Benefits of meditation include physical benefits that go beyond the brain and to help your physical body.
The list of meditation benefits studied and documented is almost unimaginable. There has been study after study touting the power of meditation and the physical benefits it can have on you.
Benefits of meditation including physical benefits that go beyond the brain to help your physical body.
Micheal Jordan once said, “That’s part of Zen Buddhism and as soon as you get into that state, things start moving slowly and you start to see the court very well.”
That’s what meditation does. It allows you to slow everything down. You go slow, so you can go fast.
Mediation creates a plethora of physical benefits to your body.
Here are the top 7 physical benefits of meditation:
#1 Improves Physical Performance By Improving Mental Clarity
From Michael Jordan to Lebron James to Misty May, athletes meditate.
Once you have tried meditation for awhile this is pretty clear why.
It improves mental focus in times of stress by training our minds to know themselves better.
The consistent practice of observing our mind at rest, shutting off and observing the world around you actually makes you more engaged in the moment when you want to be.
In the “Art of Mental Training – A Guide to Performance Excellence” DC Gonzalas describes a champion’s mindset and gives you secrets that can not only be used in sports but are at excelling in life in general.
This book is packed full of awesome advice and is an easy read. Based on my notes, much of what he coaches to athletes is very similar to subconscious mind exercises or meditation practices.
My favorite is the rule on pressure. Don’t rush when the pressure is on – smooth is fast!
Meditation will help you with this and much more to improve focus in the moment.
#2 It Improves Your Immune System
Studies have shown that meditation can lead to a reduction in inflammation and help fight viral infections.
One study where mediators and non-meditators where given the flu virus, showed meditators were able to produce a greater number of antibodies and had a better immune response.
It can also increase telomerase activity which is an enzyme that repairs telomeres.
Telomeres are the sections at the end of chromosomes that unravel over time and are the cause of aging.
Shorter telomeres equate to more aging and disease and longer equate to a biologically younger body.
Meditation appears to be able to increase telomeres and therefore reduce the effects of aging.
#3 Increase Cardiovascular Performance
Meditation has shown the ability to lower blood pressure and improve your Heart Rate Variability.
HRV is a measure that indicates the variation in your heartbeats within a specific timeframe.
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#4 Reduce Stress and Anxiety
From accelerated aging to heart attaches to obesity to headaches, stress can cause all kinds of physical problems.
A recent study showed that meditation can moderate your body’s production of cortisol.
Cortisol is a hormone our body produces with many side effects associated with stress and anxiety.
These side effects include impairing your memory, increasing your blood pressure, and disrupting your sleep. It can also lead to depression and anxiety.
In a 2013 study, meditation was found to regulate cortisol production and therefore decrease stress and anxiety.
#5 Improves Your Brain’s Gray Matter
Meditation has been shown to physically change our brain shape and size.
Studies have shown that after 8 weeks of meditation, gray matter in areas associated with learning, memory processing, and emotion had increased improving the performance in these areas.
#6 Help with Pain Control
In a 2011 study, a study of meditators versus non-mediators found that meditators react significantly less to painful stimuli compared to non-meditators.
Consistent meditation can reduce your perception of pain.
My learning to detach your body’s feelings from the thoughts in your brain, you can learn to disconnect the two.
During meditation, you train yourself to examine your thoughts.
You recognize the feeling, accept the feeling, thein investigate the feeling.
This investigation creates a break between the feeling and your reaction to the pain which be interrupted before reacting and thereby reducing reaction to the pain.
#7 Quit Bad Habits
Meditation can help reduce our unhealthy behaviors such as overeating and smoking.
Mindfulness meditation has been shown to be more effective than leading medications used to stop smoking.
By being mindful in the moment, you can use meditation to understand your feelings of cravings for smoking or overeating and redirect your mind to healthier activities.
For more information on how to get started meditation to see more blogs on the mind.