Benefits of Meditation

In a previous post, I made “bold claims” about the benefits of movement. Ready for more “bold claims?” Here you go. Let’s talk about the benefits of meditation.

What about meditation? What benefits can we derive from practicing that?

In his article “30 Evidence-Based Benefits of Meditation,”7 meditation instructor and researcher Patrick Zeis set forth a comprehensive list of the
physical, mental, and cognitive benefits of meditation and cited studies to support each item. Rather than attempt to recreate his comprehensive
research, I’ll summarize his points here:

Physical

• Boosts the immune system
• Improves sleep quality & helps treat insomnia
• Lowers blood pressure levels
• Helps treat chronic pain
• Increases energy levels
• Helps alleviate symptoms of premenstrual syndrome
• Slows the body’s aging process
• Helps treat migraine headaches
• Improves overall heart health
• Improves management of diabetes

Psychological

• Decreases levels of stress
• Improves emotional intelligence (EI) skills
• Helps combat anxiety
• Helps treat depression
• Relieves symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
• Helps treat addiction & reduces relapse rates
• Improves relationships
• Decreases emotional reactivity & increases resiliency
• Improves self-esteem & subjective well-being
• Decreases binge eating & emotional eating

Cognitive

• Improves memory
• Improves executive function processes
• Reduces risk of dementia
• Improves creative thinking skills
• Rebuilds brain’s gray matter
• Helps manage symptoms of ADHD
• Increases focus & productivity
• Reduces cognitive rigidity
• Reduces negative rumination
• Promotes positive changes in brainwave frequencies

Even after having meditated for decades, seeing the full list of benefits of meditation in black and white happily stunned me.

7 Patrick Zeis “30 Evidence-Based Benefits of Meditation.” www.balancedachievement.
com/areas-of-life/benefits-of-meditation.

This excerpt is from Make Every Move a Meditation by Nita Sweeney which is available now through Amazon and Mango Media.