As you age, parts of your brain will start to atrophy if you don’t keep it working. For anyone over the age of 50, mental cognition starts to decline because of reduced activity. Meditation is an age-old tradition of practising mindfulness. Research shows that meditation can help to reconnect neurons, increase brain activity, and make positive changes to grey matter.
Preserving brain function as you get older is vitally important because it can also help to keep your body young. If you are keen to start meditating, you may experience these useful benefits.
Improves Focus and Concentration
Issues with maintaining attention affect adults equally as much as children. As you get older it will become harder to remember certain things, and you may not be able to focus on one thing for very long. Research shows that just a few weeks of meditation can help improve a person’s memory and concentration.
In addition, meditation helps with cognitive function to improve focus and concentration because you learn how to ignore invasive thoughts. Meditation trains your brain to be calmer while being aware of everything around you. You actively focus on your breathing or the wind in your hair, to teach your brain not to wander meaninglessly.
Regulates Your Emotions
Your emotions are dependant on how you react to certain situations. Fear, anxiety, and depression stem from a variety of things. Aspects such as your past experiences, your worldview, and how you are treated by other people all cause you to react and behave in different ways. Meditation is vitally useful in teaching you how to be aware of your surroundings and your inner thoughts.
Counselling and psychotherapy services can show you how to meditate and deal with a variety of emotions. From behavioural and psychodynamic therapy to somatic approaches, this centre has many therapists that can assist. Each therapist has a specialized skill set to deal with all sorts of mental issues, and their services are available online.
Decreases Your Risk of Mental Problems
It’s only natural that, as we age, our minds age with it. This occurs due to the grey matter in your brain decreasing over time. This affects your emotions, your thought patterns, and most importantly, your behaviour. Particularly with dementia, mediation has helped many patients slow down the progression of the disease. For others that are genetically prone to dementia, the disease could be halted from progressing if mediation was performed from a young age.
Other mental problems such as depression, PTSD, and bipolar disorder can benefit from just 10 minutes a day of mindful meditation. All you need is a quiet place where you can sit comfortably to be alone.
Meditation can be done anywhere and for any length of time. It’s the easiest way to reduce stress and deal with tough situations. Don’t let your mind wither away as you age. Take charge of your mental health by incorporating a few minutes every day to meditate and your mind and body will thank you for it.