Often called a fashion, mindfulness meditation (MM) is effective against stress, but requires some discipline and technique. In this post, we will explore the various ways you can use to exploit meditation to help reduce the outcome of a busy lifestyle – stress.
For forty years, scientists have been studying the ancient practice of meditation. They have thus proved that it helps people’s stress level and anxiousness, among other benefits it offers. Stress can be found everywhere in our lives. It may be present at work but also at home. Sometimes stress can be the outcome of life events such as illnesses. Faced with what it sees as a threat, our body activates the sympathetic system: muscles tense, heart and breathing accelerate, as well as thoughts go in turmoil. We are ready to flee or fight, the natural reaction of the mind when faced with distress.
Meditation has been proven effective against depression. Depression is a disease that has a high recurrence of one out of two. That is, you have 50% chance of being depressed again in your life. This percentage is even higher if you have had more depressive episodes. It has been shown scientifically that relapses were less frequent in people who meditate daily.
In itself, this response is not bad: a little stress is useful for preparing an exam or face a difficult event. The problem occurs when it becomes consistent and persistent. This can even completely block the proper functioning of a person. This is what happens when people are too worried.
Studies on meditation also shows that in many cases, a regular practice of it can help boost your sex drive (libido) and also help treat erectile dysfunction in men.
There are many types of meditation, but that which was best demonstrated to have therapeutic efficacy is called “mindfulness meditation” or “mindfulness”. Since the 80s, hospitals use it for stress reduction, or, more recently, against depressive relapse. The principle? Easy as pie. It is to be aware of the moment. There is the breathing, the sensations of the body, then awareness of the thoughts that arise. And we do it without judgment, without trying to change anything. People think it is about being relaxed. It is the outcome of MM, but it is not the goal.
Practicing meditation does not remove the pain but helps to better respond to it. It was found that experienced meditators felt the least unpleasant when very hot water was poured on their hands than people not enjoying this experience. Similarly, regions of the brain involved in anxious anticipation (to prepare for something negative) were less active.
Indeed, the practice is not always pleasant. When meditating, it just allows what is there to be there. If anxiety is present, you learn to feel it. During meditation, we do not lead a reflection on the negative emotion to elucidate its origin. But it is important to be aware of this anxiety (which can often lurk deep in our minds). If, however, meditation is effective for you, regularity is paramount. It’s like training for a sport. While meditating, one exercises ones attention and you become more skilled the more you practice. To see a change in alleviating stress, it is better to meditate ten minutes every day rather than an hour on weekends. This is true for almost all things that is dependent on attention (the brain).
Numerous studies have shown that mindfulness meditation reduces anxiety in general. But efficiency can also include a one-time anxiety bout. There are programs in these approaches called minipratiques. When one is too worried, that the sea is too rough, you can make a mini practice for a few minutes to stop the flow. Say stop, and rather than instinctively react out to stress, make a positive inner statement. in other words, make a choice to stop stress with MM. it works.