We have all heard that meditation is good for us right? It can reduce stress, anxiety, make us feel more grounded. what’s not to love!
As Naturopaths in Newcastle, treating the body as a whole is at the heart of our ideology. Health is multifaceted, and stress can play a large role in your overall health and wellbeing. Diet, sleep, exercise and mental health are the basic principles of good health, which is why as naturopaths we consider all of these factors when treating the individual.
Stress can impact all systems in the body including a reduction in cognition and learning, increasing blood pressure, effecting your hormones and endocrine system function, and even impair your immune system! So, you can see why it’s important to try and reduce your stress levels!
Today, with such fast-paced lifestyles it is easy to burn the candle at both ends, which is why it is more important than ever to incorporate moments of slow into our week…if not our day!
Technology is a blessing and a curse. It helps us connect with the ones we love, but it also means we are always on call. So, it’s understandable to feel a little anxious. Let’s not forget about the kids and teenagers either! Encourage time off technology and get them involved!
Studies have shown that meditation can be beneficial to the following:
- Reduce anxiety
- Reduce depression
- Relieve stress
- Improve burnout
- Reduce pain
- Improve memory and efficiency
- Increase energy
- Decrease blood pressure
- Decrease sympathetic nervous system overstimulation
- Reduce cortisol levels
- And may even be beneficial to the immune system!
So, if you’re feeling that life is a little too fast paced, why don’t you give meditation a go? It doesn’t have to be anything drastic, it can be as simple as closing down your eyes, rolling your shoulders away from your ears and focusing on your breathing while you boil the kettle! Simple, right?
Here are some of my favourite tips to incorporate meditation into your day:
Schedule in your meditation: Whether you set time in the morning when you wake up, on your lunch break at work or before bed, create a routine that suits you. Set a daily reminder on your phone to keep you accountable!
Choose a meditation style that suits you! There are so many meditation styles to choose from – mindfulness meditation, mantra meditation, transcendental meditation… so find a style that you enjoy, it’ll make it so much easier to commit to.
There is ALWAYS time in the day! Meditation doesn’t have to be a tedious, lengthy commitment. If you’re short on time you can simply find a comfortable seated position, close your eyes and focus on your breath. Inhale for a count of 3 and exhale for a count of 5. Complete a few rounds, and enjoy the feeling of being relaxed and grounded with little to no effort at all! If you prefer a guided meditation there are so many apps and podcasts these days! At CK we love the Calm App (if you have ever had a session in our Infrared Sauna you would defiantly know this!). There are so many meditation tracks to choose from – even if you only have a few minutes, I guarantee there is a meditation track for you!
Most importantly – don’t take it too seriously! We’re trying to reduce stress, right? Keep trying and find what works for you. Every day is different so be flexible, some days you might have 10 minutes, others only a few, you might feel like listening to a guided meditation and the next just focus on your breathing. Without sounding cheesy, just go with the flow! Life can get a little too structured and serious sometimes.
Whether you choose to meditate in the morning to set yourself up for the day in a calm, relaxed headspace, to reset in the middle of the day, or to let go of the days stresses before bed so you can get a great night’s sleep and be recharged for the next day – whichever you choose, I guarantee you will feel so much better for it.
Even the environment you choose to put yourself in can affect the stress levels of your body – so make sure you visit us at the Merewether clinic, because it is definitely a place that will reduce your stress levels.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4895748/
