5 meditation benefits to make it a daily habit

Stress is prevalent in a regular person's life, whether it's from work, relationships, daily commute, or simply the challenges of day to day life. While some opt to deal with it through exercise or therapy, meditation is another cost-efficient way of relieving stress. Moreover, it also brings several health benefits, as listed below.

1. Meditation may treat anxiety. Pressure from work and stress from relationships may cause anxiety, which can be crippling if a person is unable to control it. According to Harvard Health Publications, mindfulness meditation can help treat anxiety.

In fact, a psychiatrist at the Center for Anxiety and Traumatic Stress Disorders at Massachusetts General Hospital, Dr. Elizabeth Hope, told HHP, "People with anxiety have a problem dealing with distracting thoughts that have too much power. They can’t distinguish between a problem-solving thought and a nagging worry that has no benefit."

Therefore, by meditation and mindfulness, a person with anxiety differentiate between meaningless worries and real-life problems that can be solved.

2. Meditation helps lower blood pressure. Blood pressure increases temporarily when the body is stressed, according to the American Heart Association. Food Matters explains that meditation helps lower blood pressure by making the body less responsive to stress hormones, pretty much like blood pressure-lowering medication. Moreover, a study has shown that those who are trained to relax have lower blood pressure.

3. Meditation relieves IBS. Stress also affects the digestive system in various ways, including irritable bowel system. Food Matters reports that researchers from the State University of New York found that IBS patients who practiced meditation for at least twice a day had reduced symptoms of bloating, diarrhea, and constipation.

4. Meditation helps improve memory functions in the brain. Little Things reports that according to a study from Massachusetts General Hospital, regular meditation helps the thickening of the brain's cerebral cortex, which enables more blood to flow to the brain. This occurrence enables increased mental functions, including learning and memory.

Additionally, Huffington Post reports that those who practice meditation can help slow down the thinning of the prefrontal cortex as they age, which contributes to cognitive function decline later in life.

Dr. Sara Lazar, a neuroscientist at Massachusetts General Hospital told Huffington Post, "I've found that people who meditate for a very long time don't show a decline in the thickness of the prefrontal cortex."

5. Meditation improves feelings of empathy and sense of self. According to Medical Daily, a study showed that those who meditated for eight weeks had a change in the brain's grey matter, an important part of the central nervous system that also helps with feelings of self-awareness, compassion, and introspection.

Study author Dr. Britta Holzel said, "It is fascinating to see the brain’s plasticity and that, by practicing meditation, we can play an active role in changing the brain and can increase our well-being and quality of life."