Meditation can help in reducing stress which can cause high blood pressure and high cholesterol levels, which can increase risk of heart disease.
Meditation helps in reducing stress and anxiety
HIGHLIGHTS
- Meditation calms your mind
- It helps in controlling heart rate and blood pressure
- Meditating regularly makes you a more enlightened person
In the immensely stressful lives that we are living in the present times, it becomes imperative to include practices such as meditation and yoga in our lifestyle. Apart from reducing stress and generating immense positivity, meditation helps in keeping our heart healthy as well. People who meditate regularly are lesser prone to risks of heart attack and stroke. Meditation can produce changes in the brain activity and can also control heart rate, blood pressure, breathing rate and release of cortisol hormone in response to stress.
What is meditation?
Meditation means awareness. Anything which is done with awareness is meditation. It is not a technique but a way of life. Meditation is referred to a stage of consciousness when the mind is free of scattered thoughts and ideas. It is considered as a practice which transforms the mind. It helps in improving concentration, helps in getting more clarity, provides emotional positivity and helps a person have a calm way of looking at the nature of things.
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Engaging in meditation enables a person to learn about his/her patterns and habits of mind. It helps a person cultivate new and more positive ways of living. A nourished and positive thinking mind can further transform into extremely peaceful and energised state of mind. Inculcating the habit of meditation in your lifestyle can make you a more enlightened person personally and publically.
There are various kinds of meditation which provides several physiological benefits. Mindful meditation helps you focus efficiently in the present and accept it without any judgement. Guided meditation, for instance, a kind of meditation which uses mental images, helps you relax and calm down. Transcendental medication is a kind of meditation which uses repeated sounds and phrases in order to clear your mind.
These meditations need to be done for at least 10 minutes in a day in order to get physiological benefits from them.
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How meditation helps your heart?
The National Institute of Mental Health states that around 19% adults experience anxiety within the past year. Around 31% adults were reported to suffer from anxiety disorder at some point in their lifetime. We all experience stress in one way or the other. Excessive stress can contribute to high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, overeating and physical inactivity. All these factors contribute to increased risks of stroke and heart disease.
Mindful meditation helps in reducing both stress and anxiety. Meditating regularly gives a boost to the immunity, eases inflammation in chronic conditions and reduces pain. Those who meditate regularly experience increase in gray matter in the brain, have improved levels of focus and concentration, reduced levels of stress and more will power.
Mindful meditation, when combined with cognitive behavioral therapy can thus be considered as an effective treatment for anxiety.
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This implies that people with heart disease can include meditation in their routine as part of a heart-healthy strategy. This goes along with your regular medicines, eating clean and healthy and exercising regularly.
The most effective ways of dealing with stress, anxiety, heart ailments, increased blood pressure are by including exercising, healthy food and meditation in your lifestyle.
Stress needs to be paid special attention here since reducing stress can bring down levels of stress hormones in the body. Increase levels of stress hormone in the body which have been linked to higher risks of heart attacks and increased blood pressure.
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