|
Drug Addiction
The Meditation
technique has proven to be a successful coping strategy in helping to deal
with drug addiction," a useful tool in psycho-neuro-immunology (PNI) by
helping to control the immune system, and an effective manager of stress and
pain.
A strong link has also been
established between the practice of Meditation and longevity. Only two factors have
been scientifically determined to actually extend life: caloric restriction
and lowering of the body's core temperature. Meditation has been shown to
lower core body temperature.
Stress Control
Most of the people who get on
meditation do so because of its beneficial effects on stress. Stress refers
to any or all the various pressures experienced in life. These can stem from
work, family, illness, or environment and can contribute to such conditions
as anxiety, hypertension, and heart disease. How an individual sees things
and how he or she handles them makes a big difference in terms of how much
stress he or she experiences.
Research has shown that
hormones and other biochemical compounds in the blood indicative of stress
tend to decrease during Meditation practice. These changes also stabilize over time,
so that a person is actually less stressed biochemically during daily
activity.
This reduction of stress translates directly
into a reduction of anxiety and tension. Literally dozens of studies have
shown this.
Chronic pain can
systematically erode the quality of life. Although great strides are being
made in traditional medicine to treat recurring pain, treatment is rarely as
simple as prescribing medication or surgery.
Anxiety decreases the threshold for pain and
pain causes anxiety. The result is a vicious cycle. Compared with people who
feel relaxed, those under stress experience pain more intensely and become
even more stressed, which aggravates their pain. Meditation breaks this
cycle.
Childbirth preparation classes routinely
teach pregnant women deep breathing exercises to minimize the pain and
anxiety of labor. Few call it breath meditation, but that's what it is.
Meditative techniques are also a key element
in the Arthritis self-help Course at Stanford University. More than 100,000
people with arthritis have taken the 12-hour course and learned
meditation-style relaxation exercises as part of a comprehensive self-care
program. Graduates report a 15 to 20 percent reduction in pain.
In one study overseen by 72 percent of the patients with chronic pain conditions achieved
at least a 33 percent reduction after participating in an eight-week period
of mindful meditation, while 61 -percent of the pain patients achieved at
least a 50 percent reduction. Additionally, these people perceived their
bodies as being 30 percent less problematic, suggesting an overall
improvement in self-esteem and positive views regarding their bodies.
Meditation may not eliminate
pain, but it helps people cope more effectively.
Meditation and other approaches to deep
relaxation help center people so they can figure out how they'd like to
handle the illness and proceed with life. Dr. Ainslie Meares, an Australian
psychiatrist who uses meditation with cancer patients, studied seventy-three
patients who had attended at least twenty -sessions of intensive meditation,
and wrote: "Nearly all such patients can expect significant reduction of
anxiety and depression, together with much less discomfort and pain. There
is reason to expect a 10 percent chance of quite remarkable slowing of the
rate of growth of the tumor, and a 50 percent chance of greatly improved
quality of life."
Meditation is a key component
of Ornish therapy, the only treatment scientifically proven to reverse heart
disease.
As soon as Dr. Benson learned
that Meditation reliably reduced blood pressure in meditators, he taught the
relaxation response to 36 people with moderately elevated blood pressure.
After several weeks of practice, their average blood pressure declined
significantly, reducing their risk of stroke and heart attack.
Couples dealing with
infertility may become depressed, anxious and angry. To help them cope,
Alice D. Domar, Ph.D., a psychologist at the Mind/Body Medical Institute,
taught the relaxation response to one group of infertile couples. Compared
with a similar group of infertile couples who did not learn deep relaxation,
the meditators experienced less distress-and were more likely to get
pregnant.
This disease causes scaly red
patches on the skin. A pilot study at Dr. Kabat-Zinn's clinic suggests that
compared with the skin patches of people with psoriasis who receive only
standard medical therapy, the skin patches of those who also meditate clear
up more quickly.
Asthma, emphysema and chronic
obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) all restrict breathing and raise fears
of suffocation, which in turn makes breathing even more difficult. Studies
at clinic show that when people with these respiratory
conditions learn breath meditation, they have fewer respiratory crises.
Meditation can ease physical complaints such
as premenstrual syndrome (PMS), tension headaches and other common health
problems.
Meditation gives people a psychological
buffer so that life's hectic pace doesn't knock them out. Practicing
meditation is like taking a vacation once or twice a day. When you nurture
yourself, you accrue tremendous spin-off benefits.
For example, when you are under high stress,
it can worsen symptoms of PMS because stress can cause the muscle tension
associated with PMS complaints such as fatigue, soreness and aching. On the
other hand, when you meditate regularly, you dramatically reduce your body's
response to stress, and that can ease the discomfort associated with PMS.
The results may not be apparent for several months. You will probably need
to meditate regularly for several months before your body responds
positively.
Meditation can also improve irritable bowel
syndrome, ulcers, and insomnia, among other stress-related conditions.
Eighty percent of the people who use meditation to relieve insomnia are
successful.
Meditation can help prevent or treat
stress-related complaints such as anxiety, headaches and bone, muscle and
joint problems. Meditation also provides an inner sense of clarity and calm,
and that, in itself, may help ward off certain illnesses.
According to one study, meditation may
relieve the discomfort of fibromyalgia, a condition that causes fatigue and
intensely painful "trigger points." When 77 men and women with fibromyalgia
followed a ten-week stress-reduction program using meditation, all reported
that their symptoms improved. And half described their improvements as
"moderate to marked."
|
.jpg)
