Sitting in Silence Proven to Improve Chronic Conditions
Mediation tends to imply ‘religious’ practices. However, Dean Sluyter explains that it is simply sitting quietly and intentionally. Meditating has been found to be beneficial for improving a variety of conditions including high blood pressure, stress, heart disease, insomnia, depression, anxiety, chronic pain management, drug and alcohol addiction. even AIDS and cancer patients. Although it was once considered an alternative treatment method, meditation is now not only acceptable but encouraged by a variety of traditional physicians, hospitals and health care centers.
You learn to savor the quiet. It’s something most of us don’t have, quiet, and it takes some getting used to. When we’re driving our cars or out exercising or eating or working, we have music playing or we talk with people or we have the television on. Quiet can be amazing, though, because it helps us calm down, contemplate, slow down to savor the emptiness.
Stress and anxiety are known factors in causing pain, physical and emotional. A healthy lifestyle starts with a mindset – we need to slow down. Meditation is intentionally putting a pause in an very busy lifestyle. – Michael Karlfeldt
In Zen and the Brain, Dr. James Austin tells us that meditation actually rewires the brains circuitry. This theory has been confirmed with imaging techniques that record brain activity.
In another study published in the American Medical Associations Journal – Hypertension, researchers reported that meditating was just as effective for controlling high blood pressure as prescription drugs.
While a study at the Stress Reduction Clinic at the University of Mass. by Jon Kabat-Zinn, M.D. reports that participants were able to reduce chronic pain by more than 50 percent. The participants in this study also experienced an increased ability to perform their daily activities and long-term improvements in mood.
In another study by psychologist, Dr Gregg Jacob at Harvard University, found that 75 percent of people with long-term insomnia were able to falls asleep within 20 minutes after retiring with the
use of meditation and relaxation.
In a five year study by Dr. James Blumenthal of Duke University, participants with heart disease were able to reduce their risk of having a second heart attack by 74 percent using meditation, compared to participants who were using prescription medication.
Aside from specific health conditions, meditating is one of the most effective methods for reducing and managing stress and achieving relaxation, which is something we can all benefit from.
