Transcendental Meditation
In 2014, Caitlin Carlson of Women’s Health magazine wrote, “Far from the hippy dippy stigma it used to carry, meditation is starting to be viewed as hip—and healthy.” The field of meditation has come even further since then, but what has remained the same are the time-tested, scientifically-backed benefits of the TM technique.
Here’s more on 6 particular benefits of Transcendental Meditation practice, from Carlson’s original article:
It can amp up your workout
Not only does a regular Transcendental Meditation practice increase energy, improve your focus, and help you sleep sounder every night, it also increases your pain tolerance, says a study in the journal NeuroReport. Higher tolerance for discomfort means higher tolerance for banging out another mile or another set of reps.
It can slash your risk for heart disease and stroke
A study published in the journal Circulation found that practicing Transcendental Meditation can lower blood pressure and your risk for heart attack and stroke. It could also cut your risk for Alzheimer’s Disease by strengthening the communication between different parts of your brain
It can help you thrive at work
Research shows that regular TM practice improves productivity and creativity. So if you’re struggling to come up with a solution to a tough work dilemma or need a fresh idea to impress your boss, devoting time to meditation each day can certainly help give you that clarity of mind necessary to break through mental barriers.
It can help you lose weight
By decreasing your stress levels, you won’t be as tempted to stress eat—and your body wont produce as much cortisol, which makes it tougher to shed pounds. But Transcendental Meditation also helps mitigate your food cravings, since it helps to balance your mental and physical state. In other words, you’ll be more in tune with your body and what it needs, so you won’t be as tempted to reach for that pint of ice cream. You’ll be better able to differentiate “I’m hungry” from “I’m anxious.”
It can improve your relationships
From your mom to your boss to your partner, TM can help you strengthen your relationships. We touch on this in the story: Meditation: Fight Depression and Stress. But here’s more: In one study, those who practiced Transcendental Meditation had a significantly higher appreciation for others than those who did not. “By strengthening synaptic connections in the brain, TM helps us to gain patience, be a better listener, and see more value in others and our relationships,” says Rachel Katz, a certified Transcendental Meditation teacher at the David Lynch Foundation in New York City.
It can make you grow younger
Well, it can’t reverse the aging process, but it can help your body function on a level that’s several years younger than your chronological age. Research published in the International Journal of Neuroscience found that subjects with an average chronological age of 50 years who had been practicing Transcendental Meditation for over 5 years, had a biological age 12 years younger than their chronological age. (Translation: a 55-year-old meditator had the physiology of a 43-year-old.)