Therapy For Ptsd
Therapy For Ptsd
Blog Article
Can Meditation Improve Mental Health?
Millions of people around the world practice meditation. It can take many forms, including breathing deeply, repeating a mantra or using rhythmic movement like yoga, tai chi and qigong.
While it’s not a cure for mental health disorders, meditation can improve mood and reduce stress. It may also prevent stress from triggering depression or anxiety episodes.
Stress Reduction
Many people use meditation to reduce stress, which is a common cause of health problems. In fact, a 2015 meta-analysis found that meditation decreases physiological markers of stress like cortisol and heart rate in diverse adult clinical populations.
Meditation works to relax the body and mind by triggering the relaxation response. This restores your inner balance, helping you shrug off the effects of daily stress and build mental resilience to manage stressful situations.
However, meditation doesn't just help you manage stress, it teaches you to deal with negative thoughts and emotions by observing them without judgment. For example, if you're feeling anxious or worried during a meditation session, you can simply notice these thoughts and return your attention to deep breathing.
The more you practice, the better you become at letting go of unhelpful thoughts and emotions. But meditation isn't a replacement for therapy, and it may worsen some medical conditions in certain patients. So it's important to talk with your healthcare professional before trying meditation.
Better Sleep
It’s easy to think of a long to-do list or worries as you try to fall asleep at night, but regular meditation can help you get a better night’s sleep. This is partly because meditation reduces stress levels, but it may also boost melatonin levels and increase the speed at which you fall asleep.
During meditation, you might focus on your breathing or a repeated phrase or word. You should be able to notice any thoughts that come up and let them go without judgement. If you find it hard to stop thinking, it’s a good therapy for anxiety and depression idea to start with short sessions and gradually build up your ability to meditate for longer periods of time.
There are many different ways to meditate and it’s important to find one that works for you. To start, sit in a quiet place, preferably without any distractions. Concentrate on your breathing and try to relax your body – starting with the face, then moving to the shoulders, back, abdomen, hips, legs and feet.
Reduced Anxiety
Stress is a common cause of anxiety and meditation has been shown to decrease physiological markers of stress, such as heart rate. It can also improve coping with anxiety and help reduce symptoms of stress-related health conditions, such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and fibromyalgia.
During meditation, you focus on your breath and notice any thoughts that arise. The goal is not to push away or block out negative thoughts, but to observe them and then gently return your attention to your breathing. This helps you recognize that negative or stressful feelings don’t have to define you.
Some studies show that meditation changes specific brain regions associated with depression. However, the research is limited as it is difficult to conduct RCTs with meditation because of the nature of the therapy, which requires active participation and daily practice from the participant. In addition, placebo effects may play a role. Therefore, more research with different types of meditation and a larger sample size is needed to validate the benefits.
Better Mood
Stress and anxiety are major triggers for depression, and though psychotherapy and antidepressants are often the first-line treatment options, many patients find that meditation is helpful as well. Meditation can help improve mood by altering the way your brain responds to stress and anxiety.
Specifically, it can reduce the activity in one of the key areas that causes depression: the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). The mPFC is linked to the “me center” in your brain, which gets worked up over negative emotions and thoughts. It also sends signals to the amygdala, or fear center, which then releases cortisol in response to a perceived threat or danger.
When you meditate, you focus on your breath or the sounds around you to remove yourself from stressful thoughts and feelings. Despite its many benefits, meditation is not easy and it takes time to develop into a habit. Keep practicing until you find a technique that suits you. Over time, the benefits you feel can be tremendous.