Meditation is the art of training the mind to focus and concentrate on particular thoughts while you are in a relaxing position. It is a technique that has been in application for centuries, and its benefits have been proven to be useful in making people happier and healthier. For your body to function better with less strain, it needs to relax regularly.
Mostly, sleep achieves body relaxation. However, the study shows that meditation can provide body relaxation two to five times deeper than regular rest. Some health benefits associated with meditation are listed below.
1. Increases Immunity
Records show that deep relaxation achieved through meditation changes genetic levels of human bodies. More disease-fighting genes were found to be active in people who practiced long-term meditation than those who did not. To be more specific, genes responsible for protecting from disorders such as infertility, rheumatoid arthritis, high blood pressure, and pain were switched on.
You realize from this discovery that genes can switch on in response to the environment, and mood just as quickly as they can switch off. Besides, regular and continuous relaxation increases genes that kill disease cells, help fight inflammation and cancer cells. Thus, meditation achieves body relaxation leading to enhanced immunity.
2. Improves Fertility
One of the main contributors to a decrease in fertility rates is living a stressful life. A study shows that stress decreases sperm count and motility. A better way of increasing sperm count and motility in men is a form of relaxation that is readily achievable through meditation.
Besides, women have higher chances of conceiving when relaxed rather than stressed.
Therefore, reflection can immensely contribute to improved fertility in women as well.
3. Lessens Loss of Brain Volume
Meditation helps you have a higher brain volume as compared to a person who doesn’t. Research has found out that the brains of people who meditate are less affected by aging processors when compared to those who do not contemplate.
Apparently, as one age the brain shrinks. Consequently, memory retention reduces. As the mind shrinks, the body weakens quicker resulting in some neurodegenerative diseases and dementia. Nonetheless, meditation has proved to be an effective means to enhance or maintain brain tissue, preserve emotional and cognitive reserves for a healthier human being.
Another study showed that meditation enlarges cortical thickness in the hippocampus, a brain section responsible for learning and memory, and other areas that play a role in emotion regulation. Meditation not only reduces your loss of brain volume, but it changes your feelings and subjective perception.
4. Helps Fight Addictions
As you meditate regularly, you develop discipline. Self-discipline increases self-control and breaks the dependency. Also, Awareness of the triggers for addiction activities increases. Meditation, therefore, helps you to redirect your attention, control your emotions, and increase your willpower to enable you to break free from addictive behaviors.
Also, a study has shown that meditation can help control cravings. Mindful meditation was found to help individuals avoid triggers for undesirable impulses. It is, therefore, possible for one to recover from addiction and redirect other unwanted habits through meditation.
Conclusion
Meditation has many health benefits. It helps in increasing fertility and improves the body immunity to defend itself against diseases better. It also helps in reducing the rate with which the brain loses its volume.
Thus, an individual can maintain a younger mind than a person who does not practice meditation. Lastly, as you meditate regularly, you gain self-discipline and self-control. Therefore, you can quickly redirect or refocus your brain on things that matter and avoid undesirable impulses that result in addiction.