Do you deal with excessive stress or anxiety?
While there are many medications that can help address stress and anxiety there are also SO many natural methods that you can try too. Cultivating a lifestyle in which you take some time to breathe and meditate is way better than poppin’ some pills with side effects! Here’s a few reasons why meditation may be something you add to your routine!
Reduce Inflammatory Responses: When we are in constant states of stress. Cortisol, one of our main stress hormones, goes into overdrive creating a hijack situation to the emotional centers of our brain like the amygdala -creating more inflammatory responses in the body. (clearly something we don’t want ladies).
I’m that girl who's always on the go but while in lockdown I, like many of you, were forced to slow down and chill. While some of my friends stressed out listening to the news, I noticed big differences in my stress levels simply after taking 5-10 minutes throughout the day to quietly breathe.
Improve Focus and Attention: Anyone else struggling in this area??: (Raises both hands sky high!!) My mind wanders all the time. Gone are the days of me making fun of those peeps using Post-it Notes for everything. I'm now that girl-sorry if I previously made fun of ya’ (I now see the struggle is real).
Taking time to meditate not only helps reduce stress but can also help improve your attention. In a world where we are CONSTANTLY bombarded with information I think we could all agree that a little more focus would be good….can I get an AMEN!
Emotional Health: As a PT I was trained to focus on the physical aspect of health with a teeny bit of nutritional education. Nowadays I focus primarily on emotional health as a means to attain the true health goals so many seek. Mindset and mindfulness is everyTHANG!
An often ignored part of our healthcare system, our emotional health can be a HUGE predictor of our ability to fight off DIS-ease.
Neurochemicals released in the body that respond to stress can have direct effects on a person’s mood and lead to things like depression. I’ve found that meditation helps improve my overall mood, leaving me with a more positive outlook and better self image. There are even studies out there showing meditation helping to lessen the effects of depression (¹ )
BOTTOM LINE:
If you are struggling with focus, attention, mood, stress or just want to add some emotional wellness practices into you and your families life there are so many ways you can choose to start your meditation journey. These are just some of the many reasons I decided to start and trust me this is a process still in the works. Most important is that you consider giving it a try for at min 14-21 days before you write it off. You may truly start to discover why they say “You are what you think”!
Want more tips on how to manage stress…..check out my some of my fav stress busting tips here.
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