Meditation Actually Relieves Stress

Editor's note: This article has been reprinted. First published February 9, 2017.

Stress is one of the biggest problems facing American adults, and many people report that it negatively impacts their mental and physical health. The American Psychological Association's (APA) 2015 Stress in the United States Survey found that a significant portion of adults believe they are not doing enough to manage stress.^One

Nearly half of Americans say they engage in stress management activities a few times a month or less (18% say they never engage in them). Others (about 40%) reported that stress caused them to overeat or eat unhealthy foods, while 46% said their stress levels were so high that they were unable to sleep at night.²

Needless to say, simple, inexpensive tools to help manage stress will be invaluable to stressed-out adults in need of relief. This is especially true for tools that can be run anytime, anywhere. Such tools exist. This is called meditation and mindfulness. Now we have research confirming its significant benefits for stress relief.

Mindfulness Meditation Can Help You Overcome Stress

Practicing “mindfulness” means that you are actively paying attention to the moment you are in. Mindfulness doesn't mean letting your mind wander, it means living in the moment and letting distracting thoughts pass through your mind without getting caught up in their emotional implications.

You can add mindfulness to virtually every aspect of your day simply by paying attention to the sensations you are experiencing in the present moment, even while eating, working, or doing household chores like doing the dishes.

In one study, 70 adults with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) were randomly assigned to receive either a mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) class or a stress management course detailing the importance of diet, exercise, and sleep (control group). And time management.^three

In the MBSR class, participants learned elements of mindfulness meditation, including paying attention to the present moment without judgment, as well as engaging in gentle yoga and body scan meditations that focus on awareness of the body.

Before and after the course, participants underwent stressful situations (public speaking in front of an audience and performing mental arithmetic) to determine whether the stress management tools had an effect on anxiety.

Those in MBSR performed better in stressful situations and reported feeling less stressed than the control group (who actually reported feeling more stressed after the second test).

Physical measures of stress were also lower in the MBSR group, including lower levels of the stress hormone ACTH (adrenocorticotropic hormone) and proinflammatory cytokines, a marker of inflammation.

A viable alternative to drugs

According to the study's lead author, Dr. Elizabeth Hoge, now a professor and director of Georgetown's Anxiety Disorders Research Program, mindfulness meditation may be a viable alternative for people with anxiety who do not want to take medication for their symptoms. They say you can. University Medical Center in Washington, DC.

MBSR courses are popping up in hospitals and other settings across the U.S., but insurance companies are still reluctant to pay for courses that cost more than $500. Hoge told Time that he hoped insurance companies would recognize the evidence for MBSR in treating anxiety, noting:⁴

“It's clear to me that insurance companies will save money in the long run. We have in our blood an objective measure of doing better in provoking situations. This is strong evidence that mindfulness meditation not only improves your mood, but also helps. “Your resilience to stress has become stronger.”

In fact, another study found that MBSR was effective in improving the mental health of medical students.⁵

A six-week meditation and yoga program also reduced stress levels and improved personal well-being in another group of medical students who were significantly more stressed than the average population.⁶

How Meditation Can Help Relieve Pain

Meditation can be a powerful pain reliever. Among volunteers who had never meditated before, those who attended four 20-minute classes to learn a meditation technique called focused attention (a form of mindfulness meditation) experienced a 40% reduction in pain intensity and a 57% reduction in pain. I experienced significant pain relief. misunderstanding.⁷

How the intervention relieves pain remains a further mystery. Although mindfulness meditation activates several brain regions with high expression of opioid receptors, the researchers noted that it is unknown whether meditation relieves pain through this mechanism.

They designed a study in which they taught a group of people mindfulness meditation and exposed them to pain via a hot probe on the back of their leg. The group was instructed to meditate while in pain, while half the group was injected with naloxone, which blocks opiate receptors in the body.

Co-author Dr. Fadel Zeidan, associate professor of anesthesiology at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), explained to Time: “If meditation works through the opiates and blocks them from the body, then the pain-relieving effects of meditation will disappear.”⁸

But this didn't happen. Instead, meditators who were injected with saline reported 21% less pain compared to their original pain ratings (before learning to meditate), while meditators who were injected with naloxone reported 24% less pain.⁹

If the pain-relieving effects of meditation have nothing to do with opiates, then what are their pain-relieving effects? Reported time:¹⁰

“Zeidan’s past research has shown that meditation activates higher-order brain regions associated with emotional regulation, concentration, and cognitive control, while suppressing activity in the thalamus, which transmits painful information from the body.¹¹

This helps prevent painful information from spreading throughout the brain, he explains.

