Here’s How Meditation Improves The Health Of Your Body & Mind

I recommend meditation practices for almost every single person I see in my telehealth clinic, and I practice meditation every day. Daily meditation over a long period of time is one of the least invasive ways to practice self-care and restore your gut-brain connection.

It’s vital to understand the kind of meditation program that works for you to reap the evidence-based health benefits of meditation.

Let’s review the science of how meditation can improve your mental and physical health.

1. Reduced Inflammation

When facing significant stressors in life, your body undergoes many processes that can lead to inflammation. One such process is the way a factor called NFkB is expressed, increasing chronic inflammation (a contributor to almost every chronic health problem in modern society).

NFkB (Nuclear Factor Kappa B) is a protein transcription factor that controls certain genes responsible for inflammation. (1) The way this factor “expresses” itself is one thing scientists often research in connection with inflammatory diseases, especially autoimmune conditions.

A randomized controlled trial found that a meditation program for just 12 minutes each day over the course of 8 weeks reduced the NFkB activity, lowering chronic inflammation caused by stress. (2)

LISTEN: Yung Pueblo: How To Use Spirituality + Meditation To Heal Your Body 

2. Improved Immune Function

Related to its impact on inflammation, meditation may also improve genetic pathways that control our immune system. (3)

A systematic review of studies in 2016 found that mindfulness meditation, in particular, improved several markers of immunity across different conditions, from upper respiratory infection to HIV. (4)

3. Less Chronic Pain

Since meditation can lower inflammation and promote a sense of calm, it makes sense that it can also naturally ease pain. Meditation improves several brain mechanisms that impact how we experience pain, from pain intensity to how unpleasant that pain feels. (5)

When testing meditation techniques for chronic pain, researchers discovered that, compared to placebo, meditation decreased pain, improved quality of life, and even reduced depression symptoms. (6)

Mindfulness meditation may also reduce pain in fibromyalgia and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). (7, 8)

Related: 8 Amazing Acupressure Mat Benefits 

4. Better Mental Health

Many studies show that meditation helps to reduce anxiety. This works because the anterior cingulate cortex, the part of the brain that calms feelings of anxiousness, is activated by meditation. (9)

The effects of meditation also rival the results of mood-altering medications for emotion regulation. Research over the years has shown that meditation can help treat: (10)

• Anxiety disorders
• Addiction
• Aggression
• Symptoms of depression
• Post-traumatic stress disorder (11)
• Suicidal behaviors and ideation

One reason this might happen is that meditation increases gray matter volume in the brain in the right angular and posterior parahippocampal gyri areas that control mood. (10)

For addiction, in particular, meditation might help reduce cravings for alcohol and binge eating. (12, 13)

Read Next: The 15 Best Natural Supplements For Anxiety 

5. Reduced Stress

Stress isn’t just something you feel; it’s measurable! Markers like cortisol (the ‘stress hormone’), heart rate, blood pressure, C-reactive protein, and TNF-alpha are just some of the factors scientists test to identify biological stress.

All of the different types of meditation reduced these markers, according to a 2017 meta-analysis of studies. (14)

Meditative practices positively regulate the area of the brain that controls stress, known as the subiculum area of the hippocampus. (15)

This is just further proof that meditation is not woo-woo — it reduces chronic stress by improving the way your brain operates (no crystals necessary!).