6 Ways Meditation Helps Your Mental Health

1. Meditation Helps Preserve the Aging Brain

study found that people who meditate had better-preserved brains than people who didn’t as they aged.

2. Meditation Reduces Activity in the Brain’s “Me Center”

study from Yale University found that mindfulness meditation decreases activity in the default mode network (DMN). The DMN is responsible for mind-wandering thoughts.

3. Meditation Helps Depression

A review from Johns Hopkins looked at the relationship between mindfulness meditation and its ability to reduce symptoms of depression. The study concluded that meditation does show reduction in psychological stress.

4. Meditation Causes Volume Changes in Important Areas of the Brain

A study from Harvard found that eight weeks of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) increases cortical thickness in the hippocampus, which is responsible for learning and memory. Meditation also decreases volume in the amygdala, which is responsible for fear, anxiety, and stress.

5. Meditation Improves Concentration and Attention 

A study found that just a couple of weeks of meditation training helped people’s focus and memory during the GRE.

6. Meditation Reduces Anxiety and Social Anxiety

Research has also shown that mindfulness meditation, in contrast to attending to the breath only, can reduce anxiety. Mindfulness meditation has also shown to help people with social anxiety disorder.

If you are interested in more information, an article published by Forbes discusses more ways meditation effects the brain