6 Physical Health Benefits of Mindfulness Meditation Practice
People are well aware of the psychological benefits of present moment awareness but do you know there are numerous scientifically proven physical health benefits of mindfulness meditation as well?
Thousands of research works have shown how being mindful can be helpful for your mental and physical well-being. A lot of people are now making this meditation a part of their lives due to the positive results they have seen by practicing this method regularly.
I have written numerous posts on mindfulness practices, I have been encouraging people for a long time to do this meditation because it is simple, and practicing present-moment awareness has improved my life in various ways.
One crucial thing that we all need to understand is that our mind and body are connected, all our bodily functions are controlled by our subconscious mind, so when you start to do something that gives you inner peace it gets reflected in your body.
Ancient spiritual knowledge has always focused on how a person’s energy is responsible for various physical symptoms in their body, our body even stores various memories and emotional traumas, this is why hypnotherapy is now widely used to treat various past emotional issues of a person, doing this may also solve many other health problems that a person might be having.
These talks can be difficult to understand for people who have a strong logical mind but when we talk about the things that have been proven by science it becomes acceptable to everyone, that’s why in this post I am going to enlist some health benefits of mindfulness meditation that are based on various studies. But before that, let me give you a brief overview of this method.
What Is Mindfulness Meditation?
In simple words, mindfulness meditation is simply an act of being completely present in the moment by observing whatever is happening at that moment without judging or labeling things.
When you sit down to savor a cup of tea, you can enhance the experience by consciously focusing on its taste and becoming attuned to the sensations within your body. By doing so, not only do you derive more pleasure from the act of drinking tea, but you also center your awareness on the present moment. This shift in attention helps you break free from the constant stream of thoughts that typically monopolize our mental space.
Our thoughts are very addictive in nature. We are hypnotized by our own minds, so usually, we put all our activities on autopilot and get involved in our thoughts. We get so engaged in our thoughts that we completely forget whatever we are doing at any particular moment unless either the activity we are involved in requires much of our conscious effort or is very interesting.
Using your senses to bring your attention to the present moment creates a gap between the incessant flow of thoughts, and so it gives some rest to your mind. Mindfulness can be practiced anytime, anywhere hence you don’t need to take your time from your daily schedule to do that. Usually, it is done by using your touch, smell, taste, hearing, and visual senses.
You can also practice mindfulness like any other meditation by fixing a particular time for it, however, this method is most effective when you incorporate it into your day-to-day activities.
6 Ways Mindfulness Helps You to Stay Healthy
Now I am going to talk about the theme of this blog post, and below I will be mentioning some health benefits of mindfulness that have been backed up by various research works.
#1 – Improves Memory
One thing I have noticed about myself is that I remember some of the past incidents of my life so vividly that I can recall them to every minute detail because I have lived them fully, a lot of people from my childhood are painted like a picture in my mind and when I meet them they are astonished by how I can describe various past events to them.
I am sure you can relate to this as well. We remember some of the moments of our lives very vividly and are able to recall them like a movie scene projected in the curtains of our minds.
This happens because in those moments we were focused on what was happening in our life rather than being completely immersed in the content of our mind.
Isn’t it crazy that we can even correctly recall what color shirt we wore at a particular childhood birthday party yet we often don’t remember what we had for our breakfast yesterday?
Mindfulness is the best natural medicine for cognitive issues, so when you practice it you will never have to worry about the weakening of memory with age. Even common things for which people blame their memory like forgetting glasses, keys, etc. cease to exist with the alertness that is acquired by practicing the present moment awareness.
#2 – Blood Pressure and Heart Health
What happens when you are having a stressful life? Your blood pressure increases and with it comes the threat to the healthy functioning of your heart.
It does not matter if you are already suffering from high blood pressure or if your blood pressure is rising due to increased stress in your daily life, mindfulness will give you the essential break you need from the dramas and troubles of your life, so this particular meditation can prove out to be very crucial in keeping your blood pressure at the optimum level.
By observing your emotional reactions to various stressful situations, you can keep yourself at peace even during circumstances that usually cause stress, thus it helps you to avoid the increase in blood pressure that is particularly caused by the stress due to your life situations.
#3 – Physical Fitness and Weight Loss
People get shocked when I tell them that mindful eating can help them to lose weight. When you are present while having your food you will start to get aware of the body’s natural signals, so you will know how much food exactly you are requiring at that moment. For those who are trying to lose weight, this practice will stop them from overeating.
When we are immersed in our thoughts we fail to know the requirements of our body but when you will practice mindfulness you will start to listen to your body and eat what is good for you, this also helps you to stay hydrated throughout the day.
One of the main causes of the increase in weight of a person is their inability to be aware of their eating habits. This results in the problems of emotional eating, and mindfulness has also proven to be a great method for dealing with emotional eating.
#4 – Better Sleep
This is something I can say from experience, I used to have disturbed sleep due to some emotional issues I faced a few years back and mindfulness has helped me a lot to sleep better.
Research works have proven that people who practice mindfulness meditation are able to have a good sleep despite their stressful jobs. Also, old age-related sleep disorders are well handled by those seniors who regularly practice mindfulness.
Engaging in this type of meditation can assist you in establishing a crucial sense of separation from the various challenges associated with your personal and professional life when you are not actively addressing them.
#5 – Changes in the Brain of Patients Suffering from Depression
Remaining fully present in the moment while observing one’s emotional state can enable individuals to disengage from a specific state of mind. This is why mindfulness proves to be a valuable tool in managing depression. Many of us are familiar with this concept, and it’s increasingly recognized that numerous therapists now incorporate mindfulness practices into their therapeutic approaches to help individuals address various emotional challenges.
However, what is really astonishing is that now some studies have provided evidence of cerebral changes that scientists are supposing can happen when a patient suffering from depression practices mindfulness.
A researcher at Massachusetts General Hospital and trainer in the radiology department of Havard Medical School is exploring the before and after fMRI reports of the brains of depression patients and she has found that meditation does have an impact on their brains.
Here’s the video where she explains her motives through these experiments:-
# 6 – Sharpens Your Senses
The most obvious and clinically proven effects of mindfulness on the human body are the improvements in cognitive functions. Due to people’s excessive involvement in their own thoughts, their sense perception weakens, many a time a person who is not good at hearing things doesn’t need a hearing aid, all they lack is focus.
Mindfulness meditation serves as a valuable tool for sharpening your sensory awareness. To harness this practice, consider integrating mindfulness into everyday routines that often go unnoticed. For instance, you can actively listen to the sounds in your environment during moments of leisure or distinguish between the diverse flavors of ingredients in your meals.
I’ve personally employed mindfulness in unique ways, such as guessing who’s approaching my room based on their footsteps or identifying what’s being cooked in the kitchen by the fragrance of the food (Maybe this one is more due to my love for food). I can attest that I’ve genuinely astonished others by paying attention to minute details about things that people don’t usually notice, all of this happened as a result of my heightened focus on the present moment. But you need to do this with a playful approach rather than being result-oriented if you want to make it a part of your life.
So these were a few research-based physical benefits of mindfulness, I have not included any health benefit that lacks scientific pieces of evidence so I had to cut a lot of points that I know are true. Still, I want you to mention any physical change that occurred to you as a result of practicing mindfulness meditation in the comment box, also please do let me know if I missed any point.
You can best learn about present-moment awareness from Eckhart Tolle’s “Power of Now” book, I have never read any book that teaches this practice better than he does. Although practices like this should be your first priority in life, still in case you are too busy in your life to take time to read that book then the “7-minute mindfulness program” by Greg Thurston is also a good option for beginners and for those who have a hectic life.
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