You’ve had this experience; after frantically searching for the keys or something equally important, you despair, resigning yourself to the couch or some other place you can brood without being disturbed. Then a fleeting idea crosses your mind, and you remember that you left the keys in the kitchen, not by the TV as you often do.
From experience, I know such a recall only comes when you have calmed down, and a scientific research proposes that we should do this more often, and more deliberately.
A team of researchers led by a John Hopkins University based assistant professor has shown that meditation, as we do ever so fleetingly, can actually help us achieve a lot more. After evaluating 47 clinical trials that involved the participation of 3515 volunteers, the researchers suggest that meditation may be instrumental in helping us alleviate anxiety, depression and pain. The effects weren’t immediate however, and took on average about two weeks to manifest significantly.
In addition to mitigating the ravages of depression, anxiety and pain, meditation was found to exert some low but tangible effect on stress, distress and mental issues.
The meditation regime that provided this relief took about 20-30 hours, widely spread over 8 weeks. Its core focus was on what has been described as “training in present-focused awareness”, which would differ from most meditation techniques out that are transcendental or focus on ancient mantra.
In the course of their review, the researchers also found that meditation did not seem to have any effect on general wellbeing, sleep patterns, body weight and eating habits, but called for greater research to properly test the wider effects of meditation.
That said, do not get that surprised if psychologists recommend you see a meditation specialist more often from now on.
Africa Global News Publication