Mindfulness Can Regulate Your Body’s Physical Stress Response

Other studies examining how mindfulness training affects health have shown that it can reduce stress through the body's stress-reduction pathways.¹² As explained via press release:¹³

“When an individual experiences stress, activity in the prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for conscious thinking and planning, decreases, while activity increases in the amygdala, hypothalamus and anterior cingulate cortex, regions that quickly activate the body’s stress response.

Research shows that mindfulness reverses these patterns during times of stress. This increases frontal lobe activity, which can regulate and inhibit biological stress responses.

When the biological stress response becomes overactive, it increases the risk of diseases that are affected by stress (depression, HIV, heart disease, etc.). “By reducing an individual’s experience of stress, mindfulness can help regulate the physical stress response and ultimately reduce the risk and severity of stress-related diseases.”

Meditation May Reduce Stress-Related Medical Costs

Surprisingly, stress-related problems, including back pain, insomnia, acid reflux, exacerbations of irritable bowel syndrome, and more, can account for up to 70% of the average American doctor's visits.¹⁴

But research shows that you can significantly reduce those costs by practicing meditation and other methods that help you feel more relaxed. Researchers analyzed data from more than 4,400 people who received eight weeks of relaxation response training.

For about three hours a week, participants focused on relaxation using techniques such as meditation, yoga, and stress-reduction exercises. They also worked to build resilience using social support, cognitive skills training, and positive psychology.

After the program ended, participants' medical service utilization rate decreased by 43% compared to the previous year.¹⁵ Researchers estimated that these changes could save the average patient between $640 and $25,500 per year.

Specifically, relaxation patients reduced clinical visits by 42%, laboratory use by 44%, and procedural use by 21%. The number of emergency room visits also decreased from 3.7 per patient the previous year to 1.7 after the program ended.

More Reasons to Try Meditation

Meditation helps you intentionally take a break from the constant flow of thoughts flowing in and out of your mind. Some people use it to promote spiritual growth or find inner peace, while others use it as a powerful relaxation and stress reduction tool.

In addition to mental health, research shows that practicing meditation for just three months can help lower blood pressure while reducing psychological distress and increasing coping skills in young adults.¹⁶

Research from the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) also supports the notion that meditation acts as a form of “mental exercise” that can help regulate attention and emotions while improving well-being. It has previously been shown that meditation promotes changes in the amygdala, a brain region associated with emotional processing.

Studies show that these beneficial brain changes persist even after a meditation session ends, resulting in lasting changes in mental functioning.¹⁷ When it comes to mindfulness, research has shown that mindfulness training provides several benefits to children and adolescents, including:¹⁸

• Improved sleep quality and self-esteem
• Reduce anxiety and pain
• Improved cognitive and performance skills in school

How to Practice Mindfulness Meditation

While a professionally organized mindfulness training program may be best for some people, you can also take steps to become more mindful in your daily life and utilize these techniques whenever stress starts to build.

Ideally, you'll start your day with a mindfulness “exercise,” such as focusing on your breathing for five minutes before getting out of bed. Focus on the flow of your breathing and the rise and fall of your stomach. This can help you stay more focused for the rest of your day.

As the day goes on, try to minimize multitasking. Because this is the opposite of mindfulness. If you're trying to complete five tasks at once, pause for a moment and refocus your attention on the task at hand. When emotionally intrusive thoughts enter your mind, remind yourself that they are just “expectations” and not reality, and allow them to pass without stressing you out.

As for meditation, this too requires little formal “training” and can be done right at home. All you have to do is sit quietly listening to calming music, breathing rhythmically, focusing on something like your breath, a flower, an image, a candle, a mantra, or even simply being present, fully aware of the moment.

I also like using Muse, a personal meditation assistant that promotes relaxation and provides real-time feedback on how well you are doing. Personally, I think the best time to meditate is right after waking up in the morning. Because at that time you can enter the deepest state of relaxation. Applying Buteyko breathing techniques can help you calm your mind and enter a deep state of relaxation. Here are some additional tips on mindfulness published in the journal Visions:¹⁹