Meditation is the practice of focusing your mind or clearing your thoughts for a period of time for spiritual purposes or as a way to evoke relaxation. Meditation has gone mainstream as a helpful tool to prioritize mental health, since it can help calm your thoughts and refocus your mind to help reduce stress and improve mindfulness.
Here are the research-backed ways that meditation can improve your health.
Reduces Stress
Reducing stress is often the primary goal of meditation. When stressed, your body goes into fight or flight mode, increasing the hormone cortisol as a stress response.1 However, research shows that people who meditate can lower their levels of cortisol.2
Research also says people feel more relaxed after meditation. A 2017 review on stressed college students found mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR)—a form of mindfulness meditation and yoga—helped reduce anxiety and stress.3 In addition, an 8-week study found that people who used a mindfulness meditation app had more success in decreasing work-related stress than those who didn't meditate.4
Bostock S, Crosswell AD, Prather AA, Steptoe A. Mindfulness on-the-go: Effects of a mindfulness meditation app on work stress and well-being. J Occup Health Psychol. 2019;24(1):127-138. doi:10.1037/ocp0000118
Helps You Sleep
Stress, nightly anxiety, and depression can all make it difficult to sleep, which increases your risk of developing a mood disorder. Meditation can not only help reduce stress and anxiety, but it can also help improve your sleep. A 2019 review found meditation helped improve the sleep quality of people struggling to get enough sleep.11 In addition, a smaller study of participants with insomnia found mindful meditation mildly improved wake time and sleep quality.12
Research shows mindfulness-based meditation treatments also helped people sleep longer and improved their insomnia symptoms, compared with those who did not meditate. Additionally, researchers found that people who practice mindfulness-based therapy for insomnia were more likely to be in remission or have improved symptoms after six months.13
Ong JC, Manber R, Segal Z, Xia Y, Shapiro S, Wyatt JK. A randomized controlled trial of mindfulness meditation for chronic insomnia. Sleep. 2014;37(9):1553–1563. doi:0.5665/sleep.4010
Original website ：13 Health Benefits of Meditation
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