This Is What Happens To Your Body When You Meditate

Meditation, long considered to be a ”frou-frou” thing only hippies and Buddhists bothered with, has now become a worldwide relaxation and health trend.

Multiple scientific studies have shown that meditation can have a rapid and profound effect on our physical health, as well as mental. In many cases, meditation can trigger physical change in our bodies almost immediately!

Keep reading to learn more about why meditation is so vital for total health as well as what actually happens to your body when you meditate.

Meditation Is Medicine

The world is a big, complicated place that hurls challenges in our path faster than a pitching machine at the batting cages. Fragile beings that we are, the constant grind of work, relationships, political chaos and worry about the future can takes its toll.

We self-medicate with stimulants (coffee, energy drinks, sugar) during the day and depressants (alcohol, prescription drugs) at night when we’re desperate to relax, despite their terrible side effects.

Meditation, on the other hand, is a completely safe, completely FREE “medication” that’s often more effective than both.

Things That Happen When You Meditate

1. Your Brainwaves Change

Research has shown that after a few minutes, medication can actually increase alpha and theta brainwave activity, which is linked to relaxation.

2. Your Breathing Changes

Meditation stimulates your body’s parasympathetic nervous system, which in turn causes your lungs to draw in slower, deeper breaths and may result in lower blood pressure.

3. Your Adrenal Glands Change

During meditation, your adrenal glands reduce their production of the stress hormone cortisol, helping you to feel less anxious.

4. Your Immune System Changes

In addition to boosting positivity, which is thought to support a healthy immune system, recent research suggests that regular meditation may increase antibody production, helping the body neutralize foreign threats that make us sick, like viruses and bacteria.

5. Your Brain Changes

In 2011, a study out of Harvard found that regular meditation can change the actual mass of your brain. After eight weeks of analysis, meditation “was found to increase cortical thickness in the hippocampus, which governs learning and memory, and in certain areas of the brain that play roles in emotion regulation and self-referential processing. There were also decreases in brain cell volume in the amygdala, which is responsible for fear, anxiety, and stress,” reported Forbes.

So what are you waiting for? To de-stress, improve your blood pressure, and grow a bigger brain, start meditating today!