During meditation, you think deeply or focus your mind for a specific period of time. You can practice many forms of meditation with the ultimate goal of overall relaxation and inner peace. Even more, these feelings can help improve mental health.

Thousands of studies have been gathered over the past decade to help support this theory. Many of these cover the relationship between meditation and the help of overcoming depression and anxiety. Other studies worked to show how meditation helps people cope with negative emotions like anger and fear.

A lot of the studies published in various peer-reviewed journals over the years have covered the research of people who introduced meditation into their daily practices. Many of these members were diagnosed with depression or anxiety or self-reported emotions like anger, fear, or other negative feelings. Prior to the practice of meditation, many of these people reported experiences like increased heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing rate with many of the episodes around these emotions. Much of the study continued to find those same increases among people who did not practice meditation, while those who introduced the practice of meditation no longer felt those increases during the times when typical negative emotional responses would occur.

Beyond some of these focused emotional improvements brought on by mediation, other overall mental health benefits result as well. These include better focus and concentration, improved self-awareness and self-esteem, reduced stress and anxiety, and increased kindness. In addition, the ability of meditation to help reduce blood pressure and steady your heart and breathing rate can help improve your physical health and wellness.

Article courtesy of Zagline.