Meditation as a method of reducing stress and anxiety in modern people

Meditation is a psychological method of auto regulation that allows modern people to reduce anxiety levels, increase stress resistance and relieve mental stress by mastering the skill of managing emotional intelligence. Today, meditation refers to psychological and psychosomatic methods for correcting psycho-emotional states through the development of auto-observation, auto-regulation and auto-programming skills.

 

Sleep disturbances, rapid fatigue, the appearance of cycles of negative thoughts and other signs of physical exhaustion today are associated with psycho-emotional overloads arising from severe stressful irritation. In this article, we will look at how meditation can help modern people cope with stress and reduce anxiety levels in order to improve the quality of their life.

 

Modern meditation is a conscious practice of open attention, which is suitable for independent daily work, and does not include religious, spiritual and esoteric components. By practicing meditation, a person learns to control himself and concentrate on the right positive thoughts, feelings and sensations of his own body. This leads to a state of greater calm, physical relaxation and psychological balance.

 

An active lifestyle requires a person to be able to relax and disconnect from negative irritating environmental factors. Meditation is a simple applied method aimed primarily at deep, gentle relaxation and restoration of the body. The ease of use of meditation helps modern people to use it at a convenient time of day, and as a result of regular listening, consciously manage emotions, thoughts and stress loads.

 

 Stress, burnout and interception

Stress is a set of nonspecific adaptive (normal) reactions of the body to the influence of various unfavorable environmental factors (physical or psychological) that disrupt its homeostasis, as well as destabilize the state nervous system of the body (or the body as a whole).

 

Today, many people regularly use meditation to treat stress and stress-related conditions and to promote health. Abroad, much of the training and support for meditation is provided through public resources. In recent years, a number of hospitals, schools, universities and employers have offered meditation courses as an adjunct technique to relieve symptoms or promote health.

 

A person encounters one of the most powerful psycho-emotional stimuli in the workplace, which often results in the development of chronic fatigue syndrome and emotional burnout. The latter combines a feeling of physical and emotional exhaustion at work, a lack of enthusiasm for work and a feeling of fear about the work ahead.

 

Recent studies in the field of meditation have proven that regular use of this practice improves the cognitive functions of the brain when performing monotonous work. At the same time, the level of stress resistance increases, which allows a person to most effectively redistribute his working time and reorganize the process of work itself. That is why many employers today recommend that their employees take 10-15 minute breaks during the working day to practice meditation - this increases the efficiency of employees and also improves their emotional state.

 

Burnout was also studied among healthcare workers over a 6-week period at a large non-profit hospice organization. The study showed that regular practice of mindfulness meditation (open attention meditation) increases the level of interceptive awareness, that is, it forms in a person the ability to perceive his internal bodily sensations and correct his psycho-emotional state through relaxation.

Awareness of internal bodily sensations refers to the skills of auto-observation and auto-regulation, which develop with regular work in meditation practice and include:

• Auto regulation (the ability to regulate distress by focusing attention on bodily sensations, preventing the development of fatigue, as well as the increase in muscle spasms);
• Emotional awareness (the ability to recognize the connection between psycho-emotional and physical states, to prevent the development of psychosomatic abnormalities that arise against the background of long-term persistence of strong stressful experiences);
• Regulation of attention (the ability to maintain and control attention to bodily sensations);
• Bodily self-awareness (awareness of uncomfortable, comfortable and neutral bodily sensations).

Thus, interceptive awareness is a person’s awareness of a gentle shift in the focus of attention from negative stressful experiences to one’s own sensations and feelings. The results of Russian and foreign studies show that the development of this skill is successfully accomplished through meditation and allows one to increase the level of stress resistance.

 

Stress and its impact on the somatic state of the human body

Psychosomatologists from all over the world confirm the fact that stress has a pronounced negative impact on human health and can lead to the manifestation of various diseases. As a result of prolonged exposure to stressful stimuli above a threshold level, a functional change in the functioning of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems occurs.

 

The first symptoms that occur with prolonged stress are disruption of the sleep cycle (insomnia, disruption of the process of falling asleep, interrupted sleep, nighttime panic attacks), rapid fatigue, body fatigue, muscle weakness, or, conversely, exacerbation of chronic pain syndrome due to muscle spasms. The clinical picture against the background of increased anxiety can be quite diverse, and a visit to a doctor is required for a comprehensive examination and treatment.

 

Secondary symptoms against the background of anxiety and stress, as a rule, are exacerbations of an existing chronic pathology, frequent colds against the background of changes in hormonal balance (increased production of cortisol with subsequent immunosuppression), the addition of a secondary bacterial infection, gastric or intestinal dyspepsia and fluctuations in blood pressure. Patients also often complain about the occurrence of panic attacks, the growth of cycles of negative thoughts and the formation of a negative emotional background, which persists throughout the day and does not go away even after a long rest.

 

Meditations against anxiety and stress

Meditations against anxiety and stress can be divided into two conditional groups. The first group is deep relaxation meditation, the main task of which is to train the focus on the gradual conscious relaxation of various muscle groups, resulting in a gentle immersion in a state of alpha and theta relaxation, followed by a transition to meditative sleep. Researchers at Harvard University have proven that meditative sleep increases the thickness of the gray matter of the brain, helping to restore the volume of functioning young neurons.

