What Are The Benefits Of Meditation?

Meditation takes many different forms and has been practiced for many, many centuries across a diverse range of cultures and countries. In part the popularity of meditation is tied in with religion and spiritual beliefs, especially in eastern cultures were it is an integral and important part of Hinduism, Buddhism and Taoism. But even if you put aside the spiritual aspects of meditation, the quest for enlightenment, mystical insight, and the cultivation of spiritual energies, meditation has many benefits which anyone can take advantage of, no matter what you background or your beliefs are.

In this article I want to look at the subject from an objective standpoint, and explain what those benefits are which have been demonstrated beyond any reasonable doubt and which are material and quantifiable rather than ethereal and spiritual. After you have read this article if you feel that you would like to start learning how to meditate then you can take a look at this other article that I have written about meditation techniques for beginners.

Broadly speaking the benefits that you can gain from meditating can be divided into three categories: Health, Psychological, and Personal Development. There is clearly a l great deal of cross over between these three, but I thought it would make for a better, more easily readable article if I broke it up into sections, so I hope that's ok for you. As far as possible in this article I will also try to make the distinction between those effects which have been scientifically proven through proper peer reviewed science, and those which are generally accepted to be true by most people due to the weight of anecdotal evidence behind them, but have not been scientifically proven in strict trials or experiments.

1. Meditation has been scientifically proven to reduce both feelings of stress, and the levels of hormones in the body which are associated with stress. This is obviously a good thing in itself, but also leads to many of the other benefits which ou will see below
2. Regularly meditating reduces your blood pressure. High blood pressure can lead to a number of serious health problem over time. Lowering blood pressure to a normal level reduces the chances of having these problems, and therefore increases longevity. Although this can be done through medication, drugs have side effects and long term use of medication is never entirely good for the body.
3. According o Wikipedia "Studies at Yale, Harvard, Massachusetts General Hospital have shown that meditation increases gray matter in the brain and slows down the deterioration of the brain as a part of the natural aging process." Although more research needs to be done in this area, it has been suggested that meditation may reduce the risk of dementia.
4. It has been shown in scientific studies that stress leads to a weakening of the immune systems responses. People with lower stress levels therefore get fewer minor illnesses such as colds, and tend to recover more quickly from major health problems and have less complications while recuperating from surgery and other medical interventions. As meditation has been demonstrated to lower stress, all of these benefits can be safely attributed to regular meditation.
5. Patients suffering from anxiety attacks, tension headaches, depression and insomnia, chronic pain (specifcally mindfulness meditation) and Pre- menstrual Syndrome, that I know of, have all been demonstrated to show improvements in their symptoms as a result of meditation.
6. Improvements in respiratory functions and circulation have been shown in some cases.
7. Increased feelings of energy and vitality are reported by many people, and exercises tolerance has been shown to improve in heart patience recovering in hospital.

1. According to Psychology Today "Neuroscientists have found that meditators shift their brain activity to different areas of the cortex - brain waves in the stress-prone right frontal cortex move to the calmer left frontal cortex. This mental shift decreases the negative effects of stress, mild depression and anxiety. There is also less activity in the amygdala, where the brain processes fear ....  In other words, they were calmer and happier than before."
2. Meditation increases the production of seratonin in the brain, which affects mood. Higher levels means less susceptibility to low moods, and greater feelings of happiness and satisfaction with life.
3. Many people say that meditation helps to increase self confidence. It has been suggested that this may be due to lower fear and anxiety responses as detailed in point 1.
4. The brain responds to being exercised in just the same way as the body - hence all those brain training games that you can get. Meditating is a great exercise in focus and concentration, and so doing it regularly leads to enhanced powers of concentration. As concentration effects other mental faculties, people can also experience enhanced memory and problem solving abilities.
5. Emotional distress and instability in all its forms, from that which we all suffer sometimes to the higher levels associated with certain mental health problems can be reduced in severity through meditation.

1.  Visualization techniques used in some forms of meditation have been proven to increase performance amongst top athletes. Anyone can use the same techniques of visualizing themselves successfully performing a task or achieving something (whilst in a relaxed state) to increase performance in any area of life, and improve your chances of success in virutally any endeavour. This effect has been proven to the extent that studies have show that people who simply imagine themselves lifting heavy weights experience muscle growth as if they had actually been to the gym (although at a much lower level, so this isn't an excuse to skive off going to the gym! - this is a performance aid which works by reinforcing only the very best performance, which is what you visualize).
2. Meditation can be used to overcome phobias.
3. You can use meditation to cultivate greater awareness, greater understanding of yourself and your life, and any virtue which you want to cultivate.
4. Learning mindfulness and self control during meditation exercises can help to improve your mindfulness self-control in everyday life.