Mindfulness meditation is getting more and more popular because of the number of people turning to it, specially victims of teen depression. Even hospitals and schools are offering meditation classes. But, there are doctors who question if this ancient and age-old Eastern practice bestows measurable benefits for maintaining the health of people. In this context, a fresh review becomes necessary to establish the efficacy of mindfulness practice.
What Do The Researches Reveal?
JAMA Internal Medicine has conducted as many as 47 studies to analyze meditation and its effects and it has been found that meditation helps in managing anxiety, pain, depression including teen anxiety and teen depression but concrete evidences do not seem to be available for proving that it can help with problems like substance abuse, weight and sleep.
A few experts opine that after multiple studies, they are moderately confident that mindfulness meditation can benefit with its positive and modest effects on pain, anxiety and depression, teen anxiety and teen depression. They add that just by meditating for two to five hours a week, the affected people are able to see consistent effects.
Various Types Of Mindfulness Meditation
There are several types of mindfulness meditation and one among them is the Mindfulness-Based-Stress-Reduction, MBSR and it is this type of meditation that is used in a number of research studies. About eight sessions are generally required for teaching MBSR. MBSR is almost similar to Buddhist meditation but it is secular and does not have any Buddhist links at all.
Focus Is On The Present
The main focus in mindfulness meditation is training the brain and making it focus at the present moment. For achieving this, those who practice will be taught how to let go whatever regrets they have of their past and also their anxieties and worries about their future.
Supportive Care
For diseases such as beast cancer, meditation is used as a supportive care and not as a treatment. This supportive care is suitably designed to help the affected person deal with issues like stress that accompany this disease.
What Is Body Scan?
One technique that may help in meditation is known as the body scan. During this practice, the affected people will be asked to lie on their back and the teacher will have them check every part of their body. The affected people will be asked to relax the tension in their jaws, their neck and shoulders and proceed down their body. This technique is for stopping the mind from getting distracted and for making the mind connect with the body. Compared to women of other groups, those women who underwent this meditation for 4 months could experience improvements in the quality of their life and in their capabilities to cope with outcomes.
Who Can Practice Mindfulness Meditation?
According to experts, meditation may not work for everyone because only those who can spend time daily with discipline and attention can benefit from it. There are a few other studies in which it has been proved that medications and other treatments like exercises are as effective as meditation. Especially for substantive abuse, weight issues or sleep-related problems, meditation does not seem to help much.
At the same time, researchers have concluded that there are no side effects or harmful results due to meditation. Another benefit is that people need not spend anything for practicing it. They can practice it anywhere without any hassles. So, people can go for mindfulness meditation techniques and surmount problems like depression, anxiety, teen anxiety, teen depression, etc. and also the stress that accompanies diseases like breast cancer and so on.