Collectively, our lives have never been so stressful or chaotic. Whether it’s increased work-related stress, the lingering aftershocks of Covid or the negative effects of social media, more people are suffering from mental health issues than ever before.
Although prescribed treatments certainly have their place and can undoubtedly help some people suffering with mental health issues, medication isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution. That’s why some of those feeling stressed out or mentally fatigued would instead prefer to try out some natural or therapeutic remedies.
One such alternative is meditation, an age-old practice grounded in mindfulness that’s been performed for millenia. A powerful ally for those in search of inner healing, meditation has proven itself to be a useful weapon in the fight against mental health issues such as anxiety and depression. Here’s how it can help you.
Stress Unwinding
Meditation helps to form a shield, providing an escape from those never-ending life pressures. Through mindfulness meditation, you can start to cultivate awareness of the present, helping you shed the mental baggage of past regrets and future anxieties and placing your mind in the here and now.
This newfound mindfulness can eventually lead the way to less stress and more mental clarity.
Anxiety Taming
Anxiety is never an easy thing to understand as each mind is different and the catalyst or source of those anxieties are unique to every person.
With that said, regardless of the source of the anxieties, meditation can help to alleviate some of those worries by equipping individuals with the tools to better navigate the choppy waters of their own mind.
Techniques like focused breathing or loving-kindness meditation can offer refuge from the deluge of anxious thoughts, and with enough practice over time, practitioners start to report decreased anxiety and an increased sense of serenity.
Depression Easing
Along with stress and anxiety, depression is also on the rise. In fact, according to the Office of National Statistics (ONS), around 1 in 6 (16 per cent) of adults in the UK report moderate to severe levels of depressive symptoms.These are worrying statistics as depression can be an extremely debilitating condition, rendering even the simplest of tasks a struggle.
Although meditation is by no means an immediate or exhaustive solution, it can be a useful tool to have in your armoury if you’re battling depression.
By nurturing and encouraging self-compassion and self-awareness, meditation allows individuals to embrace their emotions rather than suppress them which can prove to be a major turning point.
Enhanced Self-Awareness
Self-discovery lies at the heart of meditation. By delving into their inner depths, practitioners are able to unlock insights into their thoughts, emotions and behavioural patterns. This can turn out to be an extremely profound and illuminating experience as it can form the cornerstone of healing and personal growth.
Sleep Improvement
Sleep disturbances often haunt those wrestling with mental health concerns. In fact both of them are related – poor sleep helps fuel the worries and negative thought patterns, while stress, anxiety and depression can make it difficult to nod off, creating a vicious cycle that, over time, can wreck your mental health.
The calming effects of meditation can start to pave the way for improved sleep patterns as the mindful relaxation before bedtime can usher in more restful nights. In turn, this improved sleep quality will have you feeling more upbeat and energised each morning.
Can Increase Efficacy Of Therapy
Last but most certainly not least, meditation can enhance the effects of therapy, ensuring you get maximum reward from your sessions with a therapist.
As we’ve discovered, meditation encourages emotional self-awareness and regulation. Therapists often use mindfulness techniques to help clients become more attuned to their emotions and learn healthier ways to respond to them. This can be particularly valuable for those seeing an anger management or anxiety therapist.
Patients who are already familiar with the practices of meditation will be much more receptive to these techniques, and this should help them get more out of their therapy sessions.
Moreover, patients who’ve taught themselves to be more mindful have the ability to better stay in the moment rather than allowing their thoughts to wander. Therefore, this skill can then be applied during therapy sessions, helping individuals engage more fully with the therapist and ensuring they get as much as possible out of their therapeutic treatment.
So that’s how meditation can improve your mental health and help us overcome our struggles. Although meditation alone won’t provide a cure-all solution to all your woes, with regular practice it can help release the mental shackles holding you back, providing a stabilising force and acting as a guiding light toward a happier and more mindful you.