Articles · Health & Wellbeing
How Meditation Can Help with Stress
Meditation can be a real help with stress, and with how you feel from day to day. If you do it regularly, it may help you feel calmer, worry less and think a bit more clearly. You don’t need any special equipment or much time to find out whether it works for you.
It can take the edge off stress
Mindfulness meditation trains your attention to stay in the present instead of drifting off to what might go wrong tomorrow or what you wish you’d done yesterday. Your body reacts to worry, with a faster heartbeat and higher blood pressure, so settling your mind may help settle those as well.
It may help with anxiety and low mood
Part of meditating is watching your thoughts and feelings come and go without judging them. With practice, some people find the critical voice in their head gets a little quieter, and they bounce back from a bad day more easily. It may help with anxiety and depression too, though it isn’t a fix on its own.
How to start
- Find a quiet spot where you can sit comfortably and won’t be interrupted.
- Set a timer for five or ten minutes.
- Pay attention to your breathing.
- When a thought shows up, and it will, just notice it. Then bring your attention back to your breath.
That’s really all there is to it. Your mind will wander a lot at first. Bringing it back is the practice.