Top 10 ways to reduce how stress affects health: 6 meditate

November 18, 1:40 PMHealthy Living ExaminerNorma Erickson

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Meditation for stress relief.
Photo by N. Erickson

Meditation has been scientifically shown to shift brain activity from the stress-prone right frontal cortex to the calmer left frontal cortex. This shift in brain wave activity decreases the effects of stress, anxiety and mild depression, according to Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD, at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.

If meditation is so beneficial, why don't more people practice it? The two main reasons are lack of time and not knowing how easy it is to meditate.

First, meditation is not something you have to do for hours on end in order to reap the benefits. As little as ten to fifteen minutes per day can bring about great emotional and physical changes. That's less time than it probably takes you to drink your first cup of coffee in the morning.

Second, there is no wrong way to meditate. It is a quite simple practice, with hundreds of techniques you can try until you find the one that works best for you.

Here is a very simple way to try meditation:

• Sit in a quiet room with no distractions.
• Place yourself in a comfortable position, feet flat on the floor, spine straight and hands resting on your lap.
• Close your eyes to avoid visual distraction, or focus on one particular object within the room.
• Inhale slowly and deeply through your nose.
• Slowly exhale, also through your nose, while repeating the word "calm" in your mind.
• With each breath, imagine relaxing individual muscles one at a time, beginning with the top of your head.
• Continue downward (head, face, neck, shoulders, arms, chest, and so on) until you have relaxed your feet.

That's all there is to it. If you learn to make meditation a part of your daily routine, you will notice substantial changes in the way you perceive what used to be stressful situations.

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If you want to learn more about the effects of meditation on your brain, watch this video:

Want to learn more about the benefits of meditation? Read "The Science of Meditation," in Psychology Today. If you want to experiment with different types of meditation, visit the Learning Meditation Homepage.

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