11 Science-Based Benefits of Focused Meditation
Meditation has become a practice to promote better mind and mental health. It is more than just a tradition but a daily habit for some people.
There are lots of forms of meditation but only a few have been scientifically studied. One out of a few that has been studied is the focused meditation.
What is Focused Meditation?
Exactly as it sounds, focused meditation is a kind of meditation focusing on something. Participants should pay full attention to the main focus.
The main focus can be internal sensation or external imagery. During the meditation, participants intently focus their attention on something, staying at the moment, and then slow down the inner self-dialogue.
Different from common meditation which focuses on nothing, focused meditation requires you to focus on one thing such as visual items, sounds, smells, tastes, and even your breath.
When participants’ mind wanders, they will be instructed to come back to the focal point.
Different meditation has a different impact on the body and brain. But as a habitual process.
1. Controls anxiety
Meditation is always linked with the improvement of mental health. Focused meditation is believed to reduce anxiety.
Recent studies show that meditation may reduce anxiety especially those with severe anxiety.
Not only it helps reduce anxiety, but meditation also increases self-positivity and promote better reaction toward the stressful situation.
Meditation is effective for people with a generalized anxiety disorder because it puts the mind in quiet.
2. Reduce stress
The body releases stress-related hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline which causes an effect on the physiological.
This is why chronic stress causes a catastrophic effect on body health which leads to high blood pressure, disrupted sleep, and reduced concentration.
Focused meditation works the opposite way which results in relaxing the mind.
Meditation is also good for stress relief and may reduce other symptoms related to stress such as bowel syndrome, fibromyalgia, and even post-traumatic disorder.
3. Increase mindfulness
Focused meditation has been linked with happy and energetic life. This is because meditation is believed to promote psychological functioning as well as increase a sense of well-being.
When practiced regularly, meditation delivers therapeutic effects that help increase the quality of life.
Besides increase mindfulness, meditation also improves empathy and helps you connect with people around you.
This is because focused meditation enhances the areas in the brain associated with empathy.
4. Improves focus
As the name suggests, focused meditation helps increase attention and focus.
Some studies have shown that practice a focused meditation has a longer attention span, better accuracy when doing a task. Plus, meditation affects to reverses the pattern in the brain which is in charge of poor attention, worrying, and mind-wandering.
Aside from focused meditation, other types of meditation also improve focus only in different degrees.
5. Emotion control
Some people struggling with emotional control. Well, control of emotion is never easy but focused meditation should be able to put the brain and mind at ease.
A relaxed mind means less stress and anxiety and this leads to better emotion control. When you have better emotional control, you will also be able to increase self-awareness and reduce irrational acts.
6. Reduce emotional and physical pain
The main benefit of meditation is the ability to reduce emotional and physical pain way better than medications. This is because the perception of pain is somehow connected to the brain and it will get worse in stressful conditions.
Some researches reveal that a daily meditation routine helps in controlling pain. In some ways, meditation even changes the perception of pain in the mind.
This should be very helpful for people with chronic pain and who have prolonged physical thera[py or medical care.
7. Reduce the risk of memory loss
Aside from improving focus and attention span focused meditation is also beneficial in reducing the risk of memory loss.
The focused meditation works directly on the core brain networks which has a basic role in a cognitive task.
Focused meditation also works in the ‘memory’ area in the brain to increase its performance. Even in the case of memory loss because of aging, focused meditation can help increase the performance of the brain.
8. Fight addictions
Fighting with addictions sure thing is not easy. However, meditation helps to develop the mental discipline to break with dependencies. Regular meditation practice increases self-awareness and controls the triggers of dependencies.
Studies reveal that meditation helps redirect attention, manage impulses and emotion, as well as understand the cause of addiction. Aside of control addiction, meditation also helps suppress food cravings.
This is because meditation reduces and manages emotion including the cause of binge eating.
9. Promote better sleep
It is no surprise that almost half of the population suffers from insomnia. The high level of stress, anxiety, life pressure, and lack of focus may trigger difficulty sleeping at night.
Focused meditation helps manage sleep deprivation in some ways. It helps control the mind and redirects the wandering thoughts which mostly lead to insomnia.
Also, meditation helps the body to relax and place the mind in a peaceful state in which promotes easy and better sleep quality.
10. Reduce blood pressure
Meditation does not only associate with mental health but also physical health. Regular practice of meditation promotes better physical health which is reducing the tension to the heart.
High blood pressure forces the heart to work harder and thus leads to several heat-related illnesses. The cause of high blood pressure does not only come from a poor lifestyle but also the incapability of managing a healthy state of mind.
When the level of stress and life pressure is high, the blood pressure will likely get high as well. Thus meditation is believed to help decrease blood pressure by putting a peaceful mind and reduce stress.
11. Life enlightenment
The original goal of focused meditation is to reach life enlightenment. Well, who’s to say no if you can get back to your focus as well as manage stress and emotion well?
Even though you do not automatically reach enlightenment the moment you start meditation, but eventually, you will reach a happy and balanced life.
This is because you can control emotion and be able to focus on important points in life.