hey everyone and welcome to top Fink today we're going to learn about ten mind-blowing benefits of
meditation now let's begin number one slower aging as you age your body gets slower and you start to
lose your edge but meditation can actually slow down the aging process in your brain this comes
from a 2015 study from UCLA they found that long-term meditators had healthier brains
than non-meditators you know the crazy thing is even the researchers were shocked by their
findings they expected a small difference if any in the size of their brains but instead they found
significant changes in brain volume by meditating regularly these people developed more gray matter
and their brain volume stayed far more consistent in other words meditation held back many of the
most detrimental effects of Aging in the brain awarding them a healthier more productive mind for
years to come number two structural transformation but meditation doesn't just make your brain bigger
it can change the physical shape of your brain too according to a 2011 study from the journal
psychiatry research meditation transforms to specific structures in the brain the hippocampus
and the amygdala the first the hippocampus is a tiny structure located in your temporal lobe
despite its small size your hippocampus plays a major role in critical cognitive functions like
memory and learning without your hippocampus you couldn't even remember your own name after
eight short weeks of meditation training researchers found that participants had
larger thicker hippocampus which means faster learning and a much more efficient memory the
second structure the amygdala is the emotional center of your brain known for its almond like
shape the amygdala processes fundamental emotions like fear and anxiety but the same 2011 study
found that meditation reduces that negativity it shrinks areas in your amygdala related to stress
and other damaging emotions you know words by meditating frequently you may actually transform
the shape of your brain and change your life for the better number three deactivating your network
your brain is full of systems and networks like the default mode network or dmn this large pack
of neural structures spans across the majority of your brain and it handles all kinds of cognitive
functions from creation of selfhood to episodic memory it even covers theory of mind to put it
simply your dmn helps you understand the past the future and the people around you so you
couldn't really live without it but your dmn isn't always your friend an overactive network leads to
something called mind wandering mind wandering is when your brain gets caught up in a cycle of
what-ifs worries and doubts these self referential ideas come directly from your dmn and can really
bring you down in fact a 2010 study from the journal Science explains that too much wandering
makes people unhappy and unfocused luckily meditation may be the answer a 2011 study from
Yale University found that people who meditate have less activity in their DMN why is that well
because meditation slows down this neural network it encourages you to live in the moment to focus
on the present and spend less time worrying about your past or your future and that can really lift
your spirits the same 2011 study found that meditation can significantly improve your mood
participants felt happier overall and when their mind started to wander they were much quicker to
recover number 4 perception of pain meditation is more than just a mental process if you practice
meditation on a regular basis you can reduce both mental and physical pain let's say you took a long
hike yesterday and your legs are aching is there anything you can do to minimize that pain well
meditation may do the trick this was discovered in 2011 by a study in the Journal of Neuroscience
they found that meditation directly impacts pain mechanisms in your brain because pain in many ways
is a mental process while injury isn't something you can control your experience of that injury
takes place in your brain so if you can control your mental states you may be able to control
your pain to number five finding your flow state have you ever been so absorbed in your work you
forgot the outside world even existed this state of mind goes by a few different names some call it
the zone others say absolute focus but most call this a flow States it's a short period of time
when you're 100% focused on one specific thing most people just can't snap in and out of this
flow state whenever they want but meditation makes that transition a whole lot easier by
practicing mindfulness you can isolate yourself in any environment and you can focus the entirety of
your attention on small tasks like breathing regular meditators are amazing at this kind
of attentional isolation which can boost their concentration their performance and their time
in a state of flow number six unexpected happiness the next major benefit of meditation hits you when
you least expect it according to a 2008 study in the annals of behavioral medicine many people who
meditate experience a small boost in their mood it's one of the most reliable ways to increase
well-being and quality of life ah but here's the part most people don't expect meditation
can also help you find happiness in the world around you frequent meditators view people in
places in a new light their meditation helps them discover new perspective they find joy in small
unexpected events and they learn to appreciate everything that life has to offer number seven
social gratitude gratitude comes naturally when you meditate you'll begin discovering
value and many of the things you once took for granted especially the people who matter the
most in your life meditation provides a newfound appreciation for the connections you've made and
the bonds you've built you may even reflect on all the ways your life has been shaped by your
relationships for better or for worse as you discover yourself and learn to live in the
moment you can truly enjoy the time you spend with your friends and loved ones because the
unfortunate truth is many people don't know how you see they're so focused on making new friends
they never develop the ones they have so by meditating regularly you can learn to value
the people in your life and appreciate the power of real human connection number eights bonding
with compassion there's another reason meditation creates these deeper social bonds yeah you can
learn to live in the moment and yeah you're more appreciative of the people that love you but you
also care more about people in general meditation makes you a more compassionate individual someone
who listens empathizes and truly invests in the people you meet in a 2012 study from the clinical
psychology review researchers tested whether or not this was actually true does meditation make
people more compassionate well to test this they use two different meditation techniques one was
called loving-kindness meditation and another called compassion meditation in theory these
practices should develop areas in your brain related to kindness and compassion so what did
they find researchers found significant increases in those exact parts of the brain resulting in a
higher capacity for both compassion and empathy hey that's already impressive but there's more
these two techniques gave people more than they bargained for by increasing their capacity for
empathy meditation ease their social anxiety and reduced any pent up anger so meditation doesn't
just help you bond with others it teaches you to be more compassionate toward yourself
number nine accelerated concentration meditation is a great way to tighten your focus a 2013 study
published by the Association for psychological science found that mindfulness meditation helps
you retain more information it helps you learn faster and stay on task for longer periods of
time they tested this hypothesis with two groups of standardized test takers applying either to
college or graduate school one group was taught how to meditate and the other wasn't if meditation
really does improve focus the first group should out focus and outperform their counterparts hey
and that's exactly what happened the meditating test takers were significantly more accurate and
they received better overall scores but that's not all these students were also much better
at something called concentration correction when they felt themselves getting distracted
they quickly caught themselves redirected their attention and got right back to work so what's
the secret meditation doesn't actually change the way you concentrate it simply trains your
brain to ignore distractions because your brain has this bad habit of jumping from
one new stimulus to the next obviously that scatterbrain thinking can really impact your
memory and your performance so try meditation to help yourself stay focused when it matters
most number 10 lasting confidence few people realize how much meditation can affect your
self-confidence this comes from a 1995 study from the General Hospital of Psychiatry they
found that meditation has a neutralizing effect on social anxiety as little as fifteen minutes
a day can soothe your general nervousness and reduce self-inflicted stress which gives you
more confidence in all kinds of nerve-wracking situations but this burst of confidence is not
just a one-time thing no meditation can soothe your nerves years after you stopped practicing in
that 1995 study participants took an eight-week course on mindfulness meditation and it did
decrease their anxiety but those improvements held up over three years later even if they
hadn't practiced meditating since their original my point is a short stent of meditation can have
lasting effects on your attitude your anxiety and most of all your self-confidence hey thank you
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