Simply put, meditation is the process of thinking deeply. It also means to concentrate your mind on an object, mantra, or your breath for some time. Today, there are several types of meditation and the objective of each is to feel inner peace and relaxation, that can enhance our mental health. Currently, most people are feeling sad and stressed because of the pandemic and the restricted way of life. The pandemic phase has also given rise to increased stress and tension in people. If you feel more stressed and anxious than before, you might try meditation to calm your mind.
Today, there are increased researches that highlights, meditation has an impact on the mind. For instance, according to a review that got published in the JAMA Internal Medicine, in March 2014, some researchers had reviewed over 18,000 scientific studies searching for the link between anxiety, depression, and meditation. About 47 medical trials with information on 3,515 patients catered to the criteria for properly designed research. The outcome indicates that a mindful meditation program for more than an an8-week period had the chance to minimize signs of anxiety and depression.
Meditation helps to manage pandemic stress – Insights by William D King
We live in a fast-paced world and stress appears to be an inevitable part of our lives. However, there are several adverse impacts of stress, for instance, changes in sleep patterns, headaches, muscle tension and pain, gastrointestinal symptoms, mental stress, and anxiety. Further, if stress isn’t controlled it can result in the growth of chronic health issues, such as diabetes, heart disease, obesity, and high blood pressure.
In a 2017 Gallup poll, about 8 in 10 Americans were said to witness acute stress in their daily life. And as contrast, close to 17% express that they hardly feel stressed, and another 4% report that they never feel stressed. William D King says that it is essential to manage stress to boost your overall health. And meditation can come to help here, especially during the pandemic phase.
Evidence that count
According to a story that got published in the journal Psychiatry Research back in April 2018, highlighted that patients who had GAD (general anxiety disorder) and attended a course on mindful stress reduction, learned various ways to bring down stress. And these people had lesser stress-associated inflammatory and hormonal levels in comparison to people who didn’t practice mindfulness.
Additionally, research also suggests that a small meditation session can make a big difference in adjusting stress. One can see the difference rather fast. There was another study that got published in the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology, in June 2014 that researched a group of individuals that got divided into two groups. One group took part in 3 consecutive days in a 25-minute meditation training session. The other group was trained in poetry to enhance their critical thinking skills.
By the end of both training sessions, the participants were given stressful tasks to complete. The group that underwent mindfulness meditation training reported less stress in comparison to the poetry group.
Hence, if you are feeling tense with the pandemic stress all around you, it is a good idea to opt-in for meditation and reaps the mental health benefits.