Over the last several years, meditation has become one of the most widespread forms of mental health activities. Its popularity has grown with the invention of different apps and online platforms easily accessible to a broad audience to practice meditation. Indeed, meditation provides numerous benefits at relatively low financial and time costs. Although meditation has some drawbacks in time consumption and learning difficulties, it offers various benefits, including improvements in the emotional, cognitive, and physiological state.
The foremost benefit of meditation is its positive effect on the individual’s emotional condition. Namely, studies have emphasized the impact of mindfulness on reducing stress and anxiety (Montero-Marin et al., 2019). Another study has found that 24.4% of all respondents emphasized the emotional benefits as the most significant aspect of meditation (Anderson et al., 2019). They stressed they derived emotions such as calmness, peace, relaxation, and equanimity from meditation practices (Anderson et al., 2019). Thus, meditation practices can significantly improve the mental state by increasing positive emotions and calmness.
Another crucial benefit of meditation is the improvement of cognitive and physiological functions. Individuals who have practiced meditation stipulated that the practice has helped to enhance their attention and self-control (Anderson et al., 2019). The other cognitive benefits of meditation were decreased reactivity, prolonged concentration, and improved patience. In addition, mindfulness exercises can help improve blood pressure, cortisol levels, and other physiologic indicators of stress (Pascoe et al., 2017). Thus, the benefits of meditation are paramount and ubiquitous to various aspects of individual health.
Nevertheless, despite its perceived and empirical benefits, meditation also has drawbacks such as its time-demandingness and learning difficulties. Individuals who participated in the survey have noted that meditation requires a time commitment, and they experienced frustration due to the problem of systematically practicing meditation (Anderson et al., 2019). However, individuals can overcome these barriers by seeking help from meditation centers or group exercises that can commit to daily meditation practice. Hence, practitioners can alleviate the time commitment and learning difficulties of meditation with external help.
To conclude, meditation offers numerous cognitive, emotional, and physiological benefits. It is beneficial for people who struggle with anxiety, stress, weak concentration, and self-control and who cannot access expensive therapy consultations or medicine. Nevertheless, as with any popularized method, individuals should carefully consider all aspects of meditation, clearly understand their expectations, and consult with their physicians before embarking on it.
References
Anderson, T., Suresh, M., & Farb, N. A. S. (2019). Meditation benefits and drawbacks: Empirical codebook and implications for teaching. Journal of Cognitive Enhancement, 3(2), 207–220. Web.
Montero-Marin, J., Garcia-Campayo, J., Pérez-Yus, M. C., Zabaleta-del-Olmo, E., & Cuijpers, P. (2019). Meditation techniques v. relaxation therapies when treating anxiety: A meta-analytic review. Psychological Medicine, 49(13), 2118–2133. Web.
Pascoe, M. C., Thompson, D. R., Jenkins, Z. M., & Ski, C. F. (2017). Mindfulness mediates the physiological markers of stress: Systematic Review and meta-analysis. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 95, 156–178. Web.