Meditation has been around for ages and the benefits of meditation practices have been documented in innumerable religions, philosophies and books. Yet, billions of people around the world are unaware of the power of meditation. I hope you’re the first of many taking their first step towards meditative enlightenment.
In this article, however, we won’t tell you exactly how to meditate – many experts are better at that. Instead, you’ll learn why you should meditate. This will help you get started because motivation and understanding of the benefits are key building blocks to creating a powerful routine.
So what happens when you start meditating?
Your body and mind go through many positive changes; we’ll focus on the influence meditation has on your mental health and productivity. Be aware, however, that there are many types of meditation with varying effects.
The benefits of meditation on productivity:
Benefit 1: Increased well-being leads to better performance
Meditation practices have many health benefits. Daily meditation, for example, leads to less perceived stress and fewer mental health issues.[1] People who meditate also feel less upset over the criticism of others.[2] Moreover, they feel less anxiety and have fewer depressions. [3] In conclusion, meditation leads to a higher sense of well-being and fewer burn-outs[4] because it allows you to disconnect from your work.
It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that feeling upset and stress negatively affect our daily lives. High stress levels and anxiety impair our focus. Besides, stressed-out people are often a bit less fun to be around …
Beyond the impact on your work performance, prolonged stress harms your mental health and physical well-being. A burnout is just around the corner.
Fortunately, it doesn’t take much to reduce those stress levels and become a healthier, more productive person.
According to Dr Revati, ‘even a few minutes of meditation done throughout the day can make a huge difference in a worker’s attitude, productivity and effectiveness.’[5] Another mindfulness meditation study found that daily practices relieved the symptoms of stress, such as inflammation.[6]
Practice meditation to improve your mental and physical health. Happy people are productive people.
Benefit 2: Improved self-awareness
Meditation is a useful activity to get to know yourself. It’s an ideal time to reflect and learn to understand yourself. Consider why you feel certain emotions. What triggers them?
Reflection helps you prioritise your goals. Think about what really matters. Get back to the basics. You’ll learn to give less importance to things that are out of control — a key lesson from stoicism. Again, this will benefit your mental health. Furthermore, it will sharpen your focus on what’s within your control, like how you behave when faced with challenges.
The results of daily reflection and meditation on your self-awareness are plentiful. When you start meditating, you’ll learn how to live in the present. Move away from the future and the past. Instead, focus on what is within control right now. Channel your precious energy toward your goals.
Self-aware people have more self-esteem, leading to more confidence and better relationships. That’s why they aren’t afraid to take risks and why they aren’t limited by what others think of them. Knowing this, I’m sure you can also figure out how meditation benefits your productivity and personal success.
Meditation improves your self-awareness, making you more successful and productive.
Tip 3: Longer attention span
Meditation and mindfulness are often about bringing your attention back to the present moment. As with any skill, practice makes perfect. By practising meditation on a daily basis, you can significantly improve your attention span. Studies even found that participating in mediation courses doesn’t only lead to longer attention spans [7], it also enhances memory.[8] Additionally, participants were able to focus on one task for longer and switched less often between tasks.
If you think that multitasking and social media have already permanently damaged your brain, I’ve got good news for you. Research has found that meditation may reverse patterns in the brain that are related to mind-wandering, worrying and poor attention.[3] Don’t like having a shorter attention span than a goldfish*? Start meditating.
*This popular belief (and thus the image above) might not actually be true, but it sounded convincing, right? Here’s some more detail about our attention span, and that of fish.
On another level, meditation puts your mind at rest. Good meditation practices teach you to slow down your thinking. To relax. All of these results of mediation lead to better sleep quality. One meditation study even found an increased total sleep time in people with insomnia.[9] Better and more sleep, of course, lead to higher concentration and better decisions the following day.
Meditation improves sleep quality and trains your brain to have longer attention spans.
Where to learn more about meditation?
We believe in the power of meditation. Even though we would love to teach you how, we’re still rather new to this ourselves. Fortunately, there are many experts in this field. Here are some apps that we’ve tried and returned to.
Stoic. is a well-being app with breathing exercises, fear-setting exercises, journals and meditation practice. Kjell uses this app for non-guided mediation.
For guided mediation, have a look at any of these:
- Insight Timer: prefered by Kjell.
- Headspace: prefered by Loki.
- UCLA Health: a good option for Spanish speakers.
Ready to boost your productivity through meditation?
Meditation is a powerful tool to improve your health, self-awareness and attention span. Together, these improvements will lift your productivity to unknown heights.
Try it out for yourself. Studies have shown that results can be seen quickly. Within four days even.
Do you have any experiences or benefits related to meditation that you’d like to share?
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Loading...Original photo by Syed Ahmad on Unsplash
Sources and further reading about the benefits of meditation
- Li Chuan Chu. Wiley Online Library — https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/smi.1289
- Monk-Turner, E. The Social Science Journal — https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1016/S0362-3319%2803%2900043-0
- Amid, S. & Jones, D. Pubmed — https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23643368/
- Kersemaekers,W. et al. Frontiers in Psychology — https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00195/full?source=post_page—————————
- Revati C. Deshpande. International journal of environmental sciences — https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2103483
- Rosenkranz, M. et al. Brain Behavior and Immunity — https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0889159112004758
- Jha, A., Krompinger, J. & Baime, M. Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience — https://link.springer.com/article/10.3758/CABN.7.2.109#page-1
- Levy, D.,Wobbrock, J., Kaszniak, A. & Ostergen M. ACM — https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/1979742.1979862
- Martires, J. & Zeidler, M. Pubmed — https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26390335/
- Thorpe, Matthew. Healthline — https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/12-benefits-of-meditation
- Rakicevic, Mira. Disturbmenot — https://disturbmenot.co/meditation-statistics/#:~:text=Mindfulness%20meditation%20can%20reduce%20symptoms,than%20they%20did%20in%202012.