Meditation – 4 Science Based Reasons To Meditate
Do you think meditation is weird?
Honestly, if you do, it’s okay. In fact, many people think this ancient practice is nothing short but strange.
Yes, from the outside, meditation seems foreign and quite frankly, a bit odd. But, if you understand the benefits of meditation, you will quickly find how truly INCREDIBLE it really is.
With that in mind, I will now share five science-based reasons to try meditation…
1. Science Has Proven Why Meditation Works
These days, if you google “Meditation Articles” about a hundred publications pop-up.
All the research out there can now effectively explain why sitting down, closing your eyes and breathing is extremely beneficial for your health.
For instance, A daily meditation practice has been linked to improved mood, decreased chronic pain levels, and better sleep. Not to mention that meditation is absolutely free!
2. Beats The Blues
If you think about it, during the day we engage in certain stressful activities. These emotions act like debris that trigger your internal physiology. By incorporating meditation, the dust can settle and clarity may transpire.
Just to name a few, here is how meditation beats the blues:
-Restructures the brain (thickens the gray matter which is responsible for sensory perception)
-Increases serotonin production (chemical for positive mood and behavior)
-Releases natural endorphins (helps decrease musculoskeletal pain)
-Lowers levels of blood lactate (reducing anxiety attacks)
3. Improves Athletic Performance
In more ways than one, meditation has been linked to improved sports performance by decreasing stress levels and increasing the sensory regions in the brain.
Other benefits of meditation include increased energy, more focus, and improved coordination (all great for athletes). Without a doubt, better cognition and spatial awareness during an athletic event will give any athlete an edge over the rest.
Meditation also helps slow things down, especially for fast paced sports such as basketball. It helps to create space in between plays and offers an intuitive approach to certain situations.
As we know, in the world of sports, just one second too late or a step too soon will make all the difference. For this reason, many professional athletes have taken up a meditation practice within their training regiment.
4. Boosts Creativity
Research has concluded that meditation promotes ‘DIVERGENT THINKING’ a type of creative thinking that allows new ideas to be generated.
Just by sitting in silence and literally doing nothing, you can come up with fresh new ideas or even finish that difficult task you have been avoiding at work. Whatever the case may be, an oxygen rich brain is a clear and creative mind!
References:
1. Manoj K. Bhasin, et. al., “Relaxation Response Induces Temporal Transcriptome Changes in Energy Metabolism, Insulin Secretion and Inflammatory Pathways,” PLoS ONE 8(5), 2013
2.. Judson A. Brewer, et al., “Meditation experience is associated with differences in default mode network activity and connectivity,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 108(50), 2011
3. Michael D. Mraczek, et al., “Mindfulness Training Improves Working Memory Capacity and GRE Performance While Reducing Mind Wandering,” Journal of the Association for Psychological Science 24(5), 2013
Christopher Maslowski, L.Ac.