3 Reasons Why Meditation is the Best Anti-stress Remedy
Stress is a natural human response to difficulties and cannot be completely avoided. However, if stress begins to run our lives, it can be truly detrimental for our mental, emotional, social and physical (even spiritual) well-being. What do you do when you feel stressed out? Take deep breaths? Countdown the hours until you can go for a run or have a bath? Call a trusted person and talk it out?
We each have coping mechanisms that support us through stressful moments. And here are just three (of the many) reasons why meditation can be a powerful tool to add to your anti-stress toolbox:
1. Scientific Evidence
Physical relaxation lowers the speed of our breath, pulse and blood pressure, which supports the body to tap into the relaxation response rather than be gripped by fight-or-flight response.
2. Present Moment Awareness
By teaching ourselves to stay in the present moment we begin to notice that many of our stresses are about what already occured in the past, or what is yet to happen in the future. This noticing allows us to remember that we can only ACT in the here and now, and gives us the opportunity to let go of that which we cannot control.
3. Response Versus Reaction
When we are stressed we are more likely to be reactionary in our circumstances: saying or doing things we may regret later, or internally creating unhelpful emotional and mental turmoil. Meditation teaches us to pause, breathe, and choose our response, rather than react out of habit.
There is a great deal of research in support of the powerful and helpful effects of meditation on our wellbeing. And different types of meditation help us in different ways. You can check out this article Brain’s Remarkable Response to Two Types of Meditation to feed your curiosity.
If you haven’t already given meditation a try, next time you are stressed we invite you to take a mindful moment: pause, stay still, close your eyes, and breathe mindfully for one minute. Your stress levels will go down. We guarantee it!