There’s hardly a stress reduction technique as effective as meditation, and many studies back this.
However, this is not the only benefit it provides. In fact there are many science proven benefits of mediation, top six being the following.
1. Meditation Helps Preserve Grey Matter Volume
Everybody loses grey matter volume as he or she ages—but meditators lose it slowly than non-meditators.
According to a recent study, individuals who had been practicing meditation on average for twenty years had better-preserved brain than those who didn’t meditate. Of course, experienced meditators showed loss of grey matter volume as they aged, but not as much as non-meditators.
2. Meditation Helps Tame Monkey Mind
When you meditate regularly for a few years, the activity in the brain network responsible for self-referential thoughts and mind wandering (a.k.a. monkey mind) reduces.
Activity in the default mode network of the brain is linked with monkey mind, that is, the pattern of jumping from one thought to another. Mind-wandering, besides being an aimless activity, is linked with being less happy.
Meditation has a calming effect on the default mode network (which is also known as DMN). Moreover, experienced meditators are able to regain control of their mind quickly when their mind wanders.
3. Meditation is as Effective as Antidepressants for Anxiety & Depression
Researchers at John Hopkins studied the effect of meditation on the symptoms of anxiety and depression. At 0.3, the effect size was found to be moderate.
At the first glance, this may look not much. However, when you see it in the light of the effect size of anti-depression medication, which is also 0.3, the effect size for meditation rightly appears to be pretty good.
The finding looks even better when you consider that almost every anti-depression medication has side effects, whereas meditation has none.
Of course, meditation is not a magic formula for treating depression—but then the same is equally true for other treatments.
4. Meditation Helps Manage Stress
Stress is a fact of life. It is like an unwanted guest: none of us invite it into our life, but it every now and then pays each of us a visit.
Well, while it’s almost impossible to get rid of stress completely, we can learn to manage it better. One such stress management tool, and an effective one at that, is Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction, a meditation course that helps reduce stress.
Research has revealed that this course is useful not only in management of stress but also social anxiety disorder. This course, called MBSR for short, is a special sub-genre of meditation and was developed by John Kabat-Zinn to help people cope better with stress.
5. Meditation is Beneficial for People With Addiction
Studies reveal that meditation has a positive effect on that part of the brain that’s correlated to self-control.
In one study, research compared the efficacy of meditation and “freedom from smoking” program initiated by the American Lung Association’s to help smokers quit cigarettes. After 17 weeks, researchers found that the success rate was significantly higher in participants who underwent mindfulness training.
6. Meditation Increases Volume in the Hippocampus
The hippocampus part of the brain governs memory and learning. An 8-week course of MBSR, researchers found, increased volume in this area of the brain. Not only this, participants also showed increase in the cortical thickness in some brain parts responsible for emotional regulation as well as self referential processing.
Moreover, reduced cell volume was recorded in that part of the brain that is responsible for stress, fear, and anxiety. The stress reports of the participants also made for a better reading. In other words, not only meditation causes structural changes in the brain but it also improves our perception as well as the way we feel.
There are many benefits of meditation. Make it a part of your daily routine. Moreover it is not difficult to do or time consuming.