A new study was recently published in the journal Psychiatry Research and it sought to investigate the benefits of meditation.
For the study, the participants took a mindfulness course and through that course they were able to learn a number of different meditation strategies. The study found that those who learned the various strategies were better able to deal with stress and they also had lower hormonal and inflammatory response; compared to those who didn't practice mindfulness meditation.
The participants involved in the study were said to be healthy, with a general variety of anxiety disorder coupled with having a constant worry about the future.
Half of the participants went through the meditation course and the other half went through a stress management course that had lectures, where they learned about the importance of sleep, exercise, diet, time management, and more. Both of the courses were equal in length (8 weeks) and they had an equal amount of homework and class time.
Those who took the meditation course learned about living in the present moment, the benefits of meditation, breathing exercises/awareness, and more.
Before and after the courses were completed, the researchers made the participants engage in a high-stress scenario to see how they perform (public speaking, math exercises in front of an audience). They wanted to see if after the course training, they would be better able to deal with such a stressful event. They saw that the people who did the meditation course reported that they felt much better and less stressed over the event, compared to those who didn't go through the meditation course.
The researchers wanted to help the participants learn tools that could help them to be able to better DE-stress whenever they find themselves in high-stress situations. Their findings add to an already growing mountain of other results which support the notion that a variety of benefits can be had from practicing meditation.
Pics:
Vipassana Meditation
Wanderlust
Sources:
www.psy-journal.com
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2017/02/07/how-to-meditate_n_14422024.html
http://time.com/4645363/mindfulness-meditation-stress-anxiety-resilience/
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2017/01/24/mindfulness-meditation-lowers-stress-hormone-decreases-inflammation/
@doitvoluntarily/improving-your-concentration-with-meditation
@doitvoluntarily/meditation-doesn-t-cost-anything-but-time
@doitvoluntarily/meditation-is-a-booming-business