Meditation Improves the Performance of Our Brain: Know the 6 Keys

Meditation is a practice historically linked to certain religious traditions, and has occurred both in Buddhism and Hinduism and in certain currents of Christianity and Islam; However, today we know that this can be applied outside the context of religion due to the benefits it provides for well-being.

Well practiced, meditation helps us make our brain perform better both when addressing intellectually complex tasks and emotionally demanding experiences. Therefore, in this article We will see how we can achieve this effect by meditating as a daily routine

The benefits of meditation for human brain performance

Throughout decades of study, psychology and health professionals have found a series of benefits linked to meditation, and some of them are reflected in the way the nerve cells in our brain operate when processing information. information. Let’s see what these brain changes linked to greater mental agility and the ability to face challenges consist of.

1. Increases concentration

One of the first cognitive abilities that are improved with a frequent daily meditation practice is concentration, that is, the ability to focus attention on a specific task for a period of time and uninterruptedly.

Psychology and mental health professionals have shown in their studies that meditation stimulates GABA production (an inhibitory neurotransmitter of the central nervous system), which helps us concentrate better and stop having attention divided into several stimuli.

This helps us in many ways on a daily basis, for example by improving our performance in school and university exams or by forgetting for a few hours the daily worries we may have and focusing our attention on any important activity we are doing.

2. Allows you to disconnect from obsessive thoughts

This possibility of disconnection from day-to-day problems and rumination of thoughts is one of the main reasons why many people meditate daily, since the benefits of this practice have been widely demonstrated when it comes to overcome recurring distressing or distressing thoughts

Meditation helps to synchronize the neural networks in all parts of the brain by focusing attention, devoting it only to a clear task, which is a mental reset that allows us to get rid of the tendency to think the same thing over and over again in the same way.

This helps us take a break from daily problems and face them with a constructive and non-self-sabotaging mentality.

3. Helps tolerate pain

Meditation helps mitigate and reduce physical pain by increasing the tolerance threshold This happens because meditative practice does not seek an objective in itself (for the pain to disappear) but rather takes us to a state of observation (contemplation) of our physical, mental and emotional dimension, in a way that allows us to be with the pain without add additional suffering (emotional pain) caused by resistance, the tendency (legitimate and human) to want things to not be as they are when they are unpleasant experiences. For this reason, meditation is commonly used in treatments done in the context of health psychology, specifically for people with chronic pain or other types of ailments.

This has been clearly demonstrated in the practice of Mindfulness, a technique used in psychology and also in many other disciplines in the field of mental health, where the capacity for full awareness and concentration in the present moment is trained. In fact, the most widespread Mindfulness program, MBSR (Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction), was started by its creator, Jon Kabat-Zinn, at Massachusetts General Hospital in the late 1970s to help people with illnesses and chronic pain to better cope with their discomfort, both physical and psychological.

4. Helps you get more out of your rest

Sleep habits are another area that is improved when people consistently maintain a daily or weekly meditation rhythm.

This is especially Recommended for people with insomnia or sleep problems and in general for anyone who has trouble falling asleep or having a more restful night’s sleep.

It is proven that meditation helps you fall asleep and repair the nervous system for rest if you meditate before going to sleep, since this reduces levels of stress, anxiety or agitation.

5. Allows you to restore cognitive abilities

Daily meditation also has a restorative effect on a wide variety of cognitive functions and abilities, allowing us to greatly improve brain performance at many levels. For example, it helps us disconnect in times of stress, do a “mental reset” and recover our attention span to concentrate on those tasks that need to be attended to.

With meditation we can make great use of the breaks taken during work days something that allows us to restore abilities such as concentration, problem solving (without being paralyzed by uncertainty) and in general the ability to perform better and have greater productivity.

6. It makes us feel better

Finally, another benefit that we must take into account about the practice of meditation is its ability to generate states of relaxation, balance and, above all, emotional well-being. by promoting the production of endorphins This is something that turns this practice into a motivational element: it can be used as an incentive. For example, it is often beneficial to reward ourselves with a brief meditation session at the end of a study session for exams or working on a work project.

• You may be interested: “Endorphins (neurotransmitters): functions and characteristics”

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