable bowel syndrome, post-traumatic stress disorder, and fibromyalgia.

2. Meditation Helps Preserve the Aging Brain

A study from UCLA found that long-term meditators had better-preserved brains than non-meditators as they aged. Participants who’d been meditating for an average of 20 years had more grey matter volume throughout the brain although older meditators still had some volume loss compared to younger meditators, it wasn’t as pronounced as the non-meditators. "We expected rather small and distinct effects located in some of the regions that had previously been associated with meditating," said study author Florian Kurth.

3. Meditation Causes Volume Changes in Key Brain Areas

A study at Harvard found that eight weeks of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) increased cortical thickness in the hippocampus, which governs learning and memory, and in certain parts of the brain dealing with emotion regulation and self-referential processing. The study also confirmed decreases in the size of the amygdala, which is the brain’s fear and anxiety command center.

4. Meditation Reduces Activity in the Brain’s “Me Center”

Research has shown that mindfulness meditation decreases activity in the brain’s default mode network (DMN). The DMN is responsible for that busy “monkey mind”, mind-wandering, and self-referential thoughts.

5. Helps You Stay Focused

Another benefit of meditation is that your sense of focus will be enhanced. You’ll stay in the present moment through concentrated time spent focusing on your breath and presence instead of quickly going from one task to the next. If your attention span is short, studies show that even a few minutes of meditation can vastly improve your ability to focus.

6. Improve Relationship

When you meditate regularly, you may notice how you’re more grateful and appreciative toward the people in your life. Healthy relationships are important not only in personal but professional settings; in each, you need to feel comfortable sharing your point of view while respecting and acknowledging others’ contributions as well. While meditation isn’t a magic solution for all health issues, when combined with other healthy habits, it can definitely help you feel healthier, happier, and more productive.

Conclusion

In conclusion, meditation is a powerful tool that has been practiced for thousands of years. Initially used to deepen understanding of the sacred and mystical forces of life, meditation is now commonly used for relaxation and stress reduction. It is considered a type of mind-body complementary medicine that produces a deep state of relaxation and a tranquil mind. Meditation has numerous benefits, including reducing stress, preserving the aging brain, causing volume changes in key brain areas, reducing activity in the brain's "me center," helping you stay focused, and improving relationships. By training your mind to focus and redirect your thoughts, meditation can enhance physical and emotional well-being when combined with other healthy habits.