Benefits of meditation
This field of clinical research is extremely expansive & an entire website in itself could only begin to cover such findings to date. Briefly, some of the most recent psychological & scientific research has confirmed such the benefits of meditation, with a remarkable fall in stress & disease related illnesses:
- rumination (develops, maintains & makes it easier to relapse into major depression) decreases significantly
- individuals are able to recognise symptoms triggering depression & thus are able to take preventative action
- improves social connections, removing loneliness; also augments emotional intelligence, altruism & compassion
- enhanced ability to avoid distractions whilst remaining focused & multitask (attention stability is a fundamental aspect for the success of every type of human functioning)
- increased energy & vitality assures sleep duration in long-term experienced meditators was lower than in non-meditators & general population norms, with no apparent decrements in vigilance
- meditation helps with chronic pain, fibromyalgia, cancer & coronary artery diseases; improvements were noted for both physical & mental health measures
Alongside the plethora of clinical studies, the application of meditation in reducing stress & disease in contexts as diverse as medical school & prison life have also proven beneficial. In non-clinical populations, many positive effects were induced & improvements to the responsiveness of the immune system were observed due to the decrease in stress & disease related illnesses.
“The mind also plays a very important role in influencing the bodily processes. Thoughts have been known to have the power to generate a disease on the physical level. We have seen how many heart failures are a result of anxiety & stress.” – Swami Satsangi