Meditation. Just the word may conjure up images of a holy person on a hilltop.
Yet meditation is accessible to anyone, anywhere. It requires no special equipment or skills. Maybe that’s why roughly one-quarter of Canadians meditate regularly.[1] And people around the world recognize the benefits of daily meditation, even if they struggle to work it into their schedules.
It’s well known that meditation can be useful to control and reduce stress and anxiety. But a daily meditation practice is beneficial for a wide variety of reasons, some of which are less well known.
Consider these unexpected benefits:
Meditation reduces age-related memory loss.
As people age, the “grey matter” in their brains – which controls movement, memory and emotions – decreases. This is part of why older people struggle with some of these functions. Yet a study from UCLA[2] found that people who had a regular meditation practice actually lost less grey matter as they aged. This means they may move more easily (barring any other health problems) and they will retain a stronger memory.
Meditation increases empathy.
It may seem surprising, but taking a few minutes to connect to yourself and your own body can actually change the brain in areas associated with empathy and positive emotions. Studies[3] have shown that meditation that focuses on compassion and loving-kindness leads practitioners to improve in several areas, from altruism to interpersonal relationships, from affective empathy and empathic accuracy. In short, meditation increases kindness between you and the people around you – which leads to better, more meaningful relationships.
Meditation helps control pain.
The way you experience pain depends on your state of mind. One recent study demonstrated that people who meditate did not feel as connected to their feelings of pain – which actually reduced their pain and suffering.[4] People who meditate better understand that their pain is not a part of who they are. As a result, they develop a greater ability to cope with that pain and may actually suffer less. The best part is, even beginners in meditation can experience less pain than those who don’t meditate at all.
Meditation lengthens your attention span.
In this digital, fast-moving world, many people have noticed their attention spans waning. Meditation encourages the opposite: focus on your breath, notice your mind wandering and then bring attention back to your breath. Over the years, many studies[5] have demonstrated that meditation can improve not only executive control of attention (i.e., control over your attention and the ability to filter out distractions) but also sustained attention (i.e., keeping your attention on one topic for a length of time) – since this is essentially what the practices teaches.
Meditation improves sleep.
Since meditation helps you deal better with controlling your thoughts, it’s no surprise that meditation can help counter sleep problems as well. Meditation helps control negative thoughts that can distract you from good sleep. In fact, not only can meditation training improve the quality of the average person’s sleep, but it can even help reduce insomnia,[6] a common problem for many older adults.
Whatever your background, it doesn’t take a lot of practice with meditation to experience its positive impact. Try it out! Take a few minutes when you have time to take a breath and quiet your mind. See where it takes you.
[1] Statistics Canada, “Mental health and health-related behaviours during the COVID-19 pandemic,” May 12, 2020.
[2] Frontiers, “Forever young(er): potential age-defying effects of long-term meditation on gray matter atrophy,” January 21, 2015.
[3] ResearchGate, “Can Compassion Meditation Contribute to the Development of Psychotherapists’ Empathy? A Review,” September 2015.
[4] Science Daily, “Mindfulness meditation reduces pain by separating it from the self,” July 8, 2022.
[5] Springer Link, “The Effects of Mindfulness Meditation on Attention, Executive Control and Working Memory in Healthy Adults: A Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials,” January 4, 2021. Springer Link, “Cognitive Aging and Long-Term Maintenance of Attentional Improvements Following Meditation Training,” March 28, 2018.
[6] Frontiers in Psychology, “Relationship Between Trait Mindfulness and Sleep Quality in College Students: A Conditional Process Model,” September 29, 2020.