If we start counting the benefits of meditation, it will take hours to wrap up as there are just too many of them. Talking about one particular benefit from the practice, a recent Michigan Technological University study has suggested that doing meditation daily can not only ease anxiety, it can also improve cardiovascular health.
The study, which will be presented at the 2018 Experimental Biology meeting, showed that adults, who are suffering from mild to moderate anxiety, can have cardiovascular and psychological benefits from even a single meditation session.
Before concluding, the researchers observed 14 participants and they found out that 60 minutes after meditating, the participants had lower resting heart rates and reduced aortic pulsatile load.
Aortic pulsatile load is the change in blood pressure between diastole (muscle relaxation) and systole ( muscle contraction) of each heartbeat multiplied by heart rate, according to Deccan Chronicle.
Moreover, the team also observed that even after one week of meditation, the participants reportedly showed a reduction in reported anxiety levels. "Even a single hour of meditation appears to reduce anxiety and some of the markers for cardiovascular risk," researcher John Durocher said, as reported.
Participants meditated for 20 minutes during the 60-minute session, followed by a 30-minute "body scan." They had to undergo an exercise, which was designed to help train their mind to turn their minds from detailed attention to a more broad awareness. According to reports, they were instructed to intensely focus on one part of their body at a time, beginning with their toes.
The session was ended with 10 minutes of self-guided meditation.
"The point of a body scan is that if you can focus on one single part of your body, just your big toe, it can make it much easier for you to deal with something stressful in your life. You can learn to focus on one part of it rather than stressing about everything else in your life," said researcher Hannah Marti, the designer of the study.
