Person meditating at sunset

When it comes to meditation, many of us have already heard the spiel about the many benefits associated with it. However, most people only know one or two things that it can help with – most of it being helping you calm down or reduce stress. But once you take the time to learn about all that meditation and mindfulness practices can help with, you may be more eager to start implementing it in your routine.  

Improve Anxiety 

Okay, this one may not be completely unknown, but it is important enough to mention. Anxiety is something that affects nearly everyone, however, the severity of the issue is where problems can arise, crippling anxiety is a real issue that can cause some people serious professional and/or emotional problems. This is where meditation can help. 

Meditation has been shown to help repair and alter neural pathways to help individuals improve  their ability to regulate emotions – one of the main causes of anxiety. Studies have shown that meditative practices, specifically mindfulness-based stress reduction can help people with anxiety problems. 

It is important to understand that meditation can help with various feeling of anxiety but if you are dealing with a serious anxiety disorder, it is best that you seek the help of a professional. 

Blood Pressure  

This may be one that you aren’t aware of. Many of us know that one of meditation’s primary  purposes is as a relaxation technique but did you know that it can actually lead to physiological  processes in the body that aid in this? 

According to research done by the American Heart Association, studies have shown that  meditation can moderately lower blood pressure. By lowering your blood pressure, not only can  it help with relaxation, but it will also do a number of things beneficial for your health,  including decrease your chance of stroke, increase your lifespan, and improve your heart health  to name a few. 

Addiction Problems 

Substance abuse is one area that is often overlooked when it comes to looking into the benefits of meditation. Obviously not everyone practicing meditation has an alcohol or perhaps cocaine problem, but understanding that the benefits of meditation go far beyond just relaxation and can actually help a group of people heal, may help you understand how important of a tool  meditation can be. 

For those dealing with addiction-related problems, one of the most important things to address is relapses as they are a common problem among those who receive treatment. However meditation and mindfulness techniques have shown to be an effective form of relapse prevention, effectively helping people be more successful with long-term sobriety goals. 

Anyone suffering from a serious substance abuse problem should still seek out an addiction treatment facility, however, meditation and mindfulness therapies can prove to be a complementary treatment in these situations. 

Improve Sleep 

Insomnia and trouble sleeping is a problem that many adults will struggle with during their lifetimes. While there are treatments available to help people sleep in the form of various medications and pills, meditation has also been shown to be a helpful and effective form of treatment to help people fall asleep and stay asleep and it has specifically been shown to help with chronic insomnia. 

We all know about how sleep can help induce relaxation, a great thing to do before you are trying to go to sleep. Oftentimes, people has trouble sleeping because they can’t turn their brain off or are constantly on their phones before bed. If you choose to make meditation a part of your nightly routine before you get in bed to fall asleep, it may improve your situation. 

Overall, there are tons of benefits associated with meditation and mindfulness practices. While you may know about some of them, there are many under-the-radar improvements that can occur from meditating for just a few minutes a day. The best way to learn about all of them is to give meditation a shot. 

You can start by getting in a comfortable sitting or lying position every day when you wake up or before bed and just focusing on your breathing for 5 minutes out of the day. From there, you can learn more about meditation and expand your practice, but starting small is a good way to get in the swing of things.