How Meditation Can Better Your Mental Health

Meditation has become increasingly popular in recent years, as many people discovering the positive benefits it has on the mind, soul and the body.

It’s often known as a process of being able to train your mind to focus on thoughts, and how you can use them for your own benefit.

Meditation can be used to reduce stress, anxiety, depression and other disorders which have the power to impact us.

By increasing awareness of yourself and your surroundings, it provides you with a different outlook and mindset on life and health. It essentially balances the body's systems.

• Reduces stress
• Helps control anxiety
• Increases self awareness
• Enhances concentration
• Practices mindfulness
• Improves sleep
• Decreases blood pressure

Stress is something that we all experience and it can affect us not only mentally, but physically too. Meditation calms the mind and puts things into perspective.

Learning how to manage your stress releases tension and can ultimately center your mind. We'll provide a few tips at the end of this story for meditation.

Anxiety can stem from a number of things. It is often associated with depression, stress and other mental health disorders.

Meditation helps to make us aware of anxiety inducing thoughts, and provides ways in which we can control and reduce these thoughts. Meditation focuses on changing the structure in our brains so that we feel less anxious.

There is no right or wrong way to meditate. There are many different techniques that help us all differently.

When it comes to self awareness and meditation, it actually boosts our health and immunity. This then has a positive impact on our mental, physical, emotional and spiritual levels.

Meditation is designed for people to focus their attention, and therefore sustain it.

Although this sounds quite easy, it takes some time to be able to master the art of concentration. This ultimately improves cognitive performance, as well as your mental focus.

The art of mindfulness helps us to achieve some space between ourselves and our reactions. It not only helps us have clearer thoughts, but it can fight insomnia and improve sleep.

Sleep and mental health has always been a topic of interest to researchers, but mindfulness is proving to be effective and popular today.

As stated in the previous slide, sleep and mental health have a very close connection. It's no doubt that we need sleep to function properly, mentally and physically.

Meditation practices the reduction of arousal in the brain, which is what treats and reduces symptoms of insomnia. You can break up your daily thoughts and process them with meditation.

It has been shown in various studies that meditation and relaxation techniques increase the formation of a compound that opens up blood vessels. This in return, lowers the blood pressure.

Transcendental meditation has also been shown to stimulate telomerase. This is an enzyme that is connected to reducing blood pressure.

Learn more about it here.

• Get in a comfortable position
• Sit for a few minutes to check in with yourself
• Count your breaths
• Allow yourself to wander, but then come back
• Don't try too hard
• Perfect the body scan
• Notice your surroundings

Meditation is something that you should stay consistent with, to see and feel results. There are different types of meditation, for example one in which focuses on enhancing your concentration, or mindfulness.

You choose your focus. There are many helpful guides online, so to start off, find one that suits you and follow it.

Happy meditating!