Mindfulness meditation benefits
Meditation is a form of spiritual exercise where a person uses a certain technique like mindfulness, or focusing the mind on a particular object, thought, or activity. This is done to train attention and awareness and most of the time, it is used to achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm and stable state. One can use meditation to increase awareness of oneself and their surroundings. Many people think of it as a way to reduce stress and develop concentration.
There are a handful of perks meditation brings and the list just goes on and on! But now let us talk about at least 3 of these awesome perks:
The first one, which is a pretty important one as why meditation is so important is that it Reduces stress. Normally, mental and physical stress can cause an increased level of the stress hormone, commonly known as the cortisol. This produces many of the harmful effects of stress, such as the release of inflammation-promoting chemicals called cytokines. This can possibly disrupt sleep, promote depression and anxiety, increase blood pressure and contribute to fatigue and cloudy thinking. There is plenty of Research showing that meditation may decrease stress and also improve symptoms of stress-related conditions.
Second perk of meditating is that it promotes emotional health, plenty of meditation forms can lead to an improved self-image and a way more optimistic view in life! Some studies even prove to help improve the state of mind of a depressed person as long as they keep doing meditation a usual habit!
The third one is quite an important one as well as it helps a ton of people to not fall into the common old folk's problem, It is that meditation May Reduce Age-Related Memory Loss, because meditation can improve you focus and your attention span, it will keep you sharp and mindful of your thoughts and keep them brain gears going! As long as you make meditation a daily habit, then it can become a regular activity that heightens your focus and can therefore let you fight age-related memory loss and even dementia!
While there are a handful more pros meditation can bring, let us also move onto some of the very rare cons it might give you.
First one is, if mediation is done wrong, meditation can do more harm than good. A study conducted in the year 2017 proved that some participants of the research who tried out meditating caused them to think more irrationally and negatively. This is why it is very vital to do it right, one has a different pace with the other.
Second is caused by too much meditating and lack of real life productivity. The way you see, smell, hear, and taste could be altered due to meditation. According to the 2017 study, many participants saw visions, hallucinations, illusions, or lights that weren't there. Some reported increased sensitivity to light and noise and a distortion in time and space. It sounds awfully alarming but it is true. It can really be that severe but of course it can be prevented. One must meditate and amplify their positivity towards life so they can do better and not just depend on the meditation to do its thing for them.
The third one is a biggie for it is quite emotional than the first two. It is that meditation can lead to recurring negative memories you have in the past. Meditation can either make you or break you and this fact obviously sits on the latter. Because of heightened focus and mindfulness you might just accidentally unlock memories and other negative things you suppressed and hid all your life.
But above all the cons, there are some rather relevant and dominant pros you can get through meditating, the cons are a mere reminder of what meditating does if done incorrectly.