How meditation can help manage anxiety and depression
Meditation has a whole host of health benefits, one of which is helping to manage anxiety; many research studies have confirmed that meditating calms and the mind. A recent literature review in JAMA Internal Medicine on meditation programs with at least four hours of training found “consistent evidence that mindfulness meditation reduced the symptoms of anxiety”. This research showed that 20-30 minutes of mindfulness meditation each day showed the most value, which is a practice of cultivating present-moment awareness through thoughts, feelings and experiences.
“Meditation teaches people certain skills that can help counteract that [anxious] tendency, like staying in the moment, recognising worried thoughts when they’re happening, and preventing them from getting worse,” explains lead author of the research, Madhav Goyal. Not only is meditation a tool to support feelings of anxiety, the research also found that meditation can provide support for people living with depression and chronic pain.
In addition, mindfulness meditation has been found to be just as effective as antidepressants for treating symptoms of depression. A 2014 study in Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience found that just four days of mindfulness-meditation training made participants experience significantly less anxiety due to improving their mood and cognitive control mechanisms.
Research has also found that mindfulness meditation can help manage a stressful experience in the moment. A 2013 study found that participants who were practising mindfulness had less brain arousal from viewing highly unpleasant imagery compared with the control group. This study suggests that mindfulness can positively influence our brain activity in relation to stress — both in terms of being less activated during a stressful moment but also being more effectively regulated during a stressful experience.
Meditation for pain relief
Put broadly, the practice of meditation helps relax the body and mind. This leads to the release of endorphins, as well as an increase in dopamine, serotonin and melatonin, which are known as the “happy hormones”.
More specifically, meditation is a helpful practice for pain relief. When we meditate, we are strengthening our ability to notice what is happening without judgement. When we can non-judgementally place our awareness on something, this creates the space for us to accept any discomfort we might be experiencing and perhaps even increase our tolerance and resilience to endure these difficulties. “Observing and accepting discomfort may help increase your tolerance for pain,” explains clinical counselor, Trisha Miller.
A 2011 study found that after four days of mindfulness-meditation training, participants who were meditating during experiences of pain had reduced the “unpleasantness” of their symptoms by 57 per cent, along with reducing their intensity rating of pain by 40 per cent. To unpack how this occurs, the researchers found that specific brain regions are activated when we are in pain, which can be regulated during a meditation practice. As a result, meditation may have the ability to influence how we perceive pain through the processes of cognitive control and emotional regulation.
