We’ve all heard about mindfulness meditation. We know that it’s often associated with yoga. When we think about it, we picture people sitting on their yoga mats with their legs curled under them. Their eyes are closed, and they wear faint smiles as they bask in the sun. We couldn’t understand how they could sit there in pure silence without getting bored. It’s even a marvel to us that they haven’t fallen asleep.
Many of us don’t truly understand what mindfulness meditation is. But we know that it leads to many effects on our mental health. But it can also lead to a positive impact on our physical health. Who knows? You might even start practicing it every day after knowing its impact on our bodies.
What Is Mindfulness Meditation?
At its core, mindfulness meditation is about being in the present. It trains our minds and senses to be entirely aware of what we are doing, the people around us, and the environment that we dwell in. This mindset keeps your feelings of stress and anxiety at bay. It keeps us from dwelling on past mistakes and worrying about the future.
Apart from the 10-to-15-minute exercise of meditating, mindfulness meditation also urges you to incorporate it into your daily activities. Something as mundane as eating, walking, and, most importantly, breathing can be done mindfully. It brings life to activities that we would often treat as automatic. It reminds us that everything that we do in life is significant and impactful. As Mindful.org said, “The goal of mindfulness is to wake up to the inner workings of our mental, emotional, and physical processes.”
So, while it’s well-known that mindfulness meditation has effects on our state of mind, it’s also important to know how it can affect our bodies.
An Active and Healthy Intimate Life
Part of living a healthy life is maintaining a stable intimate life. It’s just part of being human. So it’s hard for us to deal with stress and anxiety and how they can lead to problems in the bedroom. Several researchers have conducted studies on the matter. One such study is the one where they found that mindfulness meditation can treat erectile dysfunction (ED). The researchers found that ED is often caused by performance anxiety and negative cognitions.
But through mindfulness practices, men have improved their mood and feelings of self-worth. This encouraged them to fully focus on the present and not be too affected by negative thoughts. Thus, mindfulness meditation helped them lead to healthy intimate lives. It helped them make the most of their vasectomy if they’ve had one.
A Natural Way of Controlling Chronic Pain
For some of us, having chronic pain in the joints and muscles is a constant part of life. We can rely on meds and therapy to help manage it. But there’s also another way of managing it: through our minds. A study found evidence of mindfulness meditation affecting our perception of pain. They found that, through the practice, their subjects experienced a decrease in their feelings of depression. They’ve also found evidence of the improved quality of life due to less pain.
When we’re overwhelmed with stress, our perception of pain is magnified. It hurts worse. Through mindfulness meditation, we can improve our mental health to manage chronic pain effectively.
A Healthy Weight-loss Method
When we want to lose weight, we often turn to the basics: diet and exercise. Controlling those two things is effective, of course. But there’s also one aspect that we can work on to lose weight: our minds. A study found that mindfulness meditation can lead to weight loss. The researchers said that because mindfulness urges us to be in the present and be aware of what we’re doing, we can be very mindful of what we eat and how much we’re eating. It’s the ultimate way of training our self-control.
Being mindful as we eat helps us enjoy and appreciate our food more. Thus, we tend to stop abusing it by devouring it without a second thought.
Mindfulness meditation is very much rooted in the workings of our minds. It can keep us relaxed and content instead of overwhelming with stress and anxiety. It can improve our focus and determination as we embark on major tasks at work. And it can boost our confidence and self-love.
Most importantly, it proves how much our mental health can affect our bodies. With it, we can maintain a sustainable lifestyle, a stable work-life balance, and long-lasting and healthy relationships.