 

The second group of meditations includes not only relaxation of muscle groups, but also the meditative technique of “open attention,” when a person focuses attention not only on bodily sensations, but also on his emotional experiences. Including emotional awareness in the process over time allows you to master the skill of managing emotional intelligence and consciously reduce the level of anxiety by managing your attention at the time of exposure to a stressful stimulus.

 

A common feature that can be identified for the two groups is learning to concentrate and focus attention at the time of learning, although the object of concentration may differ. Both forms prescribe mental activity or inactivity (which may itself be considered an activity) associated with focused attention and conscious concentration.

 

Another unifying feature is the dynamism of learning. As a person gains experience, understanding and/or skill in meditation, his state of mindfulness develops. Despite a number of practical advantages, there are also problems in learning meditation in the early stages. Beginners find it difficult to stop the cycles of anxious thoughts, relax the body and pay attention to their own sensations.

 

Meditation of open attention and conscious concentration (MMCC - Mindfulness Meditation of Conscious Concentration) has been studied by scientists since the 1970s and shows high effectiveness in treating stress, anxiety, burnout syndrome and psycho-emotional overstrain. In addition to mental processes, the functioning of cells at the organic level is restructured, for example, the functioning of the immune system is restored and the pool of healthy neurons in the brain increases, and homeostasis is restored in the body.

 

Regular long-term listening to meditation has a positive effect on the functioning of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems, helping to restore circadian rhythms, eliminate panic attacks, increase emotional levels and increase stress resistance. Gradual muscle relaxation leads to regression of chronic pain syndrome and also improves digestion processes.

 

The use of meditation practice is recommended for the development of interceptive awareness as an additional method for the following psychosomatic conditions and diseases:

• Tension headaches;
• Chronic pain syndrome;
• Neurodermatitis (atopic dermatitis);
• Irritable bowel syndrome, ulcerative colitis;
• Hypertension;
• Bronchial asthma;
• Frequent colds, secondary bacterial pathology;
• Hyper function of the thyroid gland;
• Overactive bladder.

Meditation is also recommended for the following psycho-emotional conditions:

• Panic attacks;
• Emotional burnout syndrome;
• Chronic fatigue syndrome;
• Insomnia;
• OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder);
• Depression;
• Anxiety disorders.

It should be noted that meditation is an auxiliary tool for independent work and never replaces treatment with a doctor, as well as observation with a psychologist or psychotherapist.

 

Despite the fact that regular practice of MMCC meditation does have a positive effect on human health at an organic level, its use only complements a comprehensive approach.

 

Meditation as a method for reducing stress and anxiety

Meditation is used as a method of auto-observation, auto-regulation and auto-programming. With the help of conscious attention, a person, through mental processes, influences the physical functioning of the body and strengthens its health. The effectiveness of the method is achieved by reducing the range of negative emotions, consciously switching attention from negative experiences to neutral ones and concentrating on relaxing the body.

 

Some effects, such as relaxation, meditative sleep, inner calm and increased emotional well-being, may be immediate. That is, they develop during the first 5–10 minutes of listening to meditation. However, most often in practice the method has a cumulative effect, and obvious positive changes in health occur after 21–30 days of regular work in meditation.

 

Meditation as a method of psychological practice includes five key components:

• Relaxation;
• Self-observation;
• Concentration on breathing;
• Auto regulation (conscious switching from negative experiences to neutral or positive);
• Auto programming (the use of various techniques to form positive thinking processes).

Research proves that meditation allows modern people to make a gentle transition from a state of daily stress overload and emotional burnout to a state of mental well-being. Awareness and knowledge of your own emotions, feelings and bodily sensations allow you to master the skills of managing anxiety, stress and mental tension.

 

The practice of meditation is an effective method for preventing chronic stress and depression; moreover, one study found that meditation changes certain areas of the brain that are associated with the development of depression. Reducing sensitivity to stress and restoring a positive emotional background also have a positive effect on a person’s well-being.

 

Although some studies examine specific symptoms associated with the primary condition (for example, chronic muscle pain or tremors that occur in the body during prolonged periods of above-average anxiety levels), while other studies specifically assess psycho-emotional conditions In clinical groups that may or may not have clinically significant symptoms, both studies report improvements in the overall physical condition of subjects with regular MMCC meditation practice.

 

Conclusions

Meditation is an effective method of reducing stress and internal anxiety in a modern person, which he can use independently at a time convenient for him. The practice of meditation helps not only to achieve a deep level of relaxation and relaxation of the body, but also to distance oneself from negative thoughts and stressful experiences, thanks to which a person begins to consciously redirect the focus of his attention and concentrate on the thinking program itself.

 

In addition to the positive effect on a person’s psycho-emotional state, meditation has a general restorative effect on the entire body at the organic and functional levels. Improving sleep, restoring the functioning of organs and systems, stabilizing the functioning of the nervous and digestive systems and improving the synthesis of neurons leads to a gradual increase in the quality of human life.