Shhhh. You hear that?
Probably.
Except the problem is that you could be hearing any number of things. Your phone going off with a text, call, or a new Snapchat. Maybe it’s a Facebook message or an incoming email. Perhaps your latest Tweet is blowing up.
The point is, our millennial lives are constantly being inundated with notifications and noise. So much so that it’s hard to ever step away and find a few minutes of silence.
But if you can, the rewards are more than worth it.
As we told you last week, we’ve partnered with lululemon to help you find ways to fuel your own happiness. And today we’re focusing on meditation to get your happiness where you want it to be.
If you’re dealing with stress, anxiety, anger, or anything else that’s anti-happiness, we’re here to give you 10 good reasons you should start meditating before anything else.
[ad_bb1]
1. You’ll Stress Less
Pretty much every pavement-pounding young professional could stand to stress less. Meditating enables you to override a part of the brain that’s responsible for the fear and worry mechanism. Of course, fear and worry only cause anxiety (and nobody has time for that). This study even suggests that meditation can reduce anxiety by almost 40 per cent.
2. You’ll Build Better Relationships
Taking up meditation can strengthen your relationships, and not just because you’ll be better equipped to live in the moment. In one study, people who meditated and tried to problem solve with their partner tackled the issue with less hostility and in a better mood. It’s also known to increase social connection and emotional intelligence – two key factors in healthy relationships.
3. You’ll Improve Your Focus
With constant stimulation at our fingertips, it seems more difficult than ever to focus. That’s where meditation comes in. In a now famous study, researchers at the University of Washington measured how mindful meditation can improve your focus by examining the effects of meditation on the multitasking behaviour of knowledge workers. Those trained in meditation stayed on tasks longer, made fewer task switches, and reported fewer negative emotions after the task was performed.
4. Your Social Life Will Improve
Although meditation may be something you do in isolation, it can actually work wonders for your social life. Why? Basically, it will make you a better, more likable person in general. Research has linked meditation with more empathy and laughter, being more social, and possessing a more team-oriented mentality.
5. You’ll Age Slower
Meditation has been proven to slow the aging process. A study from UCSF led by Nobel Prize-winning scientist Elizabeth Blackburn showed that by reducing stress, meditation caused an increase in the production of telomerase, the protective caps on the ends of our chromosomes that affect aging.
6. You’ll Take Fewer Sick Days
Not only is meditation good for your mind, it’s good for your entire system. Mediation has been linked to the prevention of acute respiratory infection. If you do get sick, meditation also lessens recover time. With our great Canadian winter, we need all the help we can get in this department.
7. You’ll Become More Creative
Meditation has the power to give you a competitive edge career-wise by improving your creativity. Research from Leiden University proves that the practice of “open monitoring” meditation has positive effects when it comes to creativity and divergent thinking. Participants who had followed the practice performed better in a task where they were asked to come up with new creative ideas.
8. You’ll Learn and Remember More
Research has shown that regular meditation may help your cause when it comes to both remembering names at networking events and adopting a new skill or technology in the workplace.
9. It’ll Help Your PMS
Meditation has the power to make that time of month a little easier. Studies have shown that meditation and meditative prayer are able to help lessen the effects of premenstrual syndrome and, when the time comes, menopausal symptoms as well.
10. You’ll Get a Better Sleep
If you could use some more quality Zs in your life, you may want to consider meditation. Mindful meditation improves sleep and insomnia with its ability to calm your racing mind. Many sleep disorders are the result of stress, which meditation seeks to tame.
[ad_bb2]