Sunday, September 5, 2010

Alleviate Stress With Meditation

It’s been shown scientifically that you can alleviate the effects of stress with daily meditation. Regular meditation — perhaps once per day — is known to counteract the body’s stress hormones and create a restful, calm state that pays dividends all throughout the day. While the long-term health benefits of meditation are not (yet) fully known, tons of anecdotal evidence points to the fact that daily meditation is both healthy and relaxing. As early as 3000 years BC, people in Asia were using meditation and related techniques to reduce the distracting and deleterious impact of stray thoughts on the peaceful mind. These days, in modern times, this practice is still extant because people find it useful and beneficial.

Several physiological changes accompany the regular practice of meditation:

Lower resting heart rate

When test subjects enter a state of altered consciousness, their heart rates slow down and become more regular. This is in contrast to control subjects who rest without meditating — such as during TV watching, or when engaging in conversation. It’s been shown in clinical settings that meditation relaxes the body (as demonstrated by the slowed heart rate) better than other, common forms of rest and relaxation. In fact, meditation is as effective as learning how to play a f-style mandolins or similar musical instrument, but it doesn’t take years to become skilled enough to enjoy the benefits.

Since most of us are interested in heightened relaxation techniques — otherwise known as stress management — it stands to reason that meditation is an excellent tool to use to reach these goals.

The calming influence of regular meditative practice

Achieving a state of calm may seem somewhat subjective. After all, how do you ‘measure’ calm?

Well, that’s a good question, and researchers measure your state of calmness by tracking the stability of your heart rate. That is: whether it remains stable or jumps around after every stimulus. Heart rate can be reduced by regular exercise — perhaps with a kettlebell handle or similar fitness device, but meditation allows you to accomplish this anywhere, anytime, anyplace, without the need to have access to a gym or workout space.

It turns out that meditating is the most effective non-pharmaceutical means to maintain a state of calm, as indicated by stable heart beat.

Since stress management is all about remaining calm and unperturbed, you’ll agree that regular, daily meditation helps you reach this goal.

The link between meditation and sound sleep

Having trouble sleeping through the night? Or are you troubled by sleep disorders?

If so, you’re not alone. Lots of people develop bad sleep habits, and many of the problems experienced by these unfortunate folks are linked to elevated stress levels and uncontrolled levels of stress hormones.

Since meditation has been shown to have a regulatory effect on stress hormone levels, it’s often linked to a marked reduction in sleep-related disorders. Daily meditation may be all you need to finally get a good night’s sleep.

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Post from: Yoga Blog | Everything about YOGA!

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