Meditation Project Blog Post #3

Hello!

To recap, my project is on meditation. I am asking the question, “Could people integrate meditation into their lives and what effects would it have on them?”. So far, I have researched if it’s possible for people to properly learn to meditate and if that meditation is sustainable. Today I will be exploring the effects of meditation and how powerful it can be.

What effects does meditation have and to what extent can it help?

The positive effects of meditation

The positive effects that meditation has on a person include reduction of stress, anxiety control, emotional growth, a longer attention span, the possibility to help age related memory loss, the possibility to help fight addictions, better sleep, and pain control. (1)

Stress

When a person experiences stress their levels of cortisol (a stress hormone) increase. Meditating lowers a person’s cortisol level and prevents their body from fatigue and unclear thinking. (1)

Anxiety

People with anxiety disorders who meditate can benefit from the control of panic attacks, OCD, and phobias. Meditating doesn’t completely control these conditions, but it does help with the symptoms that come along with them. (1)

Emotional Growth

Meditation can help strengthen a person’s self-image, give them a better outlook on life, and push the person towards optimism. According to Healthline, “[a] study compared electrical activity between the brains of people who practiced mindfulness meditation and the brains of others who did not. Those who meditated showed measurable changes in activity in areas related to positive thinking and optimism.” This shows the emotional growth that people could benefit from if they try meditation. (1)

Longer Attention Span 

Meditation can lengthen your attention span because meditation takes focus. So, every time you meditate you are building you focus and in turn helping your attention span. (1)

 Age Related Memory Loss

Some meditation is based on thinking of the past. These types of meditation can strengthen your memory and stop age related memory loss depending on how much you do it. (1)

Fighting addictions

Meditation can teach discipline and self-control. Applying this knowledge to your personal struggles, such as addictions, can help. This goes further than addictions though. The discipline learned can help with healthier eating and pushing yourself harder in workouts which could be good for your body.(1)

Better sleep

By meditating you are clearing your mind from unwanted thoughts or redirecting them. This makes sleeping a lot easier because nothing is interfering with your brain as you are trying to sleep. (1)

Pain Control

Lastly, pain can be controlled by meditation. Healthline explains, “Your perception of pain is connected to your state of mind, and it can be elevated in stressful conditions.” So, if people have less stress and know how to redirect their thoughts, painful situations may not be unbearable. (1)

 

So based on these effects, if people integrated meditation into their lives, they would have less stress and their anxiety could be controlled. Second, they would be more confident and make more confident decisions. This is because they would have a good self-image and their optimism would make them believe in their decisions. Third, the population would be more focused. This could make the overall grades in school go up or it could make us generally more productive. Fourth, people would have better memories. This could possibly make us less reliant on digital reminders and we would make less errors overall. Fifth, people wouldn’t have as much trouble sleeping. Right now, 50% of the world suffers from insomnia (2). If everyone meditated, more people would be able to sleep properly. Last, the population would be better at handling pain. This could make us less reliant on pain killers.

To what extend can meditation help

A writer from Primal Stream Media expressed their praise for meditation as it really helped them out. They said their diet has become very balanced, their patience has grown, and they have a higher tolerance for daily nuances. (3)

Krista Budgen from Daily Life also expressed her praise for meditation. She said that meditation really helped her deal with stress and because of that she is now able to be much more productive. (4)

Tracy M Lewis- Giggets from The Community College of Philadelphia tried meditation as well. She used meditation to deal with her chronic pain (Fibromyalgia). She said that even on the first day she tried the meditation and she was able to fall asleep despite her pain. (5)

To answer my big question after all of this research, I think the answer is yes. People can integrate meditation into their lives and there are definitely positive effects people and the world can benefit from if many people pick up the activity.

Thank you!

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/12-benefits-of-meditation (1)

https://www.thegoodbody.com/insomnia-statistics/ (2)

https://primalstreammedia.com/still-feel-21/10-ways-meditation-has-changed-my-life (3)

https://dailylife.com/article/how-meditating-everyday-changed-my-life/ (4)

https://www.headspace.com/blog/2017/04/07/headspace-for-chronic-pain/ (5